Yasser K. Email & Phone Number

South San Francisco, California, Us

Developing regulatory and business feasibility frameworks for multi-currency payment platforms and fast checkouts, focusing on rapid market entry in Southeast Asia and beyond

Velaris Consulting specializes in helping businesses expand into Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, by providing strategic market entry and localization solutions. We craft tailored approaches—whether through partnerships, joint ventures, equity raising, or securing launch clients—and adapt offerings to resonate with local markets. Our expertise simplifies regulatory and cultural complexities, ensuring clients achieve sustainable growth and market relevance across the regionOur clients include:- Stripe- Angkas- 4Gives

Makati, National Capital Region, Ph

Drove the market entry of an on-demand ride-hailing service in the Philippines, challenging regional market leaders with innovative solutions.

Flower Mound, Texas, Us

Summary: Led QisstPay’s transformation into a leading SME and consumer lending platform, with a strong focus on the Southeast Asian market.- Its a US-based fintech startup with a fast growing emerging markets play. Raised investment and debt book, scaled QP into a self-sustainable business while diversifying revenue and de-risking portfolio growth- Acquired Pakistan’s first BNPL license from regulator- Built and scaled BNPL proportion to take market dominating position in Pakistan with brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Dell, Diesel, Dune London, Sapphire, elo and over 1500 onboarded within 6 months- Transformed QP into an embedded finance play from a BNPL only play- Strategised the development and growth of several products and business lines in addition to BNPL, such as fast checkout, micro loans, risk score card, payments, white-label platforms, enterprise communication platforms and SW agency- Strategised a “universal identity” play on top of a fintech play that included with fast checkout, non-code payments orchestration and headless commerce - Acquired a licensed lending startup in Philippines and transformed it to align with our emerging markets strategy of offering embedded finance for consumers and MSMEs - Developed Strategic partnerships with FIs and Payment Schemes for debt book, accelerating customer acquisition and optimising revenue per customer

Worldwide, Oo

Summary: Provided strategic consulting to top-tier financial institutions and fintech startups, specialising in digital product innovation and market expansion in Southeast Asia and beyond.-Led Zand Bank's launch as the Middle East’s first AI-powered digital bank, navigating complex regulatory landscapes.- Advised fintech startups on go-to-market strategies, helping them secure a foothold in Southeast Asian and MENA markets.- Collaborated with global financial leaders like Goldman Sachs, Affirm, Brex, Apple and Mastercard, generating over $1 billion in additional revenue.

Dubai, Ae

Summary: Transformed Al Hail's approach to lending by implementing scalable, technology-driven solutions, significantly impacting the UAE's SME sector.- Lead this independantly-operated business unit within the group- Conceptualized, Strategized and Executed the idea of a customer-centric digital financial services brand in MENA region providing low-priced lending and card products based on alternate and traditional data assessment in collaboration with Mastercard and UnionPay International. We introduced: * Cards: Corporate Credit, Multi-currency Prepaid and Gift * Nano Lending for Unbanked * Micro Lending for Businesses (e-com supplychain play) * Instant Credit Decisioning including eKYC for consumers and businesses - Built the infrastructure including hiring CTO, CPO, COO, CMO and CRO- Created a new brand ‘SAMA’ for payments and digital lending businesses.- Planned the transformation of group’s money exchange house: created the digital disruption strategy and e-wallet model; reengineered the processes to incorporate single-window operations resulting in 25% cost saving; created strategic partnership with group’s finance house to develop a Salary-Remittance-Finance digital solution for unbanked.- Built strategic partnerships with UnionPay, MasterCard, Dubai Trade, noon.com, Mint, Noor Bank, Network International, Transguard Group and Monami Tech.- Worked closely with Central Bank to obtain regulatory approvals on Payments and Lending product offerings.- I engineered an exclusive global business partnership arrangement with China’s UnionPay International (world’s biggest payment scheme with 6.5 billion cards)- I advise Directors and Shareholders on mergers and acquisitions opportunities in payments and fintech space in UAE and North America.

Dubai, Uae, Ae

Summary: Expanded Mashreq Bank's market presence across the MENA region, with a focus on innovative payment solutions and customer acquisition.- Successfully contributed across multiple verticals within Payments Business. Managed conventional and Islamic variations of both retail and business credit and debit cards in addition to Overdraft facility with P&L ownership. Managed a million customers with USD 6 billion annual volume.- Contributed across Acquiring Business by devising a network expansion plan, launching award-winning mPOS solution and introducing several new offerings including DCC and INSTANT installment plan.- Launched several new award-winning Card Products and Portfolio initiatives within a short span resulting in 50% growth in monthly acquisition, 25% growth in Spends and 30% growth in Receivable.- Innovative Products launched: * Mobile POS solution * Award-winning Cashback Card contributing 60% to the portfolio, award-winning Smiles Card contributing to 40% of new acquisitions and award-winning super luxury brand, Solitaire Card with a real diamond in the plastic * FIFA themed cards * Debit Card Proposition with supplementary card without a joint account and free international delivery * INSTANT installment plan-conversion of transactions at POS in real time * Risk-based pricingBest-in-Class:- Initiated the largest Dining, Travel and 0% Instant Installment platforms with over 5000 partners- Achieved the highest transaction approval rate - 96%Other Accomplishments:- Successfully conceived and implemented EMV conversion strategy converting over 600K cards.- Led to completion 3D Secure project in UAE & Qatar within 3 months, cutting online Fraud Loss by 90%.- Led a cross-functional team to completely re-engineer the issuance E2E process, increasing efficiency by 30%–rewarded by Group CEO.- Bagged the Middle East's Best Credit and Debit Card thrice at Smart Card Awards.

London, Gb

Summary: Led cross-functional teams to launch HSBC’s bundled financial services across six APAC countries, driving significant growth in high-net-worth client acquisition.- Successfully led a cross functional team to drive strategies to enhance market share, revenue, and service levels while working closely with risk, technology, sales and operations internally as well as regulators, partners and schemes externally. Achieved market leadership within a year in terms of volume and cost per new customer while gaining 28% marketshare from competitors in three countries - Successfully strategised the growth of customer base to 3 million becoming the leader in premium segment in the region through differentiated product proposition, strong partnerships and efficient channel management- Led a team of sales managers and team leaders to increase sales by 60% within one year through effective sales strategy: introduced HSBC@work acquisition channel- Successfully launched a multi-product hunter-farmer sales structure resulting in 30% reduction in sales cost and increasing productivity by 40% in the region- Effectively led a cross-functional team to re-engineer the card issuance end-to-end process: resulted in reducing cost by 30% and TAT by 50%

Summary: Expanded Al Hayat Travels’ regional presence by driving sales growth and strategic partnerships with top-tier airlines.- Primarily responsible for strategy, P&L, corporate sales, partnerships, marketing, new products, customer service and people management – grew annual sales to USD12m from 7m in two years- Helped renegotiate incentive contracts with Emirates, British Airways, PIA, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Sabre- Successful in increasing the corporate business volume by 30% YOY through effective sales strategy - Strategized and implemented regional expansion plan – established the first overseas office in Dubai, UAE

New York, New York, Us

Summary: Focused on driving growth in Citi Bank's credit card portfolio through innovative product strategies and streamlined customer acquisition.- Grew card business, increasing card limit utilization by about 40% and products per customer to 2.5 from 1.2- Helped develop and implement Citi's customer acquisition strategy while collaborating with several departments- Successfully transformed the end-to-end customer journey to reduce turn around time and cost of customer acquisition

Executive Education, Advanced Management Program

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services

Bsc (Honors), Computer Science & Mathematics