UnionBank announces new leaders for CitySavings, UnionDigital

Ana Aboitiz Delgado has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of the thrift bank subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), according to City Savings Bank (CitySavings).

Delgado is UnionBank's Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Channels Officer, and Chief Customer Experience Officer simultaneously. Delgado was the driving force behind UnionBank's transformation and redesign of its branches to the Ark, which improved the customer experience in physical premises, and he made significant progress in expanding the digital customer base of UnionBank through its UB Online mobile app. In addition, she was instrumental in negotiating the landmark acquisition between UnionBank and Citibank N.A.

Lorenzo T. Ocampo was named Vice Chairman and CEO of CitySavings alongside Delgado, and Manuel G. Santiago Jr. was named President and Chief Operating Officer of the thrift bank.

Henry R. Aguda, the former CitySavings Chairman and Chief Technology and Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer of UnionBank, succeeds Ramon Vicente De Vera as President and Chief Executive Officer of UnionDigital. De Vera will be in charge of the Bank's new market expansion role.

“These leadership appointments are key to taking both CitySavings and UnionDigital to the next level of digitally-driven growth and scale, towards our aspiration to be a Great Retail Bank.” ~Edwin R. Bautista, UnionBank President and CEO 

As UnionBank's Chief Technology and Transformation Officer, Aguda was a key player in the pioneering digital transformation. By utilizing data science credit-scoring and acquisition models, CitySavings accelerated the approval of teacher and motorcycle loans during his tenure as Chairman, expanding its reach into mass and underserved markets.

Industry heavyweights share their expertise at 3-day MSME Fiesta Sulong Negosyante

ICSB & UnionBank-powered event focused on empowering entrepreneurs through knowledge-sharing.

The International Council for Small Business Philippines (ICSB PH) and Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently held a three-day conference and expo for micro, small, and medium enterprises or MSMEs to empower the entrepreneurs and enable them to thrive in the digital economy. The event was held at the Resorts World Manila in celebration of the United Nations' (UN) International MSME Day, observed annually every 27th of June.

Prior to the fiesta, several experts from the public and private sectors as well as the academe gathered at The Sheraton Hotel for a panel discussion that tackled the most pressing issues concerning the MSME industry.

On day one, keynote speaker Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian stressed how important it was to hold activities such as the Sulong Negosyante giving attention and recognition to MSMEs. Being an entrepreneur himself, he shared valuable learning.

“We need to keep on innovating. We need to keep on finding new products and new services. We need to adapt.” ~Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Keynote Speaker

Asian Institute of Management President and Dean Dr. Jikyeong Kang; Mansmith and Fielders Inc. Chief Marketing Strategist Josiah Go; and Wong + Bernstein Advisory Group Managing Director Prof. Enrique Soriano led the discussions on the importance of lifelong education and training for MSMEs.

Other presenters focused on digital and media, supply chain and delivery, research, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and good governance.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary for American Affairs Jose Victor Chan Gonzaga talked about how they and other government organizations put in effort to promote Filipino MSMEs globally. Asian Consulting Group's Founding Chairman and Chief Tax Adviser Raymond Abrea highlighted the significance of practicing good tax management. 

UnionBank's SME and Micropreneurs Segment Head Jaypee Soliman touched on understanding the needs and challenges MSMEs face to be able to help them succeed. He pointed out the necessity for entrepreneurs to prioritize.

“We need to identify the things that we have to continue doing and the things that we need to start doing. We have to stop thinking we are the solution, but start engaging MSMEs and collaborate on how we can be a solution for them. At UnionBank, we know how critical knowledge-sharing is to ensure that our MSMEs are able to thrive in the digital economy. This is one of the reasons we organized this event together with ICSB. We want our attendees to learn from the best, so they can be at their best in their businesses.” ~Jaypee Soliman, UnionBank's SME and Micropreneurs Segment Head 

 

Philstar Media Group Executive Vice President Lucien DyTioco’s talk was on why Filipinos should support local businesses. For his part, Airspeed Express President Rick Cruzado explained the role of delivery and logistics in today's digital economy, while Hotbox Philippines Founder Romeo Joven shared about innovation using his company's self-heating box meal product as an example.

Synergy Market Research and Strategic Consultancy President Germaine Reyes discussed consumer behavior and its relation to sustainable businesses and products. To cap off the presentations, Avanza Inc. President Yayu Javier talked about sustainability and the need for MSMEs to consider aligning their goals with that of UN's 17 SDGs.

