Overview
Kendra Haar is of counsel in the Global Fintech & Payments practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s Houston office. She has been advising the fintech and blockchain industry for a decade. Kendra works with companies at all stages of growth and development, from start-ups to public companies, to help them navigate the complicated regulatory landscape of financial services laws. She advises a broad range of clients in this area, including traditional financial institutions, nonbank financial institutions, financial services companies, payment processors, payment networks and digital asset trading platforms, with a focus on blockchain-based products and services. She has taken on the role of trusted adviser to guide start-up payments companies from inception to regulatory planning and licensing to licensure and beyond.
Kendra's practice involves counseling such clients on issues ranging from ongoing regulatory compliance, product development and commercialization of payments product offerings, digital asset product development and regulatory compliance, transactions and matters before federal and state regulatory agencies, and strategic partnerships and commercial transactions between parties in the global payments space.
Kendra has led countless clients to attain state money transmitter licenses and trust charters. She has a strong relationship with state regulators and helps clients deepen their relationships with regulators to ensure collaboration and compliance. Kendra has a compliance mentality, which shows when she problem-solves with clients to operationalize proper standards for the business. Her ability to help clients find workable solutions with regulators is unparalleled. Clients trust her judgment and return to her time and again to help with questions that arise.
Kendra has deep expertise in federal and state financial services laws, money-laundering laws, and payments regulatory laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act and federal and state money transmission laws. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and represents clients before federal agencies, such as FinCEN.
Kendra is particularly adept at taking large, complicated projects for clients and leading a team to make the project manageable for all involved.
Accolades
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for Corporate Law, Banking and Finance Law, and Technology Law (2023, 2024, 2025)
Education
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 2013 (Managing Editor, Nevada Law Journal)
- Northern Arizona University, B.S., summa cum laude, 2003
Representations
- Advising clients on the nature of state money transmitter licensing laws and the BSA, and the applicability of these regimes to existing and proposed activities
- Counseling on product design and strategy for funds transfer, stored value, and other consumer and commercial payments services (fiat and digital assets)
- Managing nationwide and state-specific money transmission licensing initiatives (fiat and virtual currency) for companies ranging from start-ups to established organizations with a global footprint
- Advising on the design and implementation of compliance programs, including AML/BSA, KYC, Transaction Monitoring, Internal Audit and more
- Managing the application and chartering process of limited purpose trust companies, established for the purpose of safekeeping digital assets
- Directing the regulatory process for offering state-chartered trust company services nationwide
- Managing the change of control approval process
- Providing guidance on compliance approaches relating to payment processing, acting as a payment facilitator, operating a marketplace, bill pay services and additional products and services
- Offering creative, compliant solutions to compliantly leveraging existing licenses in order to offer new services to customers (e.g., Authorized Delegate arrangements, Agent of the Payee and other alternatives)
- Driving material change requests, Asset Vetting Policy processes and other policies/procedures before the NYDFS
- Representing clients in response to state regulator inquiries relating to money transmission compliance (e.g., examination preparation and response, as well as navigating enforcement action postures)
- Representing clients in response to federal regulator examinations related to federal MSB compliance and the BSA