UBPXcellerator launches 1st Free Comprehensive Data Science Development Program

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), through its UBPXcellerator Program, has recently launched the Data Science Development Program (DSDP), another first in the industry. DSDP is a FREE data science course for aspiring data scientists that covers topics such as data science basics, data visualization, programming, machine learning, and building data portfolio. 

Developed by UnionBank’s Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AI-COE), the comprehensive program will run for six (6) weeks with 19 self-paced modules, including weekly enrichment sessions with UnionBank's top data scientists.

During the onboarding event, UBPXcellerator's Lead for Capability Development Cathy Santiago and Tech Capability Officer Jam Salvador gave attendees an overview of The UBPXcellerator Program, its offerings, and the Data Science Program itself. UnionBank Chief Data & AI Officer, Dr. David Hardoon, welcomed the Xcellerator learners.

Troo insurance appoints new President & CEO

Troo, the life insurance joint venture between EastWest and the Ageas Group, appointed Glenn Williams as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2022. Williams succeeds Dominik Smeets, who has been reassigned as First Deputy General Director at MB Ageas Life, the life insurance joint venture of the Ageas Group in Vietnam. Before his new role, Williams served as Troo’s Chief Finance and Risk Officer.

Banking on the strong partnership between EastWest and the Ageas Group, Williams is positioned to take Troo insurance to new heights. With nearly 30 years of experience in the industry and the last 22 years in Asia, Williams will continue to steer the company, leveraging on EastWest’s network and the global insurance expertise of Ageas.

“I’m honored to have been appointed as Troo’s new President & CEO. It’s a privilege to lead this group of people who are brave, optimistic, creative, and innovative,” said Williams. “We’re an organization led by a vision and a passion – to help Filipinos plan for a better tomorrow so they can live their best lives today. I’m committed to leading and serving our 500-strong workforce so we can deliver the very best to our customers, employees, and shareholders.” 

UnionBank data science, AI experts discuss importance ofcustomer centricity, collaboration in banking

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) and US-based data and artificial intelligence (AI) services provider TripleBlind recently held a webinar on collaborating with AI tools in financial service. The Bank’s Chief Data & AI Officer Dr. David Hardoon, and Head of AI Center of Excellence Dr. Adrienne Heinrich, discussed the importance of customer centricity and collaboration in providing data and AI-driven solutions to customers.

Dr. Hardoon presented customer centricity as a very important component of banking and finance, as this mindset will enable banks and other financial solutions providers to create products and services that are more personalized and address customers’ unique needs.

"Everything that we do—when we go buy a car, when dealing with insurance or healthcare, thinking of our future house—ultimately is situated and substantiated on our finances. So, how do we go about truly personalizing and accommodating one's need? It's important to really have that centricity," Dr. Hardoon stressed. 

Don’t become a money mule with these tips

As harmless as it looks, being a money mule is punishable by law—so it’s best to steer clear of it

With all the fraud and cybercrime unfortunately happening today, one harmless-looking act is transferring money between bank accounts for someone else. While it seems like such a transaction doesn’t break any rules, if you participate in it, you may unwittingly become an illegal money mule for