Gamechanger - The Edge Magazine, 2nd Issue

THE

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GAMECHANGER FROM BUSINESS CONTINUITY TO BETTER THAN USUAL

Weathering the COVID 19 Storm

Navigating through the Pandemic with UBP: A Customer Journey

Onwards and Towards: Preparing for the long haul

Security in the Cyber Ecosystem

2019to Most Innovative Cash Management Services Bank Philippines 2019 Best Cash Management Bank Philippines 2020

Best Digital Collaboration Philippines (Retailer Financing Program - TrueMoney)

Winner: Outstanding Blockchain Initiative for Customer Experience (Financial Supply Chain)

Top PESONet Volume Contributor

Best Cash Management Bank Philippines 2019 Best Domestic Transaction Bank Philippines 2019

Best SME Banking Solutions Provider 2020 - Philippines

Winner: Best Customer Loyalty Program (UB GlobalLinker) Highly Acclaimed: Outstanding Customer Experience for Digital Payments (The Portal)

Winner: Best Customer Relations & Brand Engagement Initiative (UB GlobalLinker)

Finalist - UnionBank GlobalLinker

Best in APAC “Social, Sustainable & Responsible Banking” (UBP Retailer Financing Program - TrueMoney)

Winner - Best Social Media Marketing Campaign (UBGL Trade Connect)

ABOUT ABOUT THE THE ISSUE ISSUE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: R amon Duarte

MANAGING EDITORS: Gerard Darvin Dino Velasco M ourese Soriano M ara G arcia

SENIOR ADVISORS: M ay B uencamino James M orris I leto

EDITORS: B ianca Gelid o R ac helle Real-Tolentino J a ries Villavicencio

CREATIVE ARTISTS:

As the current global pandemic impacts every aspect of our economy, The EDGE – UnionBank’s quarterly newsletter for our corporate clients – releases its second issue with an entire focus on the bank’s management of the new normal. Ultimately, accelerating the movement of businesses to digital services. The transition from cash to digital banking transactions have definitely picked up pace and these will be significant and lasting.

The cover story, Game changer: Business Continuity to Better than Usual, is about how the bank pivots its service delivery, providing digital solutions, as well as modifications in its physical operations. We are not only focused in helping solve pain points but, ultimately, nurturing the next normal that will be better than what it replaced.

Also taking center stage is The Portal, UnionBank’s business banking solution where clients can get frictionless access to a broader range of products & services in one singular platform.

The digitalization of the bank is not a dramatic change from where we have been, as this has always been the focus even before the crisis – Digital as our core, resiliency and agility as our foundation.

If anything, it’s probably an acceleration of the process and strategy that the bank already had.

Shang y M ontecillo And y B ong on Louis R amos Geniely n Soriano

CONTRIBUTORS: Ab by Go Hency Alimag no I sab ella C hotrani J oaq uin C arb allo A nna Mar i e Samantha L acorte A lyssa Haira Cortez Gi s elle Dominiq ue Sy R yan Pasion N i co l e R anna Feliciano G abrielle M arie Cruz Lawre nce And rei Pascual J ay p ee Soliman J ennifer R ayala Fr i tz Christen B eld ad S al va d or B ag amasb ad Vivien M ae Romo Man uel And res Roxas C atherine De Guzman C hr i sto pher Xavier Santillan Demellee Chua Mark And rew Pasia M ary J ill Reyes J ose Paolo R ufo Me l l avi n a Rose Gutierrez

R E A CH U S A T CORPORATE S OL U T I ON S @ U NION B A N K P H . COM

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WELCOME REMARKS

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MESSAGE TO U

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WEATHERING THE COVID-19 STORM

GAMECHANGER: FROM BUSINESS CONTINUITY TO BETTER THAN USUAL

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NAVIGATING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC WITH UNIONBANK: A CUSTOMER JOURNEY

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SECURITY IN THE CYBER ECOSYSTEM

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TIPS TO ENSURE A CYBERSECURE LIFE

ONWARDS AND TOWARDS: PREPARING FOR THE LONG HAUL

No one, not even the experts, could have predicted the situation the whole world will be put through during the first quarter of 2020. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippine banking sector remains resilient and UnionBank is as strong and relevant. The bank suddenly finds itself in the situation it has prepared for in the past few years since it has undergone its digital transformation journey. “Luck favors the prepared” indeed.