For day two, Department of Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Mary Jean Pacheco presented the current MSME landscape in the country. UnionBank's Head of Merchant Acquiring and Payment Gateway Gerry Austria focused on the various digital banking solutions offered by UnionBank to MSMEs, while Aboitiz Foundation's Program Manager for Enterprise Development Gero Torres outlined how the Aboitiz Group has been helping MSMEs become more digitally capable.

On day three, PLDT Enterprise Head of Small and Micro Business Armie Sason underscored the value of digital business tools and reliable business internet connectivity; Insular Life Head of Customer Relations Mia Gonzales shared the benefits of taking care of employees to improve business productivity; and UN Women's Consultant for Women's Empowerment Principles Jen Dingalan enlightened entrepreneurs with the need to build a business that works for women.

Continuing the discussions for day 3, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines' Assistant Division Chief Emmelina Masanque gave an overview of the intellectual property system for MSMEs and startups; Globe Business ICT Portfolio Marketing Director Anne Leonardo touched on digital transformation for MSMEs through ICT solutions; and finally, UnionBank's Chief Information Security Officer Joey Rufo provided MSMEs tips on how they can stay #CyberSure.

ICSB PH and UnionBank target to pursue the Negosyante MSME Fiesta events on an annual basis. Stay tuned for the next leg of events!

The future of business is OPEN: UnionBank discusses how Open Banking will drive the digital economy

Open banking and open finance are two models that are now slowly taking over the financial sector, with the promise of revolutionizing banking and financial services like never before and acting as "a catalyst for the new wave in financial innovation."

This was the main point of discussion during the 14th edition of Union Bank of the Philippines' (UnionBank) virtual roundtable series E-TalkTales, which took place last June 28 via Zoom. The event was led by UnionBank's Fintech Business Group Head Erika Dizon as its main speaker. 

In her presentation, Dizon explained that while open banking and open finance may differ slightly from each other—the former promotes data sharing on banking services, while the latter promotes data and capability sharing across the financial sector—the goal is the same, which is the creation of an open ecosystem.

An open ecosystem, she said, provides numerous benefits, including seamless data access and sharing, more opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, and most importantly, unprecedented customer-centricity. All of these point to the potential of the movement to completely change the way people see banking and finance.

Dizon listed down a few examples of how the open finance movement can positively impact different sectors of society. For service providers, it can inspire innovation and create new revenue streams. For businesses, it can promote increased transparency and operational efficiency. For customers, it can help enable better personalization, and in turn more meaningful experiences. 

Dizon also named several pillars supporting open banking, namely, (1) regulatory push for frameworks built on principles of consent, interoperability, and collaboration; (2) heightened expectations coming from the digital and modern social experiences that are redefining banking and finance; (3) competition especially with the emergence of non-traditional players; and (4) infrastructure, which is increasingly becoming more reliant on application programming interfaces.

“All of these factors are coming in to play and have triggered the open banking and open finance movement and the beginning of the unbundling of the traditional banking models. We understand that some financial institutions, some fintechs, some third parties have specific products and services that we don’t, and we believe that for us to be able to better serve our customers, we should be able to integrate those specific products and services into our own. Open banking and open finance are only as good as the number of players that cooperate within that ecosystem, and that’s, I think, one of the biggest things that we have to consider. More importantly, it adds value to our customers and how they do their financial transactions, and that is what’s really important to us. Of course, as a bank, there is a bottom line that we need to think of, but we believe that there is a space for both to co-exist, for the customers to be served appropriately and for the Bank to be able to have new business models.” ~Erika Dizon, UnionBank's Fintech Business Group Head

After her presentation, Dizon participated in a fireside chat with the event’s moderator, veteran journalist Rico Hizon. One of the questions that she answered was on data privacy, which is currently one of the biggest concerns related to open banking and open finance. She reiterated that, at the core of open banking, there should be customer consent, where end users can have the choice to share their data or not, and limit how much of their data is used.

Another topic discussed during the chat was balancing competition with collaboration, especially since open ecosystems require the latter for them to truly serve their purpose. She said that for UnionBank, rather than competing, the focus is more on “coopetition,” adding that there is a place for different industry players to benefit from a win-win-win model.

