Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) continues to earn recognition for its trailblazing digital innovations both locally and internationally, recently taking home two institutional awards at the prestigious 2022 Retail Banking Awards organized by Asian Banking & Finance (ABF).
The Retail Banking Awards is an annual ceremony that honors institutions across the Asia Pacific that have successfully created game-changing banking solutions, products, and services benefitting not just their customers, but also the region’s banking and finance industry as a whole. It is organized by ABF, an industry magazine that specializes in feature stories, executive profiles, analysis, and industry reports relevant to the banking and financial companies in Asia.
This year’s entries were reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges composed of industry experts including EY Regional Managing Partner, ASEAN Nam Soon Liew; PwC Asia Pacific Financial Services Leader John Dovaston; Deloitte Audit Partner, Chief Strategy & Operations Officer, Audit & Assurance Ho Kok Yong; and Bain & Company Partner, Financial Services Edy Widjaja.
UnionBank was named “Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Philippines” highlighting its superior retail banking capabilities and how the Bank has more than doubled its accounts largely from leveraging the ecosystems of its anchored customers, enabled by cash management solutions, expanding its reach to individuals and businesses, including Pag-ibig members, SSS and GSIS pensioners, and even the local government units.
In addition, the Bank was named “SME Bank of the Year – Philippines” for how its UPay for MSMEs and SME Banking Platform addressed difficulties amongst MSMEs that are just starting to undergo digital transformation by providing assistance and support in solving these challenges by providing a personalized onboarding journey and experience based on each business owner’s need.
“With the Asia Pacific banking and finance industry still navigating its way to economic recovery, industry players will still need to keep a close eye on the market trends that shape the future of the industry and how customers respond to such changes. Financial institutions will also need to stay vigilant about market issues that might hinder recovery in the near future,” ABF said in a statement announcing the 2022 winners. “Despite this, many companies persevered to provide services to customers and did not back down from the uncertainties of economic movements.”
“It’s an honor to accept this award on behalf of the Board of Directors of Union Bank of the Philippines and on behalf of all UnionBankers. When UnionBank embarked on its digital transformation journey many years ago, we were driven by a strategic vision of what the future of banking would look like. Winning the ‘Domestic Retail Bank of the Year’ award this year is validation of the efforts of every UnionBanker, each one contributing to bringing our vision to life, and it gives us the resolve to continue co-creating innovations for our customers and for a better world,” said UnionBank Retail Banking Center Head Mary Joyce S. Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, UnionBank SME and Micropreneurs Segment Head Jaypee R. Soliman accepted the ‘SME Bank of the Year’ award for UnionBank and on behalf of all the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSMEs) in UnionBank’s own community.
This was not the first time that UnionBank won big at the said awards ceremony. In 2021, the Bank took home the awards “Financial Inclusion Initiative of the Year – Philippines,” “SME Bank of the Year – Philippines,” and Credit Card Initiative of the Year – Philippines,” which underscored its exemplary company performance for that year.