Values-based, Purpose-led
UnionBankers help the nation heal.
Source: Nelson Mandela Foundation
During the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture and 100th birthday celebration, former US President Barack Obama delivered a speech and said, “There is a word in South Africa – ubuntu – that describes his greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.” This is one of the best definitions of the word “ubuntu”, and for us UnionBankers, it is one of the values we live by.
UnionBank recently received the Silver Stevie for Employer of the Year – Banking at the 2020 Stevie Award for Great Employers. The award recognizes UnionBank as it tells our agile transformation journey that equipped, enabled, and empowered our people to develop products that accelerate digital banking and financial inclusion and help the nation heal during the pandemic. Last June 2020, BankQuality Consumer Survey and Ranking hailed UnionBank as the 2nd Most Helpful Bank in Asia-Pacific. The Bank garnered 102.09 BankQuality Score due to its accessibility through its digital platforms and Bank on Wheels initiative.
In this issue, Phenom collated stories of UnionBankers who continuously disrupt the industry by developing and innovating products and services, enabling our clients to bank anytime, anywhere, especially during these unprecedented times. Because at the heart of every organization is people and it is the people that brings out innovations – innovations that deliver quality products and services to our customers, UB has allowed this to happen and continuously equips its people with skills and capabilities ensuring that it remains true to its purpose of co-creating innovations for a better world and its promise of no one gets left behind.
Sentro is among the platforms that gained a lot of traction during the pandemic. It is UBX’s online shop builder and has tapped 11,000 users and enabled almost a thousand shops to showcase their products online, start their own website, even shift their brick and mortar business into a digital one. Aside from being a shop builder, it automatically accept payments and is connected to a logistics partner, making the e-commerce setup seamless and convenient even for beginners.
Launched in April 27, 2020, the team follows a Scrum Framework and is a part of the SME venture of the company that develops solutions to the small-medium enterprises. Sentro describes their team as “lean and mean.” The team is composed of young and energetic individuals – a Product Owner, Product Design, Scrum Master, Tech Lead, and Developers. Some of them came from UnionBank and they play a vital role in channeling the values and DNA within the bank’s FinTech company.
A month before their launch, the lockdown happened. Since then, the team members only relied on virtual meetings and collaboration tools, Discord and Slack to name a few, to continue planning for the anticipated unveiling of the platform. If timing is everything, then the timing of the launch amid the period where most physical shops are closed and businesses are starting to migrate into the digital space is their tipping point.
Wil Talento
Sentro Tech Lead
“We practice agile so everything happens really fast. If there are changes in the requirements, we implement it fast and push it for production. Right now, we collaborate digitally through our channels through Slack. We meet for our daily scrum in the morning and by the end of the day we still have updates.” Wil Talento, Sentro Tech Lead shared.
Grey Diamante
Product Designer
“When we started using Slack, at least for me, I only have to check my email every two days especially for external party communications. It (Slack) became integrated in the new way or working, it’s refreshing.” Grey Diamante, Product Designer added.
Marianne Urbano
Product Owner
Marianne Urbano, Product Owner of Sentro, also shared some of her observations and experiences with the team during the lockdown. “Ever since the lockdown until now, we’ve been working from home. We’re supposed to go back last August but since tumataas yung cases, we pushed back to September.”
When asked about the team’s transition, she shared, “Since almost everyone in the team are in the same age group, it’s easy to invite someone to play ML (Mobile Legends), our office has a ping-pong table, some people would bring their PS4 or Switch. We can’t do that anymore, so we’ve been trying to find ways to do relaxation. I guess during the start it became more serious. Overall, the productivity is the same.”
The team did not encounter any major pivots due to the pandemic, in fact, the time spent by most people on social media helped Sentro become the product it is now. The team strongly feels that they are in best position to address the need of the SMEs during this pandemic. “One of the best things that we’re able to do as a team, aside from the agile framework, we did a design thinking with real SMEs. They helped us craft Sentro. It’s not a brainchild of a someone from UBX, it’s actually our customers who helped us define what it should be,” Grey Diamante shares about how they are able to avoid any pivots during the pandemic.