On the topic of how open banking and open finance can create more value for UnionBank, she said that these allow the Bank to identify new potential business models, and with these, generate more income streams and revenue models.

UnionBank joins PSE Investment Forum 2022, talks crypto as future of banking, finance

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer Henry Aguda joined discussions on digital and crypto assets as the future of financial investments at the recently concluded PSE Investment Forum 2022.

As the country’s first bank to successfully carry out financial transactions through blockchain, UnionBank attests to the use of the technology in banking securely and efficiently. Blockchain can thus, be applied in a wide array of use cases.

“In fact, one of the very good applications we started with early on, was how to address the problem where rural banks don't have access to one another; and to the basic banking requirements in the industry. We found a cheaper solution, and we gave this to the rural banks in the form of i2i, a platform that allows us to provide them a channel to interconnect with each other. And we wouldn't have been able to do that if not for blockchain, specifically because of its low-cost operations and how easy it is to program. If you follow trends in history, we went from gold to paper, now it's moving toward digital. So, if you go by that trend, everything is going to be digitized form of transactions. It's no longer going to be a transfer of record of value, it will be a digital transfer of value. Yes, but subject to the following. First, keep it to the top 10 coins. Second, it shouldn't be above five percent of your total investible portfolio, meaning it's money that you can afford to lose. And third, do your own research. First, on blockchain technology, it's something that every company should explore. We've proven that it's useful in terms of increasing efficiency in operations, and it's easy to use. Second, as an investment instrument, (crypto or currency based on blockchain) it's in the early stages. If you want to experiment and include it in your portfolio, it's at your own risk. The regulation is still evolving, so treat it as a high-risk instrument and then explore. Hopefully, venues like these where it is discussed, help the regulators form the right risk management framework and policies around it..” ~Henry Aguda, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer

Asked whether blockchain-based transactions are the future of banking and finance, Aguda agreed. "If you follow trends in history, we went from gold to paper, now it's moving toward digital. So, if you go by that trend, everything is going to be digitized form of transactions. It's no longer going to be a transfer of record of value, it will be a digital transfer of value."

As to crypto being a viable investment, the UnionBank executive answered in the affirmative but expounded.

UnionBank clients can now seamlessly do direct cash-in to their Shopee and Lazada wallets!

Surely, buying essentials online has never been this easy! Shopee and Lazada buyers can now easily cash-in, in real time from their UnionBank accounts. Customers also enjoy discounts and added benefits with their online purchases, for every top-up transaction.

UnionBank clients can now do their online shopping more conveniently through the country’s major e-commerce giants Shopee and Lazada -- by directly cashing-in their e-wallets. This new option opens another channel for Bank customers to do their online transactions seamlessly.

This was made possible with the collaboration of tech savvy ShopeePay, Lazada Wallet and UnionBank, combining the power of three digital leaders. 

“These partnerships are timely especially now at a time when e-commerce and cashless transactions are exponentially rising. This ensures Filipinos can participate in the headwinds of innovation and a better, more seamless customer experience as a result.” ~Erika Denise Dizon, UnionBank FVP and Head of Fintech Business Group

Here’s how it works. To cash-in your ShopeePay using UnionBank Online Banking, go to ShopeePay Wallet, select Cash-in, enter the amount, select online banking as the payment method, and choose UnionBank. You will then be directed to the Bank’s online banking to confirm the transaction.

For Lazada Wallet, click the wallet icon on the upper right portion of the homepage. Select the cash-in button, enter the amount, and select “Add UnionBank account” in the Cash-in Methods page. You will then be directed to the Bank’s online banking site for confirmation of the transaction. Then enjoy shopping!

Achievements, future projects take the spotlight at UnionBank’s E-TalkTales year-ender event

Arvie de Vera, Co-Founder and CEO of UnionBank's digital-native banking arm UnionDigital, and Henry Aguda, UnionBank Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer

In celebration of its numerous accomplishments and milestones this past year, and to give a small preview of what its customers can expect in 2022, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) held another iteration of its long-running virtual media roundtable series E-TalkTales last December 15.

During the virtual event, UnionBank Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer Henry Aguda talked about some of the Bank's achievements for the year, while the Co-Founder and CEO of UnionBank's digital-native banking arm UnionDigital, Arvie de Vera, talked about the role that the newly formed digital bank will play in UnionBank's digital transformation journey going forward.

