Chandra Kusuma

Chandra is a Partner of NARA Law and heads its Banking, Finance and Fintech Practice Group. Chandra’s main areas of practice cover banking and finance, fintech, general corporate and commercial, mergers and acquisitions, TMT (Technology, Media & Telecommunications) and digital economy, spanning e-commerce, crypto and digital assets.

He has more than 13 years of experience advising and representing global companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups in their market entry and expansion into Indonesia, where he has successfully assisted clients in highly regulated sectors such as financial services (banking, multi-finance, fintech, insurance), healthcare, manufacturing, trading and information technology in implementing their investment plans, setting up operations, shareholding and corporate structures, entering into joint ventures and partnership with local partners, carrying out corporate actions, advising on regulatory compliance and stakeholder engagement strategies including securing the relevant statutory approvals to operate.

Before joining NARA Law, Chandra had worked at several corporate law firms, one of which was affiliated to an international law firm, during which he gained valuable hands-on experience, exposure and opportunity advising and working with multi-jurisdictional and local banks in a wide range of complex banking and finance transactions within the realm of corporate financing, syndicated credit facilities, convertible loans, structured finance, acquisition financing and debt financing.

Over the years, Chandra assists and advises numerous domestic and multinational fintech clients in regards to their product structuring, deployment and compliance, ecosystem partnership, corporate governance, risk management and regulatory affairs in multifaceted fintech business models and services, such as, among others, Peer-to-Peer Lending, Digital Banking, Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), Earned Wage Access (EWA), Payment Gateway, Remittance, E-Wallet and E-Money, Equity Crowdfunding, Insurtech, E-Commerce, Crypto Trading, Blockchain and Digital Assets, E-Logistics, Embedded Finance, Aggregator, Rent-to-Own, Credit Scoring and E-KYC, etc. This proves his deep understanding of the regulations, best practice and also the perspectives of Indonesian regulators.

Throughout his career, Chandra had various strategic roles as Chief Legal Officer, Legal Director and Group Legal Counsel at several prominent fintech companies in Asia where he assisted and worked with the founders and the management in fundraising transactions, corporate actions and day-to-day legal matters, including managing the overall obtainment of licenses for them to legally operate. His extensive expertise in the fintech industry is further evidenced by his legal services to fintech companies in South East Asia, which includes fintech investors from China and Europe in relation to their regulatory compliance and market entry into Indonesia.

Aside from his solid lawyering career, Chandra served as adjunct lecturer at several educational institutions such as the Faculty of Law of Trisakti University, UBS Business College, the Faculty of Economics of Trisakti University and ESMOD Fashion Design & Business School.