Wil also shared that, “There is a significant increase of online sellers during the pandemic and Sentro paved way for many sellers to have their platform to market their products. In return, we helped the small-medium businesses thrive.”
“Apart from what we really do – innovate, I think the higher purpose is to really help the SMEs with our innovations and our platforms. We help achieve that by doing our work with passion and commitment and with our customers in mind. We try to build the platform based on what our customers need and we always consider the feedback that we receive,” he added.
From the original concept of Sentro as a marketplace – for products, services, and even applications, the team has decided to make it an online shop builder – a testament that they are adaptable and agile. This also became Sentro’s competitive advantage in the e-commerce space.
“I’ve been with the bank for five years. I came from Business Class, and moving to Sentro, there’s a big gap in terms of market segments I handled. Being able to help these SMEs, mas na-feel ko ‘yong fulfillment (but not saying that one product is more than the other). We were able to talk to them, and design sprints with them. They are dealing with problems every day, not just because of the pandemic, these problems have already been persistent. A lot of companies are struggling also in finding that perfect product or solution to their problems. As we go along and as we develop the product, we try our best to fit the needs of the SMEs.
I personally became friends with some of the SME users and that means that we’re doing something worthwhile. That motivates me to make the product even better and to make it as closes as possible to the products these SMEs envision,” Marianne also shares about building the platform with the primary users – the MSMEs and SMEs at the center.
“This is co-creating innovations, co-creation with the actual users and partner companies that can complement our services.”
In closing, the team sees Sentro not just a platform for SMEs to jumpstart and grow their e-commerce presence, but a tool for business recovery for many.
Bonds.PH is another opportunity for the Bank to help in the nation’s economic recovery and promote financial inclusion for the Filipinos during the pandemic. This mobile app was developed by UnionBank in partnership with the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), a BSP-regulated cryptocurrency trading platform. The app is downloadable for free on Google Play Store and Apple Store to make purchasing and selling of Retail Treasure Bonds easier and more accessible and it’s open to UnionBank and non-UnionBank clients.
“For as low as PHP 5,000, Filipinos can already invest in RTB-24 which the government promises to use to help fund the efforts to fight the current pandemic. After the 5-year maturity with a 2.625% annual coupon rate, Filipino investors will have their investment back plus the accumulated interests. What this means is that Filipinos investing through Bonds.ph not only invest for themselves but also for other Filipinos. Investors can fund their Bonds.PH wallet via GCash, PayMaya, or via bank transfer, but the app will not ask investors to open a bank account,” share UnionBank FinTech Group.
Bangko Sentral Governer Benjamin Diokno announced the launch on Twitter last July 16 and he himself tried investing. “I took part by investing myself. For as low as PHP 5,000, you can avail of the government’s Retail Treasury Bond. These are accessible, low-risk, and fair-yield investments.”
The squad taps over 60 talents from 13 units across the bank composed of UnionBank employees, executives, and outsourced service providers. The app that was launched exactly four (4) months after the lockdown needed a highly collaborative virtual effort from the squad members.
Squad members from ITSG shared that since most of the members of the team are already familiar and acquainted with one another, members work well together. They also shared how they virtually collaborate at any given time of the day. “Given the importance of the project, we had a very tight deadline to meet and so we would have several checkpoint meetings via Zoom throughout the day to quickly give updates on our progress as well as to clarify any questions or concerns. The first few days were very tiring and stressful, and would often call it a night, but the team was spirited and determined to push through and complete the project. The team definitely answered all the challenges it faced head-on and rose to the occasion on several instances.”
"Everyday was full of action, from documentation and risk assessment
to platform development/update
and everything else in between. We got used to meeting at any time even without prior notice. Everyone
was on call and ready to collaborate and solve problems all the time, everyday."