"The pandemic created this shift to digital, which we now refer to as the “new digital normal”. We changed the way we live, the way we travel, the way we interact with one another, and basically we've changed forever in terms of how we transact in the financial sector. But even before the pandemic, UnionBank already had this forward-looking view that digital is the way for us to move forward, and when the pandemic hit, not only did we survive, but I'm happy to say that the Bank actually thrived," ~Henry Aguda, UnionBank Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer

Aguda began the discussion by recounting how UnionBank's digital transformation journey has enabled it to brave 2020 and the equally challenging 2021. 

He then highlighted the top 10 most notable achievements of UnionBank in 2021. These include being the only publicly listed Philippine bank to be granted a license to operate a digital-native bank; the successful groundbreaking of the UnionBank Innovation Campus, the country's first-ever learning institution focused on digital innovation; and having 21 patents for its innovative offers already approved and 18 more on the way. 

Other notable achievements include the integration of Instapay 2.0 into its digital banking platform; the successful launch of the UnionBank SME Banking App; the launch of wealth management educational campaigns including the NextGen Academy; significant user growths for UBX’s platforms SeekCap, Bux, and Sentro; and the significant increase in its customer base to almost 10 million to date, from just nearly 7 million as of end-2020.

Meanwhile, de Vera provided a quick introduction to UnionDigital. UnionDigital is one of only six financial institutions in the Philippines that have officially been granted digital banking licenses by the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas to date. As UnionBank's digital banking arm, UnionDigital will focus on delivering banking and financial services to underserved sectors which the parent bank is not able to optimally cater to. 

"While UnionDigital aims to empower the country's digital economy, we also aim to elevate it by bringing trust and governance into the space. We embrace innovation like a fintech, but offer all the powers, experience, and track record of a fully regulated bank. At the heart of our work will always be the desire to provide our customers with what they want and what they need, while ensuring that they have what they need in terms of security, compliance with regulation, and proper governance.” ~Arvie de Vera, Co-Founder and CEO of UnionBank's digital-native banking arm UnionDigital

In terms of what customers can expect from the Bank and its subsidiaries in 2022, some of the things that Aguda and de Vera gave a sneak preview of were the Bank's possible foray into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), several new solutions aimed at helping workers in the thriving gig economy through EON, and participating in the growing interest and opportunities relating to the metaverse, just to name a few. 

"UnionBank’s goal is not just to help people survive, but to actually enable them to thrive in this new environment through the latest financial technologies; staying true to our commitment to “Tech-up Pilipinas! I hope you are as eager as I am to welcome 2022. What I can promise you is that what you heard today is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more exciting news you can look forward to from UnionBank." ~Albert Cuadrante, UnionBank Chief Marketing Officer

UnionBank Chief Marketing Officer Albert Cuadrante capped off the event with a promise that the Bank will continue to do even better in 2022 in terms of delivering great customer experience across channels and platforms. 

UnionBank UPAY for MSME: Helping level the playing field for the country’s growing number of MSMEs

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

Filipinos are now utilizing digital payments more than ever. Last month, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that digital payments made up 20.1 percent of all transactions in 2020, more than double the figure from two years ago of 10 percent. This strong momentum is creating opportunities particularly for enterprising Filipinos who engage in e-commerce.

To help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country capitalize on this growing trend, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), the region’s digital trailblazer and the country’s foremost bank for MSMEs, has launched a groundbreaking feature that will make e-payments easier and secure not only for customers but also for MSMEs—the new UPAY for MSME.

This was unveiled at the Bank's 12th E-TalkTales media event, wherein UnionBank Vice President and MSME Segment Head Jaypee Soliman, and UnionBank Merchant Acquiring and Payment Gateway Head Gerry Austria led discussions on the critical role of digitizing payments in the country's fast evolving market.

Soliman began the discussions by talking about the state of digital payments in the country, citing the significant growth in the number of Filipinos who utilize these payment solutions. This is an indication that Filipinos are now more open to the idea of becoming a cash-lite society.

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

“This shows how the consumers are now transacting digitally. They are ready. They are there. The number of Filipinos having e-wallets and bank accounts continue to grow. But the question is, are the MSMEs ready to accept digital payments?"

This is where UPAY comes in. UPAY is a groundbreaking digital payments solution designed to make acceptance of multiple payment options accessible to MSMEs. It offers a fully integrated, single platform payment collection complete with other features that can make inbound payments easier for entrepreneurs, including the option to generate payment links with multiple collection channels, and the option to generate InstaPay QRPH for digital and physical channels.

