Career biography

Prisca Lo-Smith is the Group General Counsel of Saison International, the international headquarters of Credit Saison, one of Japan’s largest non-bank financial institutions. Based in Singapore, she helms the global Legal and Compliance function with a mission to embed collaboration, innovation and trusted governance across the Group’s international footprint — spanning Singapore, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.

Dual-qualified in England & Wales and Hong Kong, Prisca brings over 20 years of cross-border expertise in structured finance, private credit, M&A, funds and equity investments, securitisation and corporate governance.

She began her career at leading international firms, advising marquee corporates and institutional clients. After relocating to Singapore, Prisca strategically transitioned into a boutique local firm specialising in fintech and venture capital, advising on early-stage equity transactions, venture debt and venture funds — developing recognised expertise in Asia’s start-up ecosystem.

As the first senior legal counsel to join Credit Saison Group, she built the Group’s international Legal and Compliance framework, integrating it with local teams and scaling it in tandem with the Group’s rapid global expansion. Today, the function operates as a strategic partner to the business — driving consistency across jurisdictions and enabling sustainable growth underpinned by responsible governance.

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

India: Advised on Mizuho’s 15 % strategic equity investment (up to INR 12 billion) in Credit Saison India, aligning cross-border structuring, governance and regulatory approvals.

Latin America: Structured Credit Saison’s entry into Brazil and Mexico with a combined US $200 million capital injection, deploying funds through local partners and fintech platforms via credit-rights investment funds (FIDCs) to reach SMEs and underbanked segments.

Asia: Launched a US $55 million early-stage Web3-focused venture capital fund under Saison Capital, covering fund structuring, governance and risk integration, embedding compliance frameworks from inception.

Global Frameworks: Introduced a hybrid Global Legal & Compliance Policy — centralised principles from IHQ ensuring consistency, combined with local adaptation to reflect regulatory nuances.

ESG: Conducted a global ESG regulations study, risk-ranking exposures by market and developing tailored responses to ensure compliance readiness.

Innovation: Spearheaded adoption of an AI-enabled enterprise platform with multilingual contract and policy lifecycle management, creating scalable risk management and audit trail standards across the enterprise.

What are your opinions on Managing Legal Aspects During Instability or Crisis?

Anticipate: Maintain a geopolitical and regulatory risk register linked to the global ERM framework, mapping scenarios and triggers for hedging, sanctions, cyber/data incidents, counterparty stress and policy shifts.

Integrate & Orchestrate: Deploy the hybrid Global L&C Policy as common guardrails while enabling local teams to act quickly within their jurisdictions. Currently developing a global L&C crisis playbook with decision trees, pre-authorised delegations and escalation protocols.

Embedment: Integrate the global L&C Policy into business plans, performance reviews and BCP frameworks; establish a global knowledge hub.

Cross-border Learning: Host regional and global digital offsites to encourage peer learning, engagement and alignment of standards.

Improve: Run post-incident reviews to update templates and playbooks, tracking impact KPIs so that each event builds greater resilience.

What are the main attributes that modern in-house counsel should possess?

Long-term builder: Designing systems and solutions that endure, requiring strategic foresight, critical analysis and alignment of interests across the Group.

Consensus builder: Using cultural intelligence to bring stakeholders together, fostering trust and agreement through shared understanding.

Integrity and courage: Having the conviction to voice uncomfortable truths and help others see alternative perspectives.

Centre of excellence: Setting high minimum standards across jurisdictions, rejecting rubber-stamping, and pursuing creative yet compliant solutions.

Talent and future readiness: Building high-performing teams, recruiting and retaining wisely, fostering digital fluency (AI, automation, data governance) and operating credibly across diverse markets in India, SEA and LATAM.

What are your opinions on data procection in the context of the digital transformation?

Transformation is designed around integration, governance and scalability — not technology for its own sake. The Legal & Compliance team (not IT) leads an AI-enabled enterprise platform that automates contract, policy and compliance lifecycles; streamlines documentation and knowledge; and surfaces obligations and regulatory trends.

Privacy-by-design is built into the data architecture via role-based access, audit trails and retention logic. A single global system with local toggles ensures standards travel with the business while remaining locally effective. By leading this programme, L&C sets enterprise-wide standards, driving consistency and efficient risk management across markets.

How do you embed ESG and compliance culture into an organisation?

The GC can foster an ESG culture by enabling systems and guardrails that embed responsibility into operations.

Saison International’s L&C team conducted a global ESG regulations study to risk-rank market exposures and develop country roadmaps co-owned with local teams. ESG expectations are now written into contracts and covenants, with Environmental and Social Action Plans (ESAPs) triggered where gaps arise and reporting tied to defined milestones.

The L&C team also partners with the Head of Impact to pilot technical assistance for portfolio companies, embedding ESG governance and KPIs into their core performance metrics. Toolkits, targeted training and practical day-to-day expectations create shared ownership and regulator-ready consistency across the Group and its investees.