UnionBank was named ‘Best Retail Bank‘ in the Philippines at The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2020.

The Asian Banker, known as the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community, lauded UnionBank's solid retail banking performance in 2019, resulting in stronger revenue than in previous years.

The bank embarked on its digital transformation in 2016 and made strategic investments in infrastructure towards a more agile and digital-ready organization. Three years after, the bank began reaping the benefits of building its digital capabilities with improving profitability and cost efficiencies. Its retail banking profit doubled in 2019 while cost-to- income ratio improved from the previous year as the bank continued to focus on its digital channels.

Focus on CX, innovation

UnionBank maintains one of the leanest branch networks among local major players, which have been strategically located across the country and upgraded to conduct paperless and digital transactions.

Its relationship managers are equipped with digital tools that enable predictive capabilities for client servicing.

In 2019, the bank launched a retail loan platform supported by video KYC to enable straight-through processing of its products.  This significantly brought down turnaround time to three minutes and generated growth in loan bookings.

UnionBank also saw a record year for its retail deposits, which expanded by a double-digit rate from the previous year.

COVID-19 relief

Meanwhile, even in a time of pandemic, UnionBank was able to prepare its business and customer response immediately due to effective tracking of the developments on the disease from the onset.

In addition to relief measures for consumer debt, the bank has been well placed to serve its clients digitally during the lockdown period.

UnionBank saw a surge of new digital accounts, mobile app downloads and online logins since March.

In addition, the bank is helping facilitate online donations for non-government organizations in the country through its UShare platform.

Earlier, UnionBank has also been recognized as Best Retail Bank Philippines 2020 by other awards bodies, including Retail Banker International - Asia Trailblazers Awards as well as Global Banking and Finance Review.