Transaction banking has always been committed to ensure that business continuity is in place, in the process our services has been known to become better than usual. Fast forward to today, the crisis turned the normal way we do things upside-down, yet digital innovation from the team - infrastructure, processes and its people were ready to serve its clients especially during these trying times. Throughout the ECQ, the bank’s digital channels such as UnionBank Online for individuals and The Portal for corporates took the spotlight.

AWARDS

Due to the restrictions in mobility, clients today choose to do their transactions online such as account opening, online enrollment, check deposits and batch fund transfers through PesoNet, using The Portal. Since the launch of its online enrollment in February, The Portal has enrolled over 600 organizations and now has a total of about 9,000 registered organizations. All these with the bank’s workforce being able to quickly pivot to a work from home (WFH) arrangement that allowed us to maintain and even enhance our service offerings.

Our commitment to you during this Covid-19 pandemic has never wavered despite the challenge it posed not only to banks or even companies in particular but to each individual as well. Allow us to equip you with tools to become better than usual.

Please stay safe and mabuhay!

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The country might be on lockdown, but your Bank has not been locked out.

UnionBank has continued full operations with a large percentage of our branches remaining open and all banking services continuing to be available.

Our digital transformation efforts and achievements proved timely as it allowed us to run the bank from home--except for our branch frontliners and team members who need to ensure that our ATMs are fully loaded.

The economic environment will be tough, but we are entering this crisis strongly. Last year, we registered record income and our Q1 results were great. Our balance is, therefore, strong— strong enough to hurdle the challenges ahead.

The irony of this crisis is that now we are even acquiring more customers while on lockdown.

INFOGRAPHIC FEATURE - TIPS TO ENSURE A CYBERSECURE LIFE

MESSAGE TO U

Our digital account opening has spiked ten folds. We are getting over 35,000 new digital accounts a week. Our convergent banking app sign-ups have exceeded a million.

Our corporate customers are flocking to our online banking Portal in droves. Our Relationship Managers and implementation officers are helping them convert to digital from their homes.

We are fortifying our business so that we can withstand the headwinds. We are accelerating our digital transformation as we feel this crisis has brought us closer to the tipping point for a digital world.

I salute the heroic efforts of all frontliners and the people who support them from home. Banks need to be open to keep the economy from grinding to a halt. It is our fiduciary duty. But we are not just fulfilling an obligation, we are doing this for a higher purpose--to help save the economy, our friends, our families, and the Filipino people.

Maraming salamat!

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WEATHERING THE COVID-19 STORM

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly bring the economy to its knees, many face uncertainty over what could happen in the next weeks, months, or year ahead.

But it’s also during these unprecedented times when UnionBank’s digital transformation, which focused on people and technology, is proving its timely role in providing undisrupted banking services to customers and prompt assistance to its business clientele.

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UNWAVERING DUTY TO SERVE Banks obviously cannot be bystanders as this crisis develops. We all need to be active participants and do whatever we can to help consumers and businesses weather the storm.

Amid this challenging situation, UnionBank understands our clients’ plight and is committed to supporting them through the crisis.

With the announcement of a Metro-Manila-wide lockdown on March 16 came a flood of inquiries from concerned clients on whether physical checks already warehoused with the Bank would continue to be deposited, as well as whether maturing checks could be placed on hold to prevent penalty fees on bounced checks. To ensure continuous processing of the checks, the Bank immediately put in place a shuttle service for the Check Warehouse (Checkhouse) team frontliners to be safely transported to the office. The team’s dedication ensured that services and client’s transactions were not disrupted. Even during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) we continued to onboard clients into the Checkhouse service and accepted checks for processing.

We expedited the availability of batch electronic fund transfers to help clients instantly make intrabank and interbank transfers (PESONet). It is through this feature that UnionBank was able to streamline bulk account-to-account transfers to another UnionBank account or to other local bank accounts. This highlights the ease and convenience of going digital for the bank’s corporate clients versus processing transactions through the traditional way of banking over-the-counter or paying via cheques most especially during the ECQ. Resolute in servicing clients during this crisis, the bank immediately waived PESONet and Instapay fees in its corporate online banking facility, The Portal, to encourage digital transactions without clients having to worry about incurring additional costs.

