Element, Inc., the privacy-led, modern AI pioneer in digital identity services, announced the appointment of its new Country Director of Indonesia, Ardelia Apti, and Country Director of the Philippines, Kristian Melquiades.
Read More: Tuvalu Embarks On World’s First National Digital Ledger And Infrastructure Project On Bitcoin SV
Ms. Apti joins Element from regional Super App Gojek, where she ascended to VP of the payments platform GoPay, over five years of significant growth at the company. Mr. Melquiades joins Element from Banana FinTech, a financial technology company, following Country Head roles at Tala and Viber. He was voted one of the 50 Most Influential Payments Professionals by the World Payments Congress in 2020.
“The opportunity to join forces with trailblazers like Ardel and Kristian in this fintech era is a tremendous win for our customers and end users, as much as it is a privilege and honor for our team,” said Adam Perold, co-founder, President & CEO. “Ardel and Kristian have been at the front lines of digital finance in Asia, building and delivering many of the pioneering products at scale, with broad networks across the ecosystems. Our growth model is to empower the most dynamic leaders we meet to help build more efficient and inclusive societies. A team of such impressive calibre and commitment combined with market opportunity is a powerful equation.”
Read More: GlobalFintechSeries Interview with Dr. Vincent Pignon, CEO at Wecan Group
“Building a regional Super App demonstrated for me how closely-tied eCommerce is to digital financial services, and the importance of driving more financial inclusion in the country,” said Ardelia Apti, Country Director of Indonesia. “Element’s mission of connecting populations to digital services, to scale up bank account penetration, payments volume, credit access and embedded finance applications, will help consumers and small businesses become more financially-empowered, and help the country make strides towards its digitally-inspired vision.”
“I am excited to be part of the Element team and play an important role of impact for digital inclusion in the Philippines,” said Kristian Melquiades, Country Director. “With over 70% of Filipinos remaining unbanked, primarily due to lack of access to mobile financial services with technologies such as eKYC for account validation, Element’s platform has started bridging this gap. I’m optimistic that the time is now for this digital transformation in the Philippines.”