Managing communication channels is among the key requirements for a seamless collaboration for the squad members from the FinTech group. “We also have group chats that relate to specific channels or aspects of the project such as PDAX with the Digital BCM Team and the Treasury Team. This is very convenient for us as with just one click, anyone can create a group call to discuss any urgent item, for example, or even to chat about certain questions to anyone via the group chats.”
As they developed the project, one of the earlier challenges they have encountered was ensuring that the review for high-risk customers is carried out. Digi-BCM and Treasury DG units who are thoroughly familiar with the policy on KYC review, approve, and on-board thousands of applications daily since the app was launched.
Digi-BCM group shared how technology and the agile ways of working enabled them to fulfill their day-to-day role in the project. “Since this has started during the pandemic, there are really a lot of dependencies on the use of technology to ensure smooth flow and communication. Each day, depending on the issues encountered, changes are immediately discussed and coordinated with the dev team for agile development when possible.”
“When the Bonds.PH mobile application finally went live and the applications poured in, we made sure to track and monitor the automation to ensure that the process was smooth and flowing. We hit a few snags along the way however, the team was able to quickly adapt to the situation and addressed any issues before they became one in the first place,” the ITSG team shared.
Aside from making investing more accessible for the Filipinos, investing in Bonds.PH and Retail Treasury Bonds (RTB-24) will aid the government’s efforts to support the most vulnerable Filipinos and most affected sectors including healthcare, OFWs, the unemployed, and struggling MSMEs. This project truly became closer to the hearts of those who work behind it because of the ability to do more for the country and be part of the Ahon Pilipinas initiative.
Truly, the bank is in a strategic position to spearhead innovations and impactful collaborations such as this one and for our employees, it’s in the bank’s culture to challenge conventions. “Bonds.PH is a fruit of the relentless efforts of UnionBankers and our pursuit of co-creating capabilities with FinTech partners such as PDAX. The timeline given to launch this is very tight and I admired how everyone collaborated and designed innovative solutions to deliver the product on time, while not sacrificing compliance and quality. Ang galing!”
While in the Philippines and the rest of the world are on pause because of the pandemic, we are very grateful and honored to be given the chance to heed a call to “step out” of our comfort zones and actually help our nation to stem the tide. UnionBankers were made for a time like this.”
When the lockdown happened, 80% of the business were forced to cease operating. Only companies delivering essential goods and services were allowed to operate. This scenario compelled most businesses to shift transacting digitally. Good thing, UnionBank clients – corporates and SMEs – who are subscribed to this are able to transact banking functions right on their fingertips. This revolutionary platform is The Portal, a web and mobile business banking platform both on iOS and Android, which enables business owners to manage their accounts, transfer funds locally and internationally, pay bills, manage multiple organizations, and more.
The squad is composed of 35 members. The main business banking team includes Migs, Lea, Alex, and Trisha, who set up most of the user experience guidelines including enrollment, onboarding, development, support, and prioritization of The Portal Products. There are also project managers who handle each product within the platform.
Like the clients they serve, The Portal also had to go through several pivots and adjustments during the pandemic. “Yes, we had to really rethink our priority of products being developed. We had to focus on building digital channels and less on products that relied heavily on the branch such as checkwriter.” The team also saw a huge growth in enrollments and transactions.
The transaction count in April 2020, a month after the lockdown was implemented, exceeded the total transactions of The Portal since they launched in April 2019 to March 2020.
“Fortunately, we had also launched our Digital Enrollment in March which allows clients to enroll their business accounts without having to step foot in a branch. It now takes them a few minutes to start using online banking, rather than several weeks, as is the case in most other banks,” the team added.
It’s also interesting that despite the squad’s composition coming from different units across the bank and while 70% of the employees are working remotely, they collaborate seamlessly and actively. They define it as “running a business within a business” and that “we are responsible for everything that happens with the product such as sales, risk, security, compliance, legal, development, and support.
