Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) received two major awards at The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services and Technology Innovation Awards 2022, the most rigorous, prestigious, and transparent country level award programme for consumer financial services and technology in the Philippines, at its first in-person event held at the Ballroom of Fairmont Makati.

Best Retail Bank in the Philippines

For demonstrating a long-term, sustainable, profitable franchise with customers as its core proposition,’ The Asian Banker awarded UnionBank as the Best Retail Bank in the Philippines for the third consecutive year.

Based on The Asian Banker’s research, UnionBank ‘sustained above-industry performance despite setbacks brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bank achieved a double-digit growth year-on-year (YoY) in retail gross revenue. It also recorded a significant improvement in retail return on equity (ROE) at 33%, up from 20.4% in the previous year.

It has onboarded about 2.5 million customer accounts. Contributing to the bank’s performance in 2021 was the bank’s ecosystem-focused customer acquisition strategy and digital capabilities.

“Winning the (Best Retail Bank in the Philippines) award is a validation of the efforts of every UnionBanker, each one contributing to bringing our vision to life. It gives us the resolve to continue innovation and digitization… as we bring the future of banking to the present by co-creating innovations for a better world,” said UnionBank Retail Banking Center Head, Mary Joyce S. Gonzalez, in her acceptance speech.

Best Digital Banking Services in the Philippines

In addition to the above recognition, The Asian Banker also awarded UnionBank as the Best Digital Banking Services in the Philippines ‘for providing a unified and seamless customer experience.’

Based on their research, the Bank ‘provides a seamless, innovative, and simplified user experience to customers while ensuring a high level of security and reliability.

The Bank built more than 100 robotic process automation (RPA) processes which cover account opening and know your customer (KYC), billing collection, cards, cheque deposit, anti-money laundering, data quality, credit investigation, document generation and management, document generation and management, fraud management, loans, reconciliation, and reports.

With the help of its fintech arm, the bank gained further traction in signups and the volume of transactions across all its platforms grew by 30% YoY.  The transaction volume already breached the one million mark in a single month.’

“As our President and CEO said ‘luck favors the prepared, but more rightfully so, fortune favors the bold.’ If we did not take the first step to digitally transform over six years ago, then we would not have the accomplishments that we have today. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ‘Tech Up, Pilipinas’ and enable inclusive prosperity, making sure that no one gets left behind,” said UnionBank Blockchain and API Head, Cathy Casas upon receiving the Best Digital Banking Services in the Philippines award.

The Asian Banker assess banks and non-banks in the Philippines on a product and business level through a comprehensive evaluation process. Previously, they assessed banks based on criteria and scorecards which it believed the retail banking proposition and technology proposition should be. However, in line with the rapid transformation the financial industry is experiencing today, it has also revamped its awards programme. For 2022, it has redefined categories, introduced new scorecards and opened the programme to financial technology (fintech) companies, marketplace platforms and other alternative providers.

It is the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community. The Singapore-based company has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Dubai, as well as representatives in London, New York, and San Francisco. It has a business model that revolves around three core business lines: publications, research services and forums.