Going digital

When Edwin R. Bautista became the president and CEO of UnionBank in 2018, he saw the future of the bank. It had to go digital. UB must not only grow. It must grow big. It must not only be big, it must be better. It must be the first and the best in things digital – for the benefit of the consumer and the people.

Edwin began with UB in 1997, starting as a senior vice president (1997 to 2001), rising to EVP (2001 to 2011), then president and COO from January 2016 to 2017 and, since 2018, UB’s CEO.

Edwin has uncorked the most aggressive and innovative technological expansion ever undertaken by any local bank. UB formed UnionDigital Bank middle of last year to promote financial inclusion.

Financial inclusion, says the World Bank, “means individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.”

Financial inclusion means you must have a bank savings or checking account, a credit card, an insurance policy or a loan accommodation – even if you have little or no money. Needless to say, you must have a cellular phone, an email address and WiFi.

With a transaction account, explains the World Bank, the unbanked “can access financial services like credit and insurance, start and expand businesses, invest in education or health, manage risk and weather financial shocks.”

In 2019, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) had a disturbing finding: Seven of every ten adult Filipinos had no bank account. There are 80 million adult Filipinos. More than 56 million of them had no bank account. Either they are afraid or are intimidated to go to a bank or banks simply don’t want to do business with them or allow them to open an account. That was how arrogant or indifferent our banks could be.

Of 1,633 towns and cities in the Philippines, 15 percent or 249 towns and cities do not have a single bank branch. Per BSP, 37 percent of adults have savings; of those with savings, 52 percent keep the money at home.

Fed up with the setup, BSP wants that by end this year, 70 percent of Filipino adults must have a bank account. That is