UnionBank honored nation’s ‘Best Retail Bank’ second year row

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) was once again recognized at The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2021, one of the world’s most prestigious awards programmes, besting other Philippine banks to take home the prestigious “Best Retail Bank in the Philippines” award, for the second straight year.

The Asian Banker conferred the award to UnionBank in recognition of its impressive performance within the past year, as shown by its positive revenue growth and significant increase in the number of digital banking clients, which also resulted in record-high volumes of digital transactions processed, all amid a global health crisis that crippled many economies across the world.

Within the past year, UnionBank’s retail revenue grew by 13 percent YoY and had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 percent. It posted the highest return on equity (ROE) at 11.6 percent. The Bank also reached the highest retail deposit growth at 15 percent YoY and a CAGR of 14 percent. In addition, the Bank was able to preserve yields from consumer loans and posted strong growth in low-cost funds in 2020. The Bank’s fee income contribution to total retail revenue was also the highest among its peers, recorded at 21 percent.

UnionBank also has the strongest digital customer engagement with 57 percent active users in retail banking compared with competing banks. The Bank also reported that 76 percent of their new retail accounts were opened via digital channels. Just in 2020 alone, the bank gained about 500,000 new accounts through its mobile app.

These digital milestones are fueled by the Bank’s superior digital banking capabilities and secure digital ecosystem, utilizing various technologies including cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, among others. For instance, around 95 percent of UnionBank’s system is now running on the cloud.

In terms of customer experience, UnionBank achieved the highest Bank Quality Score (BQS) in the Asia Pacific region at 102.11 and the highest net promoter score (NPS) in the Philippines at 75.35. The BQS is a scoring system that measures customer satisfaction for banking services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NPS on the other hand measures how likely customers would recommend a product, service, or company to their peers.

“It is an extreme honor to accept this award on behalf of the Board of Directors and Management of Union Bank of the Philippines and on behalf of all UnionBankers – for they are the ones who made this happen. This distinct recognition is a validation and testament to the success of the Bank’s digital transformation which started five years ago. As our President and CEO Edwin Bautista said ‘UnionBank is going full throttle in our digital transformation. Our success today was a product of looking ahead into the future and preparing the evolution of banking. We are confident that the Bank’s “Tech Up Pilipinas” efforts, focused on promoting wide-scale digital transformation, would allow all of us to weather this crisis and emerge more resilient than before,” said Retail Banking Center Head, Executive Vice President Joyce S. Gonzalez.

The International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards honors institutions in Asia that have showcased exemplary performance in consumer financial services, highlighting innovative products and services that address the needs of customers. It is held by The Asian Banker, the region’s leading provider of strategic business and market intelligence benefitting the financial services sector.