Approximately 9,000 corporate clients are now actively enjoying waived fund transfer fees in The Portal. This facility enables clients to seamlessly initiate their Peso fund transfers to their payees real-time via InstaPay or same-day via PESONet. Beyond the operational activities already underway, the Bank ensured the agile and timely cascade of information to stakeholders. Business Continuity Plan (BCP) advisories were announced and released for each UnionBank product or service affected by the lockdown as well as daily informative announcements in UnionBank’s official social media pages.

Real-time updates and proactive communication were also provided to specific clients in need thru their Relationship Managers. Each pain point faced by each client during this crisis was prioritized and communicated to different teams to make sure that a solution, temporary or permanent, was being tailor fitted for them.

CONVENIENT PAYROLL DURING ECQ A number of payroll corporate clients decided to push through with the opening of about 8,000 payroll accounts for their respective employees during the ECQ period. With this, the submission of required documents was not an easy task given the situation. UnionBank decided to defer the deadline for the submission of these required documents which may lead to the freezing of accounts, until the end of the quarantine. This decision was implemented by securing internal approval to deviate from existing guidelines to be able to serve clients in times of need. UnionBank’s payroll team coordinated closely with the branch network to temporarily allow account opening and halted account freezing. As a result, this initiative promoted continuity of payroll servicing without requiring the client to visit branches just to submit their documents and increase the risk of being infected.

We also came up with a solution to allow corporate clients to update their employees’ contact information (i.e. mobile number and email address) in the Bank’s core system. By updating their contact information, payroll accountholders were able to register to UnionBank Online and gain access to their funds anytime, anywhere, or in the safety of their homes. The solution did not only help push for UnionBank Online enrollments and digital adoption, but also empowered payroll accountholders to do digital banking especially during this time.

Access to maintaining/servicing branch was very important in order to allow clients fulfill necessary transactions such as account opening, submission of account opening documents, and claiming of ATM or Debit cards. Arrangements were made in order to ensure that alternative branches were available to service clients’ needs in case their maintaining/servicing branches were closed. UnionBank ensured that closed branches were able to service account opening requests so that minimal disruption was felt in terms of the overall payroll account opening experience.

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FROM BUSINESS CONTINUITY TO BETTER THAN USUAL

Years of contingency planning and stress testing had prepared UnionBank to respond effectively to specific crisis such as pandemics.

However, the need for existing business continuity plans to evolve are precedent in handling the fastmoving and unknown variables of an outbreak like COVID-19. Knowing this, the real acid test for the bank was not only around developing capabilities, but the agility by which the bank was able to divert the resources from already existing books of work. The continuous effort of providing effective digital solutions did not stop in creating an online platform but rather, it started there. Tailor fitting each service and product to a client is what sets UnionBank apart from its peers.

From Business Continuity to Better than Usual ECQ opened the doors for the Bank’s digital platforms to be even more relevant. We encouraged our clients to shift from processing payments via checks to electronic means through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) using The Portal, our corporate online banking facility. This feature enabled conversion of Checkwriter clients to EFTs which helped them conveniently process supplier payments to other local banks as well as allowed payees to receive payments without physically going to branches just to claim their checks.

UnionBank was also able to mobilize the recently launched Financial Supply Chain (FSC) platform also accessible through The Portal, which allows credit facilities to be readily available whenever customers need to bridge the gap in their cash flow. This enabled customers to avail of financing for their receivables and payables without the need for submitting many documents and constant branch visits. During the early days of the ECQ, the FSC platform registered over 1.8B in total financing availments. Today, the bank has a healthy pipeline of clients preparing to be onboarded into the platform.

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The Batch PESONet feature under the EFT module of The Portal was also launched during the ECQ. Before this was made available, clients were initiating PESONet fund transfers on a per transaction basis. The development of Batch PESONet was expedited to ease the bulk transaction processing of our corporate clients. They were provided an upload file template where they can input all the fund transfer instructions and initiate the payment in one transaction.