That being said, we are always going from meeting to meeting, dealing with units from all over the bank. It is important to collaborate with all these different units which enable us to launch successful, secure, and stable products. We collaborate online, making use of digital tools such as JIRA, Zoom, MS Teams, Google Docs, Sketch, and Trello.”
The team also shared their first-hand experiences on how The Portal is becoming a tool not just to survive but to also flourish during the pandemic. “We know that the challenges of the country right now are not just a medical one – but an economic one as well. As we’ve seen first-hand, our products and services allow businesses in the Philippines to not just survive but to also flourish during this difficult time.”
"It's a thankless job. It can be difficult to find
fulfillment at times because you won't really see it on
Facebook or Twitter but if you take a look at the
numbers, there's no doubt that we are making an
enormous difference for the country."
Indeed, not everyone talks about it. It has its own niche, but the impact is huge. The Portal demonstrates a high regard to the needs of their client, putting them at the front and center of the platform itself. “We make it a point to build our products with clients. We frequently set up client demos and test our ideas and products with them. Our innovations rarely come from just us, as it’s usually the combination of several different client insights. This is why we are usually very confident that the products we launch add value to our clients.”
The convenient of having access to a platform like The Portal allows business to focus on their growth. With every transaction they can fulfill with ease could mean food on the table of millions of Filipinos these businesses employ. In fulfilling our higher purpose, the team shared this impactful statement that would hopefully inspire more UnionBankers.
"Our team really takes pride in the fact that we are serving
business in the Philippines. Before the pandemic, our team had
a Philippine flag hung high on our office wall to remind
us of the greater good we are serving."
Helping the nation heal also means providing them the right tools to make access to banking and financial inclusion faster and more convenient. It also involves education and handholding. That’s what UnionBank Talks Digital (UTD) is for.
Ilene Geronimo, National Events Marketing Manager of The Ark shared with us how UTD came to be, “The bank’s advocacy to ‘Tech-Up Pilipinas’ and drive to advance digital banking among Filipinos, we are creating these online digital and financial literacy sessions to equip the public on how to bank digitally – safely and securely. Aligned with the goal of promoting and converting customers to digital banking, UTD offers its viewers different ways to bank safely at home, and showcases the relevant features in our digital channels – UnionBank Online, SME Business Banking, and The Portal.”
Driven by the goal to elevate the lives of the customers by providing them top notch products and services fuels the innovative mindset of UnionBankers even during a pandemic, Ron Batisan, Vice President for Customer Experience shared how UTD started, “We started the group with nothing. We don’t know how to conduct an event online because we were used to hold events at The Ark. We’ve been handling events left and right when before the pandemic. So, the question we raised to ourselves was ‘how do we do that? How do we continue with these events from The Ark and still engage our customers? At doon nagsimula, that’s where we conceptualized topics that are relevant to our customers and those who we want to attract. The objective here is awareness, that digital features exist.”
Now on its 6th episode, UB Talks Digital’s pilot episode shared insights about Digital Banking in the New Normal. Succeeding episodes featured top notch UnionBank products and features such as UnionBank Online, Digital Account Opening, Send to Remittance Centers, mobile check deposit, InstaPay and PesoNet, and SME Banking App. Our partners from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Department of Trade and Industry are also instrumental in educating our audience and encouraging them to try digital banking. Every episode also highlights cybersecurity and data privacy aspects of the products and features keeping everyone informed and assured.
The team also learned lessons and pivoted to make the production more seamless. From the first episode which aired live, they transitioned to recording episodes not only to address connectivity concerns but to make the visuals come alive with post-production enhancements. Data has been instrumental on the content planning and scheduling aspects as well.
