UnionBank’s Near Miss Summit Cultivates a Culture of High Reliability
By: Rachelle Tolentino
UnionBank of the Philippines (UnionBank) strengthened its commitment to a high reliability culture through its 4th Near Miss Summit held last August 14, 2024. The event brought together nearly 400 employees, including top executives and directors, to share insights and experiences on preventing potential losses.
The event kicked off with an interactive icebreaker quiz, setting a collaborative tone among attendees. Marinette, Operational Risk Management Officer, emphasized the summit’s goal of mitigating losses through prevention and customer satisfaction, urging participants to turn near misses into opportunities for growth.
“We are gathered by our common commitment to mitigate losses by focusing prevention and customer satisfaction. Let’s convert near misses to milestones!”
Nasir, Chief Resiliency Officer, provided practical guidance, sharing how the five (5) principles of high reliability organizations can be applied within UnionBank. He highlighted the event as a valuable platform for sharing knowledge and experiences within the organization. “Since we are a large bank, sharing learnings is crucial,” Nasir said.
Four (4) near miss heroes shared their stories of preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify interpretations, commitment to resilience, sensitivity to operations, and deference to expertise. These stories prevented a possible security breach, fraudulent transaction from a compromised account, and prolonged disruption in operations caused by a global software outage.
Erwin, Chief Risk Officer, commended the near miss heroes for their extraordinary efforts and contributions to the bank’s high reliability journey.
“I commend all our near miss heroes. They are all extraordinary people. The difference between extraordinary and ordinary is the word ‘extra.’ You were asked 100%, you delivered 125%. In this near miss, you made extra efforts to detect the problems. You did extra research, spent extra hours, and those are the extra efforts our heroes made. You are all extraordinary people.
He emphasized that their actions inspire others to reevaluate their processes and identify potential risks.
UnionBank embarked on its high reliability organization (HRO) journey this year. And the Near Miss Summit demonstrates its people-centric approach to building a high reliability culture. By openly sharing experiences and learning from near misses, the bank aims to enhance its risk management practices, engage its leaders and management, and ultimately deliver exceptional customer service.