Sharon Kupp Tengdui is a Partner at PLN PNG and leads the firm’s Banking and Finance practice. She is a senior legal counsel with more than 15 years of experience with 10 years spent in-house advising financial institutions, corporates and boards in Papua New Guinea and in the Pacific on banking and finance law, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and complex commercial matters.

 

Sharon has extensive experience working within highly regulated financial services environments and is recognised for her strategic approach to legal issues, risk management and regulatory compliance. Her practice includes advising on financing and facility agreements, banking regulation, AML/CFT compliance frameworks, corporate governance systems, complex commercial agreements and dispute resolution.

 

Prior to joining PLN PNG, Sharon served as Head of Legal Services at BSP Financial Group Limited, the largest banking group in the South Pacific. In this role she led a large in-house legal team supporting the Group’s operations across seven (7) jurisdictions, providing strategic legal advice to executive management and overseeing contract negotiations, facility agreements, litigation, governance and regulatory matters.

 

Earlier in her career, Sharon held similar roles with Westpac PNG Limited as Head of Legal & Company Secretary and with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (PNG) Limited as Senior Lawyer & Company Secretary, where she advised on contract negotiations, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and large facility agreements.

 

Sharon has also played an important role in advancing corporate governance standards in Papua New Guinea. She previously served on the Board of the PNG Institute of Directors, including as Vice President and then President, where she led initiatives to strengthen and improve the director education program and expand the Institute’s capacity to support its work of promoting and advancing good governance on boards across the country.

 

She holds a Master of Laws from Queensland University of Technology, a Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice from the PNG Legal Training Institute, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Papua New Guinea. Sharon is admitted to practise before the National and Supreme Courts of Papua New Guinea and is a member of the Papua New Guinea Law Society and the PNG Institute of Directors.

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