"UPAY for MSMEs is a payment gateway that is embedded in our MSME Business Banking App. Businesses of all sizes and types now have the power to generate payment links, request payments, send it to their customers and provide multiple payment options, all these reconciled and credited to a single UnionBank account." ~Jaypee Soliman, UnionBank Vice President and MSME Segment Head

Union Bank of the Philippines 12th TalkTales: Critical Role of DigitizingPayments in Fast Evolving Market

What makes UPAY convenient for accepting payments is that customers can choose their preferred payment channel either via Unionbank Online, InstaPay, Other Digital Wallets, Credit/Debit Cards and even over-the-counter through UnionBank’s expansive network of partner channels nationwide.

"When we conceptualized UPAY for MSMEs, we wanted to do away with all the different hassles that the merchant is experiencing to set up his payments, one of which is having to connect to a point-of-sale system, having to have different devices, having to have to download different apps. Second, it's the efficiency in doing business. You don't need to be in your physical store to actually have a customer pay you. You can actually be vacationing somewhere else and someone wants to buy a product which they saw through your post on Instagram or Facebook. You can actually just create a payment link and send it to that customer, so it's very convenient for both the merchant and the customer." ~Gerry Austria, UnionBank Merchant Acquiring and Payment Gateway Head 

Through the new feature, UnionBank wants to level the playing field for MSMEs by making the feature accessible to them, which was previously only available to the bigger merchants as part of enterprise platforms that are too technologically demanding and expensive for smaller players.

For more information about the company and this article, please visit

www.unionbankph.com/msme/upay.

UBX CEO talks democratizing insurance through embedded experiences at 11th E-TalkTales

11th E-TalkTales

In the latest iteration of Union Bank of the Philippines’ (UnionBank) E-TalkTales, UBX President and CEO John Januszczak, Coherent CEO John Brisco, and Chubb Deputy Regional President for Asia Pacific Glen Browne discussed the ongoing insurance crisis in the Philippines and how UBX’s insurance platform Assured is helping address this crisis through embedded insurance with everyday Filipino experiences powered by innovation and co-creation.

"You have to make it easier for the consumers to discover the value of insurance. And insurance is obvious when it is hyper-personalized and offered in a hyper-relevant context. Products are often too complicated, predicated on old sales models with corresponding jargon that inevitably develops over the years. Often, what is sold is in many cases essentially the same kind of product that my own parents bought over 50 years ago. What is equally concerning is the sub-optimal impact that the complexity has not just on customers, but conventionally, on insurance agents and advisors. Traditional intermediaries such as agents, brokers, and bank partners have only so much reach without leveraging digital. On top of this, distribution via these traditional channels requires higher value products to be economically feasible. The cause of traditional sales channels is noble, but ultimately, only economically feasible for the more affluent in our society." ~John Januszczak, UBX President and CEO

UBX President and CEO John Januszczak, Coherent CEO John Brisco, and Chubb Deputy Regional President for Asia Pacific Glen Browne discussed the ongoing insurance crisis in the Philippines and how UBX’s insurance platform Assured is helping address this crisis through embedded insurance with everyday Filipino experiences powered by innovation and co-creation.

UnionBank's 11th  E-Talktales: Addressing the protection gap in the Philippine market through embedded insurance

"What we're trying to do is help insurers by making it much easier for them to bring their products and integrate them into the UBX ecosystem. So, we're acting as the facilitator between UBX and insurers so that all the data that has to interact between an insurer and UBX is as consistent and seamless as possible. If UBX is trying to think about the experience of the user, Chubb is providing world-class products to fit into that experience, and then Coherent is bringing the technology to enable that to happen, and I think that's a very unique proposition which doesn't really exist across many markets in the world." ~John Brisco, Coherent CEO

Januszczak highlighted three possible factors that are keeping a lot of Filipinos from availing insurance products. First, he said that it's not easy for most to have even a basic understanding of how valuable insurance can be for them, which is why it's important for providers to make it easier to discover. Another problem that is contributing to the insurance gap in the country is that insurance products can be very challenging to understand. And lastly, there are also the problems related to distribution.

