What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Since the end of 2018, Bolttech has continued to strengthen its cooperation with Samsung throughout the region in building Samsung Care+ protection products. In 2021, the collaboration was extended to Europe for direct-to-consumer arrangements and in 2022 it was further extended to cover Samsung’s business-to-business arrangements. To date, Samsung Care+ revenue has increased by over 150% annually.

Samsung Care+ is a key value-adding service product in the Samsung ecosystem that provides repair and replacement services to users in the event of any damage to their devices. Although Samsung Care+ appears as an insurance product, the core is speed and quality of service rather than indemnity for customers.

The collaboration between Bolttech and Samsung is driven by the innovative legal construction of Samsung Care+, which provides a sustainable compliance approach to offer features and support the commercial needs of both companies. In designing the legal construct, we managed to overcome challenges around the distribution of regulated products, the limited margins for distribution channels, the interpretation of demand in distributing regulated products, and the purchase journeys that must be included in the device distribution process. As part of the legal process, financial service authorities in most regions were involved to provide guidance and approval.

Samsung Care+ legal construction sets a precedent and blueprint for effective collaboration between Bolttech and Samsung’s business, advertising and legal and compliance stakeholders. A similar direction is also taken in Bolttech’s legal & compliance practice when designing legal builds for innovative protection products to be distributed by major telecommunications companies across Asia.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in Malaysia over the next five-ten years?

Malaysia is expected to experience rapid changes in its regulatory landscape especially considering the government’s incentives for the technology sector. These changes are expected to lead to an increasingly complex business environment therefore I believe the role of general counsel will go beyond traditional legal expertise in the next five to ten years. To accommodate changes and new challenges, the general counsel role will include strategic leadership, technological competence, ethical guidance and risk management. These aspects will help the general counsel to become a strategic business advisor to the business. The role will be expected to address and provide guidance on various issues such as risk management, corporate governance, strategic decision making, cross-border compliance and ethical issues relating to data privacy and environmental sustainability.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

In an era of technological advancement, globalisation and a rapidly changing regulatory landscape, the ability to adapt quickly is very important and one way to achieve this is to implement an agile approach.

Jira is one of the project management tools we use to collaborate with other stakeholders in Bolttech when delivering projects and I find it very helpful for counsel in breaking down tasks based on Minimum Viable Product (MVP) requirements; tasks are differentiated into pre-launch deliverable, post-launch deliverable and maintenance deliverable. Jira also allows our team to set the frequency of follow-up tasks, ensuring timely delivery and avoiding oversight.

What are some of the main trends in the industry sector you work in in Malaysia?

In Malaysia’s financial services sector, a technology-based approach has been the biggest trend in the past 24 months; it has been garnering the attention of regulators with the continued increase in the number of insurtech and fintech businesses. Malaysian regulators seem to be more curious to understand technological advances and how they will impact matured industries such as finance, and the customers.

While regulators remain resilient to these technological advances, there are no roadblocks in place to stop or slow down these advances. Malaysian regulators have put sandbox mechanics in place to give themselves a chance to take a closer look at the technology and mitigate any potential issues that may arise.