AFC Trends & Typologies: Managing Third-Party Relationships and BaaS

Dana Lawrence (CIA, CRMA, CFSA, CAMS, CRVPM, CCA) is the Sr. Director of Fintech Compliance at Pacific West Bank and Board Member for Technology Association of Oregon. With 20 years in financial services and technology, Lawrence has spent the last 10 years in governance leadership positions building fintechs (first neobank - Simple, fintech for SMBs- Azlo, fintech aggregator - Sila), working productively with regulators and navigating challenges and opportunities. In her role at Pacific West Bank, she established a sound banking as a service program that prioritizes a close relationship with each fintech partner and strong regulatory compliance outcomes.

Lawrence is a global community builder and thought leader on governance in emerging technology, speaking frequently to various professional groups (IIA, ISACA, ACAMS, ACFE), tradeshows (Money2020, Fintech Meetup), government and private sector. She’s provided live training to over 80,000 professionals, averaging 25 speaking engagements per year. In 2022, she launched a popular LinkedIn Live show called “In Fintech We Build Trust” which is dedicated to the trust builders in fintech, Web3, payments and traditional financial services, featuring the best of the best globally for educational conversations. In 2024, she was shortlisted as a global Governance, Risk and Compliance Innovator of the year. In 2025, she launched a Linkedin Live show called “The Fintech Bridge” highlighting leaders and having conversations about the future of financial technology.

Ms. Adams is a former Compliance and Ethics Director at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this capacity, she oversaw the implementation of the Bank’s Data Privacy Program, Records and Information Management Program, and the program for Sensitive Data Clearance Compliance. She was a member of the Bank’s Risk Workgroup, Compliance Committee and the Bank’s Insider Risk Team. Ms. Adams helped to create and develop the Compliance Function at the Bank, including the development and implementation of the Bank’s Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions compliance programs, as well as the Compliance Risk Assessment process. Ms. Adams also worked to develop a framework for an Institutional Review Board for human subject research.  Ms. Adams is a frequent presenter on compliance topics and has developed a variety of live and e-learning training.

Prior to working in compliance, Ms. Adams worked as an Attorney and Counsel in the Federal Reserve Bank’s Legal Group and served as a Deputy Ethics Officer. Ms. Adams provided legal support to the Bank’s payments areas and performed transactional work relating to foreign accounts and fiscal agency relationships. She also served as the Vice-Chair of  the Payments Subcommittee of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and was a frequent contributor to the ABA’s The Business Lawyer. Ms. Adams is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and certified as CIPP/US and CAMS. She holds a B.A. degree in Philosophy cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Boston University’s Schools of Law and Management.

Jas is the Managing Partner at StrategyBRIX, a boutique Risk and Compliance Consulting firm. Before StrategyBRIX, Jas served as the Head of Financial Crimes and Compliance at leading fintechs, including Stripe and Airwallex. In addition, at PwC, Jas built and led the firm’s Financial Crimes (Fintech) practice across the US West Coast.

He has over 18 years of experience with building and managing programs in the Compliance space. In his role, Jas works closely with CCOs, CROs, and product leaders to solve complex risk, compliance, and monitoring problems. Additionally, as a part of the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG), he advised the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, in areas of Digital Identity Verification, KYC, and using advanced technologies to solve financial crimes.

Jas is a regular speaker at industry events, a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and an executive committee member of the West Coast AML Forum (WCAML).