To further encourage digital payments, UnionBank Online supplements The Portal as it allows individual accounts to be opened immediately through Digital Account Opening. Individual payees of corporate clients, whether suppliers or employees, may easily open UnionBank accounts to receive payments real-time and enjoy hassle-free banking.

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UnionBank takes pride not only on its digital solutions but also on its employees. COVID-19 could not stop our employees from receiving commendations from satisfied customers with our cash collections service.

Even with a skeletal force, the Bank was able to manage servicing of new clients especially those with high demand for cash pick-up and change funds such as international hotel groups, drug companies and fast food chains, to name a few.

Payroll in the Middle of Crisis

Payroll is one of the key products that needs to operate with minimal impact, as it contains the livelihood of the Corporate Client, and its employees.

Among its core processes, delivery is one that was heavily impacted due to the implementation of the ECQ due to suspension of services from couriers or Outsourced Service Providers (OSPs). The bank was able to ensure that card deliveries (those located in Metro Manila) still continue by tapping in-house messengers to deliver the ATM or Debit cards. Considering that provincial delivery was suspended, the branches were also able to give employees better accessibility to their funds by allowing them to get temporary issuance of cards or do FREE Over-The-Counter (OTC) withdrawal transactions. As a result, employees were given options to be able to access their funds as needed.

There are also Payroll clients wherein UnionBank has a special arrangement for releasing ATM/Debit cards directly to their employees onsite or in the premises of the corporate clients. These clients consist mostly of those coming from the BPO industry. UnionBank had close coordination with its regional service officers, sales teams and clients to ensure that the Bank was able to deliver the cards to their newly hired employees. Needless to say, the Bank was able to service these clients due to the alignment of internal units with each client.

GAME 11

GAME

CHANGER Uplifting Communities through Tech

To equip clients with convenient access to finance is one of the uppermost agenda of UnionBank during this crisis. A non-profit organization, for example, existing to serve and give back to their community found digital banking services of UnionBank’s The Portal to be beneficial in managing their cash flows, particularly on their disbursement and collections processes.

They made full use of the Bills Payment feature to do payments digitally without the need to go to a physical branch. With EFT through Pesonet and Instapay, they were able to eliminate payments using checks so that their payees could receive their funds promptly and safely during these difficult times. Their migration to The Portal has allowed their organization to continue their services to their community with the least amount of inconvenience and disruption to their financial processes.

Despite the limited resources and access to systems during the ECQ, UnionBank managed to continue the onboarding of Billers as well as support client’s day-to-day transactions. Through UnionBank’s digital solutions for bills payment, the Bank was able to support its accountholders by providing hassle-free transactions through the Portal and UnionBank Online without having to go to branches or payment centers. The Bank continuously develops the capability of all Billers to be available in online channels.

As an example, one of UnionBank’s many billers—an electric coop somewhere in the South, was able to service its corporate clients with a convenient service for paying their electricity bills with the use of the Corporate Automatic Debit Arrangement (Corporate ADA) solution of UnionBank. This arrangement allowed the coop to automate and streamline their manual processing, consolidation, and fulfilment. Payments are debited automatically from the payor‘s Unionbank Account on the bill‘s due date. Furthermore, their individual customers were also able to settle their bills via UnionBank Online (mobile app or internet banking), over-the-counter through any UnionBank branch or Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). With UnionBank, the electric coop was able to automate their payments allowing their clients to worry less.

Also during the ECQ, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) community requested UnionBank to process the early crediting of pensions on the first day of April instead of the usual 8th-of-the-month-schedule. This was requested for the sake of GSIS pensioners who might be needing cash especially during these difficult times. With the passion to serve and effort of UnionBank’s GSIS Team, the request was supported and the crediting was completed within just 1 day, despite the agreed 3-day Service Level Agreement (SLA) with GSIS. Moreover, UnionBank tirelessly monitored the process even if it took more than the regular working hours. With its unwavering desire to deliver and through seamless correspondence, the Bank was able to fulfill its promise to provide exceptional service despite the current situation. Pensions were credited on time and GSIS thanked UnionBank for its unending support and passion to serve.

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NAVIGATING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC WITH UNIONBANK: A Client's Journey COVID-19 is pushing companies to rapidly operate in new ways. However more than the strategies, companies today make leaps and bounds on their corporate payments despite the unprecedented and challenging time by being equipped with the right tools and solutions from their financial partner, Unionbank.

