What Australian FinTechs can learn from the rise of Product Counsel

Treasury’s September 2026 Financial Innovation Strategy confirms what many Australian fintech leaders already know: Australia needs a financial system that is more innovative, productive and globally competitive.[1] But delivering on that ambition requires more than new technology or regulatory reform. It will depend on how effectively businesses translate reform into products, decisions and operating models without losing trust, value or momentum.

For payment platforms, digital asset exchanges, stablecoin issuers, lenders and AI-enabled FinTechs, the priority is clear: move quickly in markets that are increasingly regulated, technologically complex and reliant on third parties.

Enter “Product Counsel”

Traditionally, many Fintech founders have hired product, engineering, compliance, risk and operations professionals before hiring a lawyer. That sequencing is understandable: build the product, find a market and customers, grow and scale, then engage legal advisers to navigate risk and regulatory uncertainty. But that model is changing rapidly as new financial services are brought within the regulatory perimeter.

As major reforms across AML/CTF, payments, digital assets, privacy and AI governance take effect, existing functions are being tested, impacting speed to market. Common pain points are emerging:

• Do we need a licence to launch this product?
• What compliance risks need to be addressed?
• Are the right consents and disclosures built into the customer journey?
• Do we have the necessary commercial contracts in place?
• How should we manage escalated complaints?
• How should customer funds be managed?
• What are the key intellectual property issues we should consider?
• Who owns data governance and privacy risk?
• How should we engage and deploy AI?

The Silicon Valley solution

Large tech companies confronted many of these challenges years ago.[2] As legal risk increasingly moved into product design, companies such as Google, Facebook/Meta and Airbnb employed dedicated Product Counsel to work alongside their product teams.

Product Counsel are integral to product launches, but their role is not to wait at the end of a project with a red pen or to turn every product meeting into a legal review. Instead, they are embedded alongside product managers, designers, engineers, compliance teams and executives from the earliest stages of an idea. The rise of AI makes this embedded approach even more valuable, as it presents new risks and opportunities that must be balanced throughout the product lifecycle.

Product Counsel’s mandate is to identify issues early, clearly communicate legal concerns and their practical consequences, solve problems creatively and help business partners build compliant products efficiently. Their deep understanding of the business allows them to address strategic legal issues within their core competence, identify when specialist advice is required and engage law firm subject-matter experts at the right time. This model fosters collaboration, helps product teams remain nimble and creates valuable runway for legal risks to be mitigated while there is still room to pivot.

What this means for Australian FinTechs

One of the most consequential decisions facing Australian FinTechs is when, and how heavily, to invest in legal, risk and compliance capability. The stakes can be existential in either direction. Build too early or too conservatively, and excessive cost and control can constrain innovation and undermine the economics of the business. Build too late or too lightly, and regulatory risk can delay launches, derail enterprise opportunities or bring parts of the business to a halt.

As Australia’s regulatory framework places greater weight on sound governance, consumer safeguards, operational resilience and responsible innovation, businesses of all sizes will need legal capability that can balance innovation with evolving regulatory boundaries.

Product Counsel, whether provided by in-house lawyers, fractional general counsel, embedded counsel, or external advisers, can help assess new products, oversee customer-facing documents, coordinate specialist advice, support governance and enable management to balance commercial goals with regulatory requirements.

As technology and regulation continue to evolve, the businesses best placed to deliver on Australia’s financial innovation ambitions will engage product counsel as business partners, helping internal stakeholders navigate emerging challenges and build compliant, trusted products.

About the author: Katrina Sharman is an Executive Counsel at Piper Alderman and former Product Counsel at Coinbase. She leads the firm’s Fractional GC and Embedded Counsel offering, providing senior in-house legal leadership to fintech, digital asset and other regulated businesses.

[1] Australian Treasury, Financial Innovation Strategy, September 2026, https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2026-799948.

[2]Alexander Macgillivray and Nicole Wong, ‘Product Counsel: Origin Story’, bricoleur (20 April 2020) https://www.bricoleur.org/2020/04/product-counsel-origin-story.html