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Paul Derham

LinkedinManaging Partner

Paul’s expertise is in financial service law and commercial law.  Since 2001, Paul has assisted participants in the financial services industry in complying with their legal and compliance obligations.

Admitted to Practice

2005

Key Areas of Expertise

  • Financial Services compliance and culture
  • Money Remittance (MTOs) and global payments infrastructures
  • Digital / crypto assets, digital currency exchanges and all things DeFi
  • Over the Counter (OTC) derivatives and margin foreign exchange (MFX)
  • Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing
  • Australian Financial Services Licensing
  • Managed Investment Schemes
  • Conference presentations on the above areas

Career Achievements

  • Chairs Blockchain Australia's AML and Financial Crime Committee.
  • Co-leads a joint offering to Accounting Practice Limited Licensees with Kath Bowler and Licensing for Accountants.
  • Chairs and oversees a number of industry forums, including the Derivatives Compliance Forum, the Payments Compliance Forum and the Advice Licensees Compliance Forum.
  • Sits on lots of Compliance Committees for clients across the wealth management, derivatives and FX sectors.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Laws (honours)
  • Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning)
  • ASX Accredited Derivatives Adviser (not yet completed)

Favourite Quote

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Roosevelt

My Thoughts

Is AI a threat or opportunity for Australian Financial Services and Australian Credit Licensees, today?

01 Jun 2024

For the time poor readers, here’s the TL;DR.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents unique regulatory and other risks that need to be managed.  The law in Australia today applies to AI, but regulatory changes have been…

Our submission to Treasury’s Regulating Digital Asset Platforms Proposal Paper

08 Dec 2023

Dear Director, RE: Regulating Digital Asset Platforms - Proposal Paper Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on Treasury’s Regulating Digital Asset Platforms Proposal Paper (the Proposal Paper). As set out in our response…

Our submission to Treasury on Token Mapping

21 Mar 2023

Dear Director, RE: Token Mapping Consultation Paper Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on Treasury’s Token Mapping Consultation Paper (the Consultation Paper). As set out in our response to Treasury’s consultation paper,[1] we…

Crypto regulation on the horizon: Treasury’s new consultation paper on crypto asset secondary service providers

27 Apr 2022

Last month, Treasury released a Consultation Paper outlining the Government’s proposed approach to regulating crypto assets.  The Consultation Paper sets out options for a licensing and regulatory regime for ‘crypto asset secondary service providers’ (CASSPrs).…

New Breach Reporting Regime: as simple as assembling a springless trampoline

08 Dec 2020

After browsing the recently-tabled 153-page Financial Sector Reform Bill, I was struck by the irony of Hayne’s comments in his Interim Report: Should the existing law be administered or enforced differently? Is different enforcement what…

The Dangers of Ignoring Client Vulnerability

05 Nov 2020

  Chances are, you’re reading this article on an electronic device.  You may have used the same device to video-chat with others, message your team and create or send documents – in the last hour. …

If you thought that breach reporting was tough enough now…

12 Mar 2020

Australia’s dob-yourself-in breach reporting is hard now, but things are about to get a lot harder. A new Bill (an exposure draft at this stage) seeks to amend the Corporations Act 2001, to expand the…

How to score an A+ at your next licensee compliance audit

03 Oct 2019

When did you sit your last exam? Remember the mixed feelings of anticipation and dread? You probably recall the feeling more vividly than the subject matter. Memories like that are not stored in the same…

Product Intervention for CFDs issuers and Binary Options has landed in Australia. Read our top 6 FAQs

23 Aug 2019

After years of speculation, product intervention in the CFDs sector has come to Australia.  This article sets out the 8 conditions proposed by ASIC, and some of our commentary.  As Australian lawyers acting for a…

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