Bank Anywhere, Online witH UnionBank

1. Enrollment to The Portal Companies now realize that digitization is key to survive and thrive through this crisis. Hence the need to enroll to The Portal - UnionBank's corporate banking facility. Through this single platform, companies get access to UnionBanks wide range of products and services.

Self Enrollment Feature Companies may conveniently self enroll their nominated accounts and users.

Access to all Cash Management Solutions in a Single Platform

Start of Journey with UnionBank

Manage account/s and multiple organizations at their fingertips

Hassle free transfers to other banks Access to the Largest list of Billers Enjoy Flexible Approval Setup

Modified On-Site Banking 1. Scheduled Branch Visits Whenever necessary, companies may use The Portal to schedule their branch visits. This helps in limiting human interactions in the branch.

2. Cards for Cashless Payments

3. Checkhouse

Companies may avail of UnionBank’s cards solutions.

The bank provides companies with the ability to perform cashless payments using a debit cards.

Cashless transactions through cards is one way, but companies still use checks to make payments.

UnionBank continuously manages the safe keeping and processing of checks with the Checkhouse facility.

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2. Bills Payment Capabilities

3. Pay Taxes with BIR ePay

Utility bills are piling up! Through the Bills Payment Feature, companies may conveniently make payments to their bills online.

No more lining up in branches, companies may pay their taxes hassle free with UnionBank's The Portal.

4. Payroll during ECQ

5. Batch Electronic Fund Transfers

ECQ is not a problem, companies opened payroll account for their employees online. This allowed employees to use UnionBank Online to gain access to their funds anytime, anywhere.

6. Checkwriter As companies slowly settle to the new normal, the checkwriter facility may provide the necessary reimbursements via manager's/corporate checks.

The economy is slowly starting to reopen and operations are coming back in full gear. Necessary to the business is streamlining the company's bulk account-to-account transfers to a UnionBank account or to other local bank accounts. Through this feature of the portal, payees may receive funds real-time via InstaPay or same-day via PESONet.

7. Merchant Payment Gateway COVID 19 made it inevitable for companies to set up their mobile and ecommerce sites. With UnionBank's Merchant payment gateway, the companies may now accept online payments from their customers.

8. Financial Supply Chain (FSC) With the necessary tools in place, companies may take the next big step by making use of UnionBank’s FSC which allows credit facilities to be readily available to bridge the gap in their cash flow. With FSC the client may avail financing for their receivables and payables without the need to visit the branch.

Continuous access to convenient, secured and tailor-fit corporate solutions with UnionBank 14

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UnionBank is committed to providing flexible, convenient, and secure banking services to clients. As the pioneer of digital banking in the Philippines, UnionBank has always been at the forefront of leveraging technology to embrace digital evolution and empower its customers.

With its services and operations becoming available to various digital channels and the increase in demand of global round-the-clock connectivity, it presents a critical challenge in integrating a culture of cybersecurity. Keeping the bank secure in the face of evolving threat landscapes is crucial in meeting service level agreements, preventing unauthorized access to information, and reducing the risk of fraud and data breach.

Working remotely entails a higher exposure to external threats, and cyber criminals are taking this opportunity to capitalize on our fear and distraction, hence the massive spike in the number of phishing and malware attacks recently. With the bank’s services and operations becoming available to various digital channels and the increase in demand of global round-the-clock connectivity, it presents a critical challenge in integrating a culture of cybersecurity wherever we go.

SECURITY DURING UNPRECEDENTED TIMES Despite the challenges posed by community quarantine, UnionBank continues to operate in full speed while maintaining the security of its digital

infrastructure and remote workforce.

The 24x7 coverage of Cyber Defense Center ensures proactive threat and vulnerability hunting, as well as full protection and monitoring of all our IT assets anytime and anywhere. It employs necessary security tools such as VPN (virtual private network), endpoint security protection, cloudbased security controls and business continuity plans of managed service providers.

As employees are the first line of defense against cyber-attacks, the bank maintains a robust security awareness campaign not only for the employees but for customers as well.

Internal and public advisories are deployed on a regular basis. Security courses and training are mandated to enforce security best practices while working remotely.