"With Assured, it's bringing the complexity of traditional insurance into bite-sized chunks, in a very accessible and easy-to-understand way." ~Glen Browne,  Chubb Deputy Regional President for Asia Pacific

This is where UBX's embeddable insurance platform Assured comes in. With Assured, the goal of UBX is to take monolithic, complex, and expensive products from insurers and make them more accessible. Through this, UBX also aims to provide a single platform and a single API to make it easier for solutions developers and communities to aggregate and customize protection across multiple insurance providers.

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently created the country’s very first mass retail banking hub, aimed at providing support specifically to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country as part of the Bank’s goal of enabling inclusive prosperity amid the current global health crisis.

Mr. Manual G. Santiago, Jr., UnionBank’s Chief Mass Market, and Financial Inclusion Executive

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

The hub, a consolidation of all entrepreneur-centric solutions offered by UnionBank, will provide a one-stop center for resources that MSMEs might need in order to support their businesses regardless of sizes—such as financing, logistics, and a buyer-seller network, to name a few—all made accessible to mass-market customers.

“I think the definition for SMEs is much more defined where we're really looking at micro, small, and medium enterprises. So, these are your businesses with, for micro, 3 million in capital, and then you have 15 million for small, and for medium, it's about a hundred million in capital. It's a large market and we think this is a segment that needs attention at this time, and we're putting our efforts into that. We've seen that in the way they apply for loans. You would think that because you have loans available that people are going to flock and apply,” Santiago said. “In fact, even those existing loans that we have that have reached the renewal stage, MSMEs would even say 'can you renew that at half the amount only, and I will just come back to you when things are better? It's a good thing because it shows a sign of maturity, and you know, in this time, you can't be very aggressive. You really need to think about your next steps to be able to survive this crisis.” ~Mr. Manual G. Santiago, Jr., UnionBank’s Chief Mass Market, and Financial Inclusion Executive

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

This was one of the topics at UnionBank’s E-Talk Tales last February 17, wherein UnionBank’s Chief Mass Market and Financial Inclusion Executive Manual G. Santiago, Jr. focused on how the Bank addresses the typical pain points encountered by entrepreneurs, especially during the pandemic.

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

Santiago began the discussion by first explaining what the hub’s target market is, which he defined as “the middle-middle income level going down” which is also a mix of banked, underbanked, unbanked customers.

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

According to Santiago, UnionBank estimates this market at about 50 million customers, with the majority of them being in the lower-income segments. In addition, about 60 percent of this customer market classify themselves as self-employed entrepreneurs. 

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

Santiago noted that a lot of entrepreneurs today are very careful about their decisions when it comes to their businesses, as a result of the uncertainties brought about by the current health crisis. This “wait and see” mindset is evident even in those who have immediate access to financing.

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

With its vision of empowering SMEs through digital initiatives, UnionBank has already laid a lot of groundwork even before the pandemic to address SME challenges.

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

UnionBank Business Loan via UBX SeekCap, an online Loan Marketplace where business owners and SMEs may easily browse short-term business loan products and apply digitally. SeekCap allows SMEs to get approval within hours.

UnionBank Business Loan via UBX SeekCap, an online Loan Marketplace where business owners and SMEs may easily browse short-term business loan products and apply digitally. SeekCap allows SMEs to get approval within hours.

The Bank has also created the SME Business Banking App, an online platform that enables SMEs to manage their financial transactions by facilitating all business payments with the most extensive list of government and utility billers, transferring funds to both local and international banks, customizing complex business approval flows, enrolling all companies and subsidiaries in a single-login setup, and opening and managing payroll accounts for their employees, among others. 

UnionBank opens country’s first mass retail banking hub to better support PH MSMEs

To know more about UnionBank's digital initiatives, visit https://www.unionbankph.com/

AI a vehicle for customers to achieve aspirations – UnionBank Senior Advisor for Data and AI

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

Data science and artificial intelligence (or “DSAI”) are two “tandem”-technologies that are now taking over many industries across the globe. Artificial intelligence has brought about many exciting prospects that have ushered more personalized, “tailor-fit” digital experiences for many of us. This has made many of the things we do in our lives simpler, more instantaneous, and, thus, more convenient.

As Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is now in the next phase of its digital transformation journey, the country’s leading digital bank has continued to invest in talent, infrastructure, and other resources needed to innovate and co-create using data science and AI, which is led by global data science expert Dr. David Hardoon Ph. D., as the Bank's Senior Advisor for Data and Artificial Intelligence.

