Natalie leads our Superannuation & Financial Services team. With more than 25 years’ experience, she has an enviable reputation for her in-depth knowledge in these highly regulated and complex practice areas, and for her clear, commercially astute advice.
Natalie’s expertise includes:
- fund transfers and mergers
- Australian financial services licensing and disclosure aspects of the Corporations Act 2001
- all aspects of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, including RSE Licensing requirements and APRA regulation
- breach reporting and error remediation
- fund documentation, such as trust deeds and deed amendments, investment management agreements, outsourcing agreements, trustee appointment and retirement documentation
- trust law issues, interpretation of fund governing rules and general fund administration issues – including on complex defined benefit matters
- group insurance arrangements for death and disability benefits
- member disclosure materials, such as product disclosure statements, annual reports, benefit statements, significant event notices, calculators and retirement forecasts
- litigation and dispute resolution concerning a broad range of financial services matters (including disablement claims and misleading/deceptive conduct) and complaints before AFCA
- applications to APRA, ASIC and AUSTRAC for relief from regulatory requirements
- corporate governance
- privacy requirements
- anti-money laundering legislation
- family law superannuation splitting
- trustee indemnity insurance matters
- employee superannuation aspects of corporate mergers and acquisitions, and
- employer obligations under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.
Natalie advises trustees, fund administrators and employers on all aspects of superannuation law. She advises financial services entities on licensing and disclosure, and on matters relating to managed investment schemes and investments generally. Her expertise also encompasses anti-money laundering and privacy laws.
With consolidation in the superannuation industry over recent years, Natalie has worked on a significant number of large successor fund transfers across various sectors of the industry. Her deep legal expertise and commercial approach (and that of her team) assists clients to complete mergers successfully.
In addition to her law qualifications, Natalie holds an ASFA Diploma of Superannuation Management. She is the Chair of the Superannuation Committee of the Law Council of Australia (and former Chair of the Consultations and Submissions sub-committee), a member of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia and is on the editorial panel of the Australian Superannuation Law Bulletin published by LexisNexis.
RECOGNITION
Since 2010, Natalie has been recognised in The Best Lawyers™ in Australia in the superannuation law, financial institutions, funds management, investment law and corporate/governance practice categories. She was named “Lawyer of the Year” for superannuation law in the 2017, 2019 and 2021 editions, for funds management in 2020, and investment law in the 2022 edition.
Natalie has since 2016 also been recognised in the superannuation law category of prestigious international legal ranking directory, Chambers & Partners, and is recognised in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific, in the financial services regulatory category.