Anti-phishing campaigns are given focus at this time of pandemic due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 related phishing attacks.

UnionBank is the only universal bank in the Philippines to be certified with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), a set of standards developed by major credit card companies (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). As of 2020, the Bank earned its Year 3 PCI-DSS certification as part of our efforts in securing cardholder data and reducing credit card fraud.

Policies and controls are also strictly implemented and tailor-fitted to remote access technologies. There is minimum reliance on manual processes and a stronger drive

for automation, in line with the organization’s agile digital culture.

EFFECTIVE CYBERSECURITY REQUIRES COLLABORATION You can’t protect what you don’t know – an essential mindset in ensuring all the Bank’s digital and information assets are protected, especially during these times of crisis. As the Bank utilizes emerging technologies such as Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we maintain our resilient and proactive security approach through threat intelligence and extensive research on technological advances.

The Bank’s cybersecurity practice supports the organization’s collaboration and agile culture.

A strong security posture drives higher confidence in the acceleration of digital capabilities and transformation, allowing better costumer empowerment in the face of COVID crisis. As successful cyber-attacks can cause downtime, financial loss, penalties and damaged reputation, the culture of security enables an organization to operate with minimal risk of downtime or compromised systems.

Just as proper hand washing is important to stop the spread of the disease, a culture of good cyber hygiene is critical in protecting ourselves from security attacks in this time of crisis.

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TIPS TO ENSURE A

CYBERSURE LIFE

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has provided fuel for cyber criminals to prey upon the public’s concern about this global crisis. Recent scams are designed to trick people into sending money, to disclose personal information or to click on emails and websites that deliver computer malware onto your computer or network. Here are some good cybersecurity hygiene and security measures to practice during these times of crisis:

Strengthen your accounT security.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an additional layer of security by double checking if your identity is legitimate, usually through the use of OTP, PIN, mobile authenticator, and generated codes. This helps you in having a good night sleep knowing that your accounts are secure and cannot be easily accessed even if someone was able to get a hold of your password.

Don’t bite the phishing bait.

Hackers no longer have to compromise assets, they can just send legitimate-looking emails or SMS to gain your trust and make you divulge sensitive information or gain access to the system.

UnionBank will never ask for confidential account information such as passwords, CVV, and pins. If you suspect that the email, SMS or call is suspicious and fraudulent, verify with your Bank. Be wary of common phishing themes, such as emails asking you to update your account or confirm a login to your account.

Good Cybersecurity is proactive Always verify a web address by searching for it manually in your browser.

Look for the padlock or https. Reputable websites use this to signify that their data storage and transmission is secure Check for spelling and grammar in texts, emails, and other correspondence.

Even if it’s not required, change your passwords every 90 days for all sensitive accounts.

Secure your video conference meetVideo conferencing tools such as Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams are popular worldwide due to the implementation of work from home. To maintain the privacy of your meetings, always make sure that only the intended participants are in the call. Beware of eavesdroppers or shoulder-surfers as you might expose confidential information.

UnionBank continuously monitors the situation and will help you stay in-the-know about any future hazards the bank identifies. Remember, in this time of illness and worry, it’s important to stay vigilant and not surrender to the anxiety that it brings. Armed with knowledge, you are better equipped to weather the viral storm.

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Every aspect of business has changed with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now more than ever, it requires a difficult balancing act between the need for short term actions against keeping the business ready to take advantage of the likely growth opportunities post COVID-19.

THE PORTAL – A single gateway where clients can get frictionless access to a broader range of products & service.

Introducing a digital platform to a conservative and traditional business or institution is not a walk in the park. The transition from manual processes to automated or digital is not easily embraced by all users regardless if the management is pushing for digital transformation. The key to a successful transition is a well-defined user experience that will create a significant impact in getting more users/clients to adapt to digitization. The Portal is a platform solution wherein clients are allowed to process various types of banking transactions in one hub. This is where all disbursements and collections facilities are housed in a single platform providing them ease of use and accessibility 24/7.

