Laura Yens Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

Leveraging several years of experience working with the largest payment networks, banks and bank consortia, technology companies, payments processors and Fintechs in the world to advise clients on a variety of legal matters. - Advising a start-up innovative payments company on multiple legal issues, including terms of a commercial agreement with a payments processor for worldwide distribution of the technology, terms of a corporate end-user agreement, invention and protection of IP.- Advised one of the world’s largest asset managers on third party risk associated with Banking-as-a-Service.- Member of U.S. Faster Payments Council - Operational Considerations, Cross-Border and Fraud working groups.

New York, Ny, Us

Built and strengthened relationships with CLOs, GCs and other senior legal leaders at our payments, financial services and Fintech clients; advised on legal and management issues. Collaborated across divisions to lead development and execution of strategies benefiting clients and the company. Thought leader on matters regarding the legal, payments and financial services industries.- Advised senior legal leaders at payments companies, banks, and FinTechs on legal issues, including contract negotiation, regulatory and compliance (AML, KYC, OFAC, MTL, PSD2), IP, privacy, and information security issues.- Scaled revenue 4x in 6 months by creating and leading implementation of a strategic plan for a Fortune 100 global payments company, collaborating with multiple Axiom divisions and attorneys globally.- Engendered 75% global annual growth rate for a service offering; refreshed the go-to-market strategy and built and led a cross-divisional team to create an action plan and execute on it. - Led and participated in industry panel discussions and company-wide presentations.

Advised entities in the Payments industry on complex, strategically significant matters - providing creative solutions to achieve business objectives while mitigating risk. Concurrently, served as Chair of the U.S. Faster Payment Council's Regulatory Work Group, comprised of 50 legal, regulatory, policy and business professionals across the payments industry.Representative matters: - Advised a top 5 world bank on (1) development and distribution of innovative payments products, including a global multi-channel faster payments solution, beneficiary directories, and a B2B payment and invoicing system, (2) distribution of US COVID stimulus funds, (3) participation in a newly-launched payment system outside the U.S., and (4) regulatory, privacy, public policy and fraud matters (via third party).- Advised on the design and build, legal issues, governance and operational rules, settlement options, revenue opportunities, and competitive positioning of a new faster payments infrastructure in the U.S. - Served as external General Counsel for and advised a startup on legal issues associated with identity management.Representative presentations: - Presented on our accomplished and dedicated Regulatory Work Group team mission and deliverable at an FPC Town Hall.- Served as moderator for a panel on faster payments, the pandemic and the regulatory landscape at the FPC Fall Member Meeting.

Charlotte, Nc, Us

Managed the legal, compliance and government affairs teams and advised the company's Board of Directors and executive management. (1) Advised the Board and management on corporate growth strategy, risk management, and material commercial litigation strategy. (2) Streamlined legal processes and accelerated revenue generation by leading the contracts team to consolidate all customer template agreements into one. (3) Devised and implemented a strategy to determine the amount of recurrent outside counsel spend to create a budget and inform additional hiring needs.

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Spearheaded the Payments Systems practice in the New York office, serving as external General Counsel for and advising entities across the global Payments industry; trained Associates on a wide variety of matters. Brought in global hundred-billion-dollar revenue companies as clients. Concurrently, led the Federal Reserve Bank's Laws and Regulations Faster Payments Work Group, comprised of 20+ business and legal executives across the Payments industry. Representative matters: - Served as external General Counsel for a multinational bank based in Central America; led team of ten attorneys in advising the CEO and Board during distress and successfully avoided regulatory enforcement actions and class action lawsuits in 110 countries.- Advised a global social media company on its strategic partnership agreements with bank partners in India and Thailand regarding its P2P payment service.- Advised a blockchain company on money transmitter licensing, AML and OFAC matters.Representative presentations: - Served as a moderator for a panel presentation to Chief Legal Officers of Fortune 500 companies on "Adapting to Meet Rapidly Changing Consumer Preferences and Expectations" across industries, including payments.- Featured speaker on "Fragmentation of the Global Payments Industry - Challenges and Opportunities" at an invitation-only event in Sao Paulo, Brazil.- Presented on "Achieving Ubiquity in a Networked Market" at the 2018 Chicago Payments Symposium of the Federal Reserve.- Presented at the FedPayments Improvement Community Forum on the work of the Laws and Regulations team mentioned above.

Purchase, Ny, Us

Served as internal General Counsel for, and led a global legal team supporting, all Push Payments businesses - from inception or acquisition to commercial launch. In addition, managed several global, cross-divisional teams integral to supporting Mastercard's corporate strategic initiatives.- Internal General Counsel Work. Responsible, with my team, for all legal aspects of (1) Mastercard Send, facilitating push payment transactions to both Mastercard and Visa cards, (2) HomeSend, an international JV operating a cross-border payment network with reach to 97 countries, and (3) Masterpass QR, a QR code-based P2M payment solution. Advised on strategy and product development; managed regulatory, privacy, IP, corporate, employment and litigation matters worldwide; negotiated strategic agreements with banks, technology companies and payments processors. - Cross-Divisional Team Leadership. (1) Led a cross-divisional team to create a work product essential to the international distribution strategy for Faster Payments. (2) Served as the sole attorney advising a cross-divisional senior leadership team on Mastercard's cross-border B2B strategy. (3) Co-led a cross-divisional effort to develop a 10-page global template agreement covering over 60 products, jointly trained 60+ attorneys on the agreement, and led a team presentation on the corporate strategy enabled by the agreement. - M&A, Integration and JV Work. (1) Sole attorney on panel reviewing potential acquisition targets. (2) Responsible for all legal aspects of the integration of Vocalink with Mastercard’s products, including advising on integrated product development, regulatory and antitrust matters and the strategy for marketing, branding, sales, and international distribution of integrated products. (3) Led integration of two acquisitions, including Omney, the source for the Mastercard Send technology, and wind-down and dissolution of the entity. (4) Responsible for all legal aspects of HomeSend.

Doctor Of Law - Jd

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Finance And Management

B.A., Cum Laude, English (Major), Mathematics (Minor)