About

A recognised national expert, Larissa Vaughan has drawn particular notice for her ground-breaking work with New Zealand’s recent FMCA legislation. ‘I feel I have been able to draw on my in-house experience and legal knowledge to “connect the dots for the business”’, she says. Vaughan made history by obtaining the first discretionary investment management services (DIMS) license under the Act for GMI in 2014. Completing the work largely in house, Vaughan and her team manoeuvred new legislation and led year-long negotiations between Kiwibank’s sister company and the regulator. Sources praise Vaughan’s significant contribution to the nation’s burgeoning legal and regulatory framework in this field. ‘I would like to think that the pro-active and constructive approach we took helped shape the landscape for this type of license’, Vaughan herself says. As Kiwibank’s wealth legal head and GMI’s company secretary, she has not only spearheaded both functions’ optimisations, but also significantly impacted business operations and products. ‘Kiwibank is a relatively new and novel bank in the New Zealand environment’, she says. ‘It is 100% New Zealand owned and was set up in 2002. I enjoy understanding the business, seeing what they are trying to achieve then using my legal skills and knowhow to find ways to make the law work better for them. In house lawyers occupy a unique position and often can see opportunities and connections between the law and the business that can make a real difference to how that business complies and grow’. Sources also point to her role in transferring the KiwiSaver scheme to the GMI-run Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver scheme in 2014. ‘This was another novel project that we delivered for the business’, Vaughan says. ‘This is still a new procedure under the KiwiSaver Act, with just three schemes having transferred to date that I’m aware of – including Kiwibank’s’. A recognised financial services specialist and thought leader, Vaughan established the first litigation teams at both the FMA and ANZ bank. ‘Setting up and managing the litigation team at FMA was both challenging and fulfilling’, she says. ‘After the financial crash there were large expectations of what enforcement action could and should deliver, and not unreasonably that it must done in a timely, cost efficient and fair manner’. Having worked across private practice, banks and fund managers in New Zealand and the UK, Vaughan feels her broad experience has allowed her to think laterally. ‘My background gives me a unique perspective on how to navigate legal and regulatory matters in a financial services context and identify compliant, competitive, pragmatic and strategic solutions’.