Even before the onset of COVID 19, UnionBank has been working nonstop to create and improve facilities that will capture these communities and embed banking transactions in this singular platform. However, the real test of its effectiveness and reliability came during the Metro Manila Lockdown. Many clients were amazed of how UnionBank was also able to promote digital payments to new clients thru The Portal’s self-enrollment feature, despite the crisis. Clients were able to conveniently self-enroll their nominated accounts and users through the simple enrollment steps. Once completed, access to the Portal is granted and clients may enjoy the convenience of processing their funds transfer instructions online.

In addition, clients have the option to initiate the enrollment of the beneficiary accounts individually or in bulk. This can be essential for clients who would want to have a payee maintenance feature to ensure that the initiated transactions are only credited to enrolled account. With the convenient, hassle-free and straight-through processing in The Portal, clients can easily push fund transfers in the comfort of their own homes or offices.

The Portal has proven itself as a fertile environment for the bank to thrive and quickly deliver products, services, and solutions to corporate clients in need and directly combat the COVID-19 virus or mitigate its social and busines impacts.

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DIGITAL BANKING AS THE NEW NORM To continuously create breakthrough customer experiences after ECQ, UnionBank understands the need to push the boundaries and evolve digital thinking and practices by applying a range of approaches to improve customer experience. Preparations are being made continuously by the teams in order to ensure quality, security, and accessibility for all the bank’s product and services. These include everything from design thinking, which involves applying creative, nonlinear approaches to reinventing how customers interact with businesses, to agile, which calls for fielding prototypes quickly, gaining early customer input, and then iterating continually.

By being adaptive to the changes of customers and their needs, the bank does not limit itself by just developing solutions based on the initial feedback of customer. There is a dialogue which results in important insights that might change in the middle of development. This enables seamless connection between the bank and its customers, which in turn, promotes development of new apps and services.

UnionBank’s digitization has helped many of our partners shift from manual processes to digital, one example is a company that provides their clients with reliable engineering, design, testing, manufacturing and productionrelated innovation solutions. As client themselves, they are looking for similar solutions in banking that would give them the edge from their competitors.

This decision was crucial especially during the implementation of the ECQ in Metro Manila. UnionBank’s solutions have enabled them to send money to their valued employees using digital solutions such as eCrediting via the Portal. Their employees were also able to open accounts in the safety and comfort of their homes through the Digital Account Opening Feature of UnionBank Online. The bank was able to successfully digitize its banking processes using solutions such as The Portal and UnionBank Online.

There is a need for many different ways to execute, such as APIs for the tech ones, hand holding for the non-tech ones, and even introduce third-party partners just to onboard another set of customers. At the end of it – the key goal is really to tech up the way of doing things, whoever and wherever you are.

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BOUNDLESS OPPORTUNITIES TO INNOVATE By being Agile, UnionBank continues to improve existing platforms and introduce new ways of banking to corporate clients. At present, despite the already convenient features and many advantages of using The Portal for corporate banking transactions, continuous efforts and improvements are still being made to ensure that the bank is able to provide clients with the best banking platform for business.

Aside from the existing bank solutions, there are still many upcoming solutions currently being developed by the bank to ensure quality banking online. One of the many solutions to look forward to is the Digital Account Opening (DAO) for Corporates wherein the time-consuming process of onboarding the clients is shortened, hence time and resources saved. This will allow corporate clients to make digital account openings without the hassle of going to the branches and in a few steps. Another solution to look forward to is, a fully digital account opening for payroll using the Bank’s digital platforms namely The Portal and UnionBank Online. Corporate clients initiate employee enrollment thru an employee database upload via The Portal. An SMS message is then sent to the employees for the completion of their payroll accounts via UnionBank Online. Through this solution, corporate clients will be able to make Payroll account openings anytime, anywhere with no hardcopy documents needed.

UnionBank’s continuous efforts in creating compelling tailor fitted solutions, interesting apps, innovative UI/UX and streamlined services have enabled businesses partners nationwide to work closely with the bank online and keep the wheels of financial trade spinning, while still maintaining social distancing and helping to fight COVID-19. While negative effects are obvious, once the situation stabilizes companies can use this unexpected event as an opportunity to reflect, reboot, and start to plan with UnionBank to help, assist, and provide solutions for building a stronger, more digital Finance function for their companies.

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C O N TA C T YO U R R E L AT I O N S H I P M A N A G E R T O D AY !