Each team members contributed a lot to make sure that the topics remain relevant and rich in information. The Moderator, Carl Cordero, who is a Talent Capability Manager, is the best in class in managing and keeping the conversations on point, whether live or recorded. When asked about how to role helps him fulfill his higher purpose, Carl shared, “I’ve been a facilitator of some kind for the past 15 years, so I think it’s pretty clear that I am in the right job – talking to people, distilling and sharing ideas, and making people understand new concepts. That’s clearly my calling and it’s a blessing that I’m in UnionBank and in this intervention because it allows me to do exactly what I feel is what I’m supposed to be doing on Earth.”
The core team members, Ron Batisan, Ilene Geronimo, and Tobi Tobias of Customer Experience prepare the repository of content and coordinate with internal and external subject matter experts to be part of every episode. Working behind the scenes are the Tech and Digital composed of Marc Belleca, Justin Rivera, and Kelvin Tee from IT and Digital Marketing. And on Creatives are Rachelle Ann Tolentino, Louis Ramos, JD Miranda, and Genielyn Soriano from Employer Branding and Communications.
We can truly say that not only this project helps the team members share their talents but also fulfill their higher purpose. When asked about their personal realizations, these are their thoughts about the project:
Justin Rivera
“It’s getting the right message to the right people at the right time. Just being a part of it is really aligned with my purpose and what I do in the bank. This series has broken a lot of grounds and has enabled and inspired other teams in the bank to create their own webinars. And that’s a good thing.”
“We’re able to cater to the immediate need of the community at the start of the pandemic. And we’re able to deliver relevant and helpful information. What we do is make people understand something that is new or foreign to them, that’s online banking. We hope that it will make them appreciate that it’s actually easy and hopefully that will help them thrive in the new norm. That’s our higher purpose, we are ushering Filipinos to the future of banking.”
Ilene Geronimo
Marc Belleca
“Start ng pandemic, ang focus ko nasa work-from-home tools ng mga tao. Bus talaga. Noong nag-collaborate tayo, parang stress-reliever na rin sa akin. Actually, nai-share ko rin ito sa mga car clubs, parang naging Marketing na rin ako – IT at the same time Marketing. Uy, may purpose pala ako as a Marketer for UTD.”
“As UnionBankers, we’re taught to be customer-centric and being sensitive to their needs, that’s in our culture already. This project helps diminish the public’s stress and anxiety by educating them on how to bank safely at home.”
Tobi Tobias
Ron Batisan
“It’s helping. I want to share the good news to other people and sana mas marami pa siyang maabot na audience. That’s my higher purpose aside from The Ark, reaching more people not just with physical touchpoints but also with digital.”
UnionBank Talks Digital (UTD) is an affirmation that the bank is always the first to embrace technology and innovation to elevate the lives of our customers.
"Enabler and advocate of opportunities"
This is how Jaypee Soliman, Vice President of SME Business Group, would describe himself and this is not far from the pursuit of GlobalLinker (GL). What started out as a CSR flagship program called UREKA gave birth to what GL is now.
GlobalLinker follows the Learn-Network-Grow for its members’ businesses. It allows MSMEs to take the first step into e-commerce by providing them the knowledge from their content resources, network and collaborate with other SMEs, and succeed with them.
This ever-evolving team is composed of people from different units in the bank namely SME Platforms Group, Data Analytics, Marketing and Public Relations, and an interview session with them showed how engaged they are to the project and one another.
“99.6% of the businesses in the Philippines are composed of MSMEs and they play a vital role in our economy. We see that there are still a lot of opportunities for them to go and grow digital. There is still a lot of untapped potential and malaki ‘yong potential. But because of the lack of support and training, hindi nila nare-realize ‘yong potential nila and that’s where GlobalLinker comes in. We want to enable them and let them realize their potential by using different features that we have on the platform,” shares Amae, one of the squad members.
GL also gives them access to a wide network of affiliates that will help them grow globally. From logistics partners to financial institutions to help increase their capital, being a partner of the community is the way to go for every MSME.
