Senior Legal Counsel

The NETS Group is a leading payments services group, enabling digital payments for merchants, consumers and banks across the entire payments value chain. 
 

The Group operates Singapore’s national debit scheme enabling customers of DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB to make payments using their ATM cards or mobile devices at more than 130,000 acceptance points in the country as well as online payments.

We are seeking an experienced and reliable Senior Legal Counsel to support the legal function of BCS, while also serving as a cover for the Group General Counsel, where appropriate.

This role requires familiarity with Singapore’s payments systems and regulatory frameworks, strong negotiation skills, and the ability to manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously. The successful candidate will be instrumental in shaping agreements, operating rules, and governance structures that underpin Singapore’s national payments infrastructure.

This role sits within the Legal and Secretariat Division of the NETS Group and reports to the Group General Counsel. 

Key Responsibilities

• Provide dedicated legal support to BCS in product commercialisation, including the review, drafting, and negotiating of project agreements, operating agreements, operating rules/by-laws and other related documentation.
• Provide legal advice on issues that arise in the operation of Singapore’s national payments systems (e.g., FAST, PayNow, Inter-bank GIRO) and related legal/regulatory frameworks, such as issues relating to data privacy, intellectual property protection, and fraud prevention.
• Review, draft, and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including NDAs, novation agreements, MOUs, vendor contracts, service agreements, partnership agreements, software, license, maintenance and other related agreements.
• Advise internal stakeholders on legal risks, contractual matters, regulatory compliance, and legal obligations under applicable laws, in particular, those relevant to financial services or payment services such as the Payment Services Act and related regulations.
• Support licensing and regulatory submissions to authorities (e.g., MAS), where necessary.
• Assist in managing disputes, litigation, or regulatory inquiries where necessary.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments, assess implications, and update internal policies and templates accordingly.
• Liaise with and manage external counsel when required.
• Carry out research and provide accurate and prompt legal advice to business units.
• Provide legal training and updates on new laws and regulations in accordance with business needs

Requirements

• Law degree from an accredited law school.
• Singapore qualified lawyer with at least 10 years of post-qualification experience.
• Proven experience in contract negotiation, structuring and drafting involving multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to manage several simultaneous industry projects under deadline pressure.
• Experience in negotiating on behalf of a designated payment system operator in a highly regulated industry will be preferred but not mandatory.
• Strong experience in the payments sector and familiarity with Singapore’s payments legislation and regulatory landscape will be preferred but not mandatory.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• A team player with strong interpersonal skills and ability to build trusted relationships with different stakeholders across all levels.
• Proactive, self-motivated and comfortable making decisions and managing matters independently.
• Resourceful and fast learner with the ability to multi-task in a dynamic environment.

Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd.