Atome, a company that offers Buy Now Pay Later program, announced the appointment of EJ dela Vega to lead its operations in the Philippines following the entry of Atome into the local market earlier in October.

Dela Vega has more than 10 years of experience in tech startups, payment, and telco operations, with a track record in building teams and scaling businesses, marketing, and payments, both locally and internationally. Dela Vega joins from leading Philippine telecommunications company Smart Communications Inc., where he served as VP for Payments and Points. Prior to that, he was the Philippines country head for Deliveries at Grab and was a launcher and regional operations manager for Uber.

Dela Vega is a graduate of Management Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Buy Now Pay Later brand Atome expands into the Philippines
TransUnion research reveals consumers’ increased appetite for alternative lending

“We’re excited to welcome EJ to lead our operations in the Philippines. EJ’s leadership experience and knowledge in scaling businesses will be invaluable as we scale our Philippines operations and build on our rapid growth across Asia,” said David Chen, CEO of Atome. “We’re very excited to introduce a digital-savvy generation of Filipino consumers to a better and smarter way to shop and pay and give them access and affordability to quality products and services.”

“Atome can play a big role in powering the retail sector’s economic recovery as well as accelerating financial inclusion for the underbanked Filipino population,” Dela Vega said. “The global buy now pay later movement is about a smarter, better, and more transparent way to shop and pay, and one in which both retailers and consumers win. My immediate focus will be building awareness for Atome as a buy now pay later product in the Philippines — one that is easy to use and understand, and free of any interest charges or service fees, and growing our local partnerships, marketing, and operations teams to better support our merchant partners and enable their success.”

Atome launched in the Philippines last month, partnering with over 100 online and offline retailers, including ZALORA, Agoda, Cole Haan, Aldo, Garmin, Anker, Giordano, Timex, Plains & Prints, Puma Select, Pretty Looks, New Era Caps, Watch Republic, Boozy and Timberland, across key shopping categories such as fashion, beauty, lifestyle and home and living, with more to come. Atome also recently signed a partnership with the Primer Group, with its brands such as TUMI, Rox, North Face, Bratpack, Columbia, and The Travel Club soon accepting Atome as a buy now pay later option for interest-free payments across their online channels.

In October, Standard Chartered also announced a 10-year strategic partnership with Atome Financial, the holding company that operates Atome and other digital lending brands. The partnership includes $500 million in financing to expand Atome Financial’s regional ecosystem of merchants and customers.