On the sixth installment of UnionBank’s exclusive “eTalk Tales” with Media, Dr. Hardoon discussed how UnionBank is translating data science and artificial intelligence insights into a very individualized way of banking, making sure that everyone is statistically significant and provided the ‘VIP’ treatment with a wide range of personalized services and solutions.

“DSAI is a key element within UnionBank’s digitize or perish journey. It is the differentiator between just “Digitize to survive” versus “Digitize to flourish. AI is the engine of the digital renaissance.  It is a vehicle to achieve an aspiration. It is important to anchor AI on what truly matters—people, whether customers or employees. AI is truly about being human-centric first. The purpose is us, primarily as customers, and how do we leverage the insight and knowledge that can be derived from AI to help shape financial services around us. The Bank has been introducing and enhancing countless digital touchpoints for customer ease and fluidity of engagement. These touchpoints mean exactly that, that customers engage with the Bank on a more regular basis. It is our responsibility to...imagine. Imagine the ability to provide bridging or intra-day loans without a customer's need to submit hefty financial historical statements.” ~Dr. David Hardoon Ph. D., as the Bank's Senior Advisor for Data and Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

UnionBank of the Philippines' 6th E-TalkTales: Transforming the Banking Engine: The Art of Artificial Intelligence

Hardoon emphasized that AI is a must-have to enable scalable customer-centric finance of tomorrow, today. The goal is to make finance relevant, specific, and contextual to each individual consumer.  His use of AI is not artificial intelligence but ‘augmented intelligence’. The reality is that humans are phenomenal in creativity that machines do not have. Machines may be able to replicate but it cannot originate. This, according to Hardoon, is where augmentation comes in. Data science uses insights from machines to operationalize and contextualize. “It’s not a question of ‘can we do it’ but ‘should we do it’.”

Digital transformation is heralded as the game-changer for the banking sector in today's reality and for tomorrow's necessity. The transformation is rooted in the aspiration of inclusive and resilient financial services and is about achieving a reality where ones’ moments of life are not defined around the financial products available, but where financial services and products are created to support the milestones in life. 

UnionBank uses AI to upgrade its existing strategy and accelerate further innovation, an example of which is its use as an additional layer of defense against financial crimes. AI enables the Bank to detect more instances while making sure that the existing defense and process will not be disrupted to ensure operational efficiency.  AI is also being leveraged by the Bank to predict future volume of inbound calls that can reduce some of the volatility in call management. Through AI, the cash management solutions team is provided with data-driven relevant recommendations and proposals for customers.

Data Science and AI (DSAI) enables capabilities in understanding customers' needs through their various engagements with the bank and providers and the ability to go beyond a templatized approach to ascertain relevance, suitability, and affordability.  This makes UnionBank, Philippine banking’s best in the data science and AI field.

Consistent with its commitment to making banking simpler and more inclusive via best-in-class digital and mobile capabilities, UnionBank President and CEO Edwin Bautista believe that leveraging Data and AI is a key driver to the next level of its digital transformation as the Bank continues to put the customer—both individuals and corporates, at the heart of its business.

About Dr. David Hardoon

Dr. David Hardoon is Senior Advisor for Data and AI at UnionBank of the Philippines. As part of his responsibilities, he works with various centers, groups, and units to reinforce data infrastructure and governance, behavior modeling, machine learning, and AI capabilities as well as applications in the Bank.

In addition to his responsibilities at UnionBank, Dr. Hardoon also serves as an advisor for a number of other institutions on matters related to data and AI.

He is concurrently Senior Advisor for AI to Singapore's Corrupt Investigation Practices Bureau (CPIB), where he externally advises the Bureau’s Chief Data Officer and Chief Information Officer on a digital transformation journey and strategic development of analytics capabilities and machine learning. He is also Senior Advisor for Data Science to Singapore's Central Provident Fund Board, working as an external advisor to the Board’s Chief Data Officer.

Prior to his appointment at UnionBank, Dr. Hardoon was the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) first appointed Chief Data Officer and Head of the Data Analytics Group, and subsequently MAS’ Special Advisor on Artificial Intelligence. In these roles, he led the development of the AI strategy both for MAS and Singapore’s financial sector as well as efforts in promoting open cross-border data flow.

