INTERVIEW
Nowhere to go but the top for UNO Digital Bank CEO Manish Bhai said they want to be first for their Filipino customers’ financial needs.
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or the newest digital-only lender in the Philippines, UNO Digital Bank, there’s no other place they want to be but at the top of the country’s banking and finance industry. “We want to be number one when it comes to impact on financial inclusion, number one in terms of lending balance sheet, number one in terms of innovation, number one in simplicity and customer experience,” Manish Bhai, CEO of UNO Digital Bank, told Asian Banking & Finance in an exclusive interview. This goal is reflected in the bank’s own name, Uno. “Uno means first, or the leader of the pack. Everything that we execute, everything that we stand for—we want this spirit of UNO to be the overarching guiding light,” Bhai said. The first step to this goal starts in the Philippines, where UNO Digital Bank successfully secured one of the five digital-only bank licences offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). As for how they plan to stand out? The company is about credit. “Whilst there are five other digital banks licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), what sets us apart from them is our thrust towards credit. Our focus will be around lending even though we are a full spectrum bank,” Bhai said, adding that they plan to help build a more financiallyinclusive banking landscape in the Philippines. Financial inclusion remains modest in the Philippines, with only 53% of adults having a deposit account, according to BSP’s financial inclusion survey. And of the Filipinos who currently have outstanding loans, around half went to borrow money from informal settlers and even family and friends--showcasing how many adults in the country remained underserved by formal creditors. “Our primary target market is the mass and mass affluent segments across the Philippines, which include both the unbanked and the underbanked. We are creating a bank online for people that may have only experienced technology with their mobile phones,” Bhai said. Why launch a digital bank in the Philippines? We saw a great opportunity for digital banking in the Philippines as the country has a very high internet and smartphone penetration. According to Statista, the Philippines currently have around 84.67 million smartphone users in 2022, and is forecasted to grow to as much as 91.48 million in 2026. However, whilst there is a high mobile penetration, access to financial services—even a basic savings bank account—is still low. As of the first quarter of 2021, only 53% of Filipino adults had a basic deposit account. Meaning, there is still a lot of work to be done if we aim to contribute to BSP’s goal to have 70% of the adult Filipino population have a formal financial account by 2023. 16 ASIAN BANKING & FINANCE | Q4 2022
Whilst there is a high mobile penetration in the Philippines, access to financial services is still low (Photo: Manish Bhai, CEO, UNO Digital Bank)
UNO Digital Bank aims to help close the financial access and financial inclusion gap by leveraging the country’s high smartphone penetration rate. UNO Digital Bank will enable any Filipino with a smartphone to open a bank account and have access to all the financial products and services we offer, using one app and one card to transact and meet all their life’s financial needs. As we see a pivot of consumers to online platforms for tech-driven services for basic and non-basic financial needs due to the pandemic, we forecast a continued uptake of digital payments, giving us a stronger business case to launch in the market as Filipinos continue to embrace digital transformation.
Our primary target market is the mass and mass affluent segments across the Philippines
What makes UNO Digital Bank stand out? UNO Digital Bank is fully digital. We have no physical branches and our entire infrastructure is built on the cloud. We provide one trusted digital interface that allows users to save, grow, borrow, transact, protect, and invest to meet all their life’s financial needs. We are a credit-led full-spectrum digital bank, which means that we have a very high credit and credit inclusion focus. Personalisation will also be at the forefront of UNO’s technology. Using AI and data analytics, we will be able to offer our customers customised products and offers to provide them services that are relevant to them at every significant life stage they are in.