Empathy is very important in their role. Understanding the pains and struggles of MSME clients helps them further improve the platform. In fact, one of their clients, Louie F. Villena, Owner/Managing Director of Cynergy Systems, shared rave reviews about his UBGL experience, “I joined the platform without being asked to pay any membership fee. I asked if I could promote my online learning session and was allowed to post it; UBGL even fixed it. The interview translated into a published article that led to many hits and connections in social media including potential businesses.”
"There is "warmth" in dealing with UBGL – judging from the transactions I had with them. It does not discriminate (after having seen a post of someone selling "Face Masks").
UBGL, as far as I have experienced, has been living its mission of helping MSMEs. That is undeniable!"
One of the major pivots the team had to do during the pandemic is the shift from simply providing updates, inspirational stories, and write-ups to their current and prospect clients to developing content for webinars. And this shift is also a blessing in disguise. The transformation in format influenced the way they provide content to their clients. They are able to give more valuable and real-life strategies on topics like running an MSME business, shifting from brick and mortar to e-commerce, and equipping the audience with communities and government partners like the Department of Trade and Industry and Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) that reinforces support for the businesses that are already in the GL network.
Putting together these service providers, communities, and businesses in a single platform opens up infinite possibilities to everyone on board. One team member shared her learning in the past two years working on GL,
"The key is to collaborate with the private sector,
the government, the entrepreneurs, and the communities.
We really need to work together and collaborate. It's
not just about providing them features and services, it's about
being able to handhold them on how they can digitize and
transform their business."
From those who work from their kitchen to tech averse clients, the Global Linker team has met almost all types of MSMEs and empowering and enabling them so their businesses can survive and thrive. This pandemic has become a fulfillment of their higher purpose as UnionBankers and Filipinos.
In constant pursuit to Tech Up Pilipinas, UnionBank extends the coverage of its upskilling initiatives to students, professionals, educators, business owners, career shifters, and those who seek employment. The rules of the game have changed. Future-proofing your career and your business now means equipping yourself with the skills of the future – those that utilize and apply principles of emerging technologies into actual use cases. That is how this squad from the FinTech Group and the Human Resources came to be.
“The squad was formed in collaboration between the FinTech Group and the Human Resources Group. At the start of the project, most of us did this voluntarily. Some were called in to join or were suggested by our senior leaders to participate and support,” Nix Syjuco, Assistant Vice President and Xcellerator Program Product Owner shared.
The squad also described one of their earlier challenges. None of the members has learning and development background which is vital in crafting the courses. But that is also the squad members’ strength, they can wear different hats whenever necessary. “Most, if not all of us, in the squad do not have a background in creating learning programs. This is why when we were starting, we agreed that we would trust and commit to helping each other to make it work. All our ideas combined with the support of our senior leaders, especially Ms. Michelle Rubio, who went crazy on ideas with us, is what makes Xcellerator what it is now,” the team shared.
With the mission to advocate digital through capability building so that innovations may happen, the squad’s main objective is to educate 1,000 individuals, strengthen and close 10 school partners, and create 5 programs focusing on emerging tech. To achieve this, Xcellerator launched learning pathways – from basic to advanced, to equip learners through on-demand learning programs aligned to digital capability. To date, UBP Xcellerator has launched Blockchain Basics Program and Blockchain Business Specialist Program which is having its second batch of enrollees.
The diversity of talents brought together by this project and the executive support it received made it possible for the squad to partner with industry experts and thought leaders for the UBPXcellerator Gamechangers. It is a webinar series which so far tackled Data Science and AI Ethics, EdTech, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity, Robotics and Internet of Things, and this October, PeopleTech. Guests are composed of industry leaders, subject matter experts, and educators from in and out of UnionBank.
To date, the squad has reached a milestone to educate 1,000 individuals and is currently at 1,319, with more to add once their succeeding courses roll out in the coming months.
With their current success and contribution to the bank’s commitment to “Tech Up Pilipinas”, Nix believes that UBP Xcellerator owes its wins to the people behind this project.