Michael Anastas

Partner | Brisbane

Michael is a Partner in our Financial Services Advisory team and is known for his commercial and succinct approach to matters. He is a specialist in financial services regulation and advises on all aspects of retail banking and credit, SME and business banking, BNPL, digital banking (including BaaS and SaaS), payments, alliances and partnerships and regulator engagement and remediation. His work also extends to the private credit and funds sector.

Michael has considerable experience leading and advising on bank merger integration projects, product and distribution arrangements and on major law reform projects including NCCP, UCT, DDO, AML/CTF, FAR, CDR and Privacy. Michael has been recognised as a Best Lawyers™ Lawyer of the Year – Financial Institutions (2022, 2024) and Funds Management (2026) and as a Best Lawyer™ since 2013.

Expertise

Experience

  • Digital Banks Advising on the product and regulatory aspects and terms and conditions for three different digital bank offerings in Australia.
  • Bank Mergers Assisting on product and regulatory integration matters following the completion of various bank mergers.
  • Banks and Non-Banks Leading and advising on major reform projects in the bank and non-bank sector across DDO, UCT, Banking Code of Practice and Customer-owned Banking Code of Practice.
  • Lifestyle Rewards Provider Assisting a leading Australian over 50s lifestyle rewards provider with establishment, licensing and partnership arrangements.
  • Buy-Now Pay Later Advising Australia’s largest BNPL provider on its transition to the NCCP regime.
  • Australian Bank Alliances Advising Australian banks on some of Australia’s well-known brand partnerships in the real estate, insurance and prepaid sector.
  • Card Issuer and Sponsors Assisting across all aspects of card scheme issuance, sponsorship and settlement arrangements including Qantas Cash, Australia Post Everyday, Travelex Money Card, Cash Passport Platinum, Optus Pay, Afterpay Plus.
  • Payment Schemes Assisting payment industry participants on digital wallets, tokenisation and scheme sponsorship for participation in card schemes and Australian Payments Plus network.
  • Private Credit and Family Offices Assisting various funds and non-bank lenders on regulatory uplift and governance matters.
  • Funds Management Compliance Assisting a corporate fund and real estate group with its group wide privacy compliance review.
  • Superannuation Fund Clearing House Assisting with the regulatory aspects for a superannuation clearing house including licensing and obtaining relevant AUSTRAC exemptions.