He also led and established the ASEAN Advanced Analytics of Ernst & Young Advisory Singapore as Director of EY Data, IT Advisory Services, and co-founded Azendian Solutions Pte. Ltd., an information management and data science consultancy between 2013 and 2017. He was also Head of Analytics at SAS Institute Ltd. Singapore from 2010 to 2013.

Dr. Hardoon is an Academic Council Member of the Global Fintech Institute (GFI) in Singapore, where he oversees the academic matters of the Chartered FinTech Professional (CFtP) Programme, which is jointly developed by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), and the GFI.

He is also Visiting Faculty at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at Singapore Management University (SMU) and a Board Member of SMU’s School of Accountancy Data Analytics Advisory Board; Executive Education Fellow at the Advanced Computing for Executives (ACE) of the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore where he advises on data, machine learning and artificial intelligence from concept to practice cross-industry, and Executive Education Fellow at SUSS, where he advises on fintech and AI-related teaching and research activities.

In addition, he is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning at University College London.

Dr. Hardoon is a published author. He co-penned the book “Getting Started with Business Analytics: Insightful Decision-Making” and is a contributor to three other books related to data and AI. He is also a contributor to various news outfits including Singapore’s The Business Times, The Straits Times, and Moody’s Analytics.

He also regularly speaks at events and conferences, the most recent of which are speaking engagements with The Asset, the Institute of International Finance, and SGInnovate, to name a few.

Dr. Hardoon is a graduate of Royal Halloway, the University of London with First-Class Honors B.Sc. in Computer Science and AI, and a holder of a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Southampton School of Electronics and Computer Science United Kingdom.

UnionBank Talks Digitizing Corporate Clients in the New Normal at 5th E-TalkTales

UnionBank Talks Digitizing Corporate Clients in the New Normal at 5th E-TalkTales

Last October 20, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) held the fifth installment of its E-TalkTales series wherein Head of Transaction Banking Mon Duarte discussed the Bank’s various transaction banking solutions, particularly The Portal, its all-digital banking platform for corporate clients.

 

Duarte began the discussion by differentiating UnionBank’s Transaction Banking solutions, which he defined as simply offering customized solutions to help digitize our corporate clients.  Traditional transaction banking helps manage the flow of funds by facilitating collections and payments, over-the-counter check deposits, to the provision of armored car services for high cash transaction situations, among others.

 

 

The main focus of Duarte's discussion was UnionBank's The Portal, it's digital banking platform specially designed for corporate clients. Offering a host of solutions that include bills payments, payroll, fund transfers, check writing services, merchant payment gateway systems, and credit facilities, The Portal provides corporations with all their essential banking needs in a single platform.

 

 

Knowing that each corporate entity has needs and priorities that are uniquely theirs, UnionBank designed The Portal in a way that allows it to provide utmost flexibility to clients, making it the preferred platform for those who don't want the one-size-fits-all approach of most competitors when it comes to the corporate banking solutions they offer.

 

 

Part of the flexibility offered by The Portal comes by way of various customization options available to clients. Depending on the current needs of their organization, clients can choose only the solutions that they want to avail of at the moment, and then adjust later on. To make it easier, the Bank created a number of packaged solutions based on what it thinks would make sense for clients, which they can avail of anytime via The Portal website.

 

With The Portal, UnionBank aims to make transaction banking as seamless for users as possible, and the Bank wants to make this very clear right from the moment a client starts using the platform—the onboarding process.

 

 

Another key feature of The Portal in terms of flexibility is the possible configurations for transaction approvals. With this feature, corporates will be able to establish a specific maker-checker process for each transaction made by their team members. This will give them free control over who can make which transaction, as well as the maximum amount for each transaction depending on who makes it, among others.

 

 

Onboarding is typically one of the most stressful phases of using a new platform for many corporates, since it involves learning a new set of interfaces and processes. This phase can take a few days or weeks or even a few months to finish. With The Portal, however, UnionBank also digitized the onboarding processes so that clients can get into the platform in less than a day, usually within a few minutes, with no further training needed.

 

These are only a few innovative features of The Portal. As the Bank continues its digital transformation journey, more services will become available in the coming months.

 

The Portal is not based on any third-party digital framework. Instead, it was built from the ground up. In creating The Portal, UnionBank was guided by the principle of having a simple integrated platform in order to ensure the best user experience for customers. For the Bank, providing superior transaction banking experiences to users is a top priority, and The Portal is the perfect representation of what it believes transaction banking should be.