The recent years saw a massive growth in digital adoption, with internet usage penetration reaching close to 70% of the Philippine population at the start of 2022, pushing the growth in annual spend on online consumer goods purchase to 26% (approximately valued at US$ 17 Billion) as revealed by a study done by digital research provider, We Are Social and Statistics. This drove businesses to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives and improvements, particularly in the areas of receiving payments and collections, to be able to optimally cater to the demands of a still rapidly growing digital economy.
Hearing the many frustrations of business owners and executives on managing multiple vendors and platforms for their payment and collections systems, UnionBank developed UPAY – a single platform that allows businesses to completely manage the end-to-end payment and collections process.
Corporations and SMEs can now efficiently manage the way they receive and collect payments and transform their web and mobile applications into a super app with the help of UPAY. Powered by UnionBank’s award-winning digital technology, UPAY offers a wide selection of payment methods and channels their clients can choose from, ranging from Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards, bank transfers, and popular e-wallets like GrabPay and GCash to PCHC Paygate, Instapay QR, and multiple over-the-counter channels.
“UPAY is equipped with a variety of tools for a quick and hassle-free payment solution. It accepts widely used payment channels and has an advanced reporting and reconciliation system that provides access to useful payment and collection data,” said Dino N. Velasco, SVP & Corporate Products Head, Union Bank of the Philippines. “Having a simple yet complete payment system makes for a better overall experience not only for our clients but for their clients as well.”
UPAY can be built into the client’s website or app. The system also gives real-time notifications for clients to easily track and reconcile payments while its advanced reporting and consolidated systems provide comprehensive reports and real-time transaction confirmation. The best part? Just one settlement account to access all the tools to make payments and collection a breeze!
One of the companies that has benefited from UPAY is called Bloom Solutions. UPAY was able to transform their issues on account funding, settlement, and disbursement which, in turn, allowed them to create an enjoyable experience for their customers in an efficient and affordable manner.
“It also has given us the ability to receive payments from different banks, through different channels—this means that our bank-end processes are more efficient and responsive when issues arise,” said Justin David, Co-founder and COO of Bloom Solutions.
Recently, UPAY also made collections more convenient for an institutional client, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which recently launched their Judiciary Electronic Payment System (JEPS) using UPAY as its integrated unified payment and collection platform.
“With JEPS, payment transactions with the Court are made more convenient. Litigants no longer need to physically go to the courthouse to pay court fees because they now have the option to pay online at any location and at their most convenient time. Transactions are also processed real-time,” said Atty Jed Sherwin Uy, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Technology Officer.
Part of the improvements is that litigants are provided with various payment channels to choose from, whether debit card, credit card, or e-wallets. Court personnel are now also able to easily monitor the payment status of each filed case online by showing underpayments, overpayments, and successful payment transactions through JEPS.