UNIONBANK
“ If you give customers a facility that allows them to borrow money with competitive rates , nothing that would prevent them from repaying , that impacts people ' s lives ”
One step ahead of the curve This forward-thinking approach has been applied to all areas of the bank ’ s services and is yielding extraordinary results . Indeed , Union Bank of the Philippines was the first regional bank to employ the use of enterprise architecture as part of its digital transformation process . Aguda believes this is the biggest innovation he ’ s brought to the table in terms of creating a better regulatory strategy in the banking sector .
HENRY AGUDA CTOO AND CTO , UNIONBANK
He explains , “ In 2017 , we started a massive shift to future-proof our business by using emerging technologies . We started retiring most of our desktop computers and started giving laptops to our employees . The world is a volatile , uncertain , complex , and ambiguous place even before a pandemic , and we ’ d prepared for everything from earthquakes , tidal waves , shooters in the building , and terrorist attacks .
“ We also went into an aggressive programme , giving cell phones with data loads to our employees . And we ' ve created an infrastructure that is scalable as people start using the network . When the pandemic hit , it was just the right disaster that tested all of the readiness that we prepared for . So because of that , 87 % of our people immediately were able to work from home , and they can work securely with VPNs and secured connections . This allowed us to ensure that our employees are working safely from their homes while we continue servicing the public .”
DID YOU KNOW ...
UBX - DIGITAL BANKING FOR THE FUTURE
UBX is a fully owned subsidiary of Union Bank . The purpose of UBX is to multiply the digital capabilities of the bank . It ’ s a specialist arm that invests in the fintech industry , helping new startups to grow , and also using technology that is strategically aligned to the vision and aspirations of the bank . UBX is part of UnionBank ' s transformation B - a comparison would be the way AWS functions symbiotically with Amazon . UBX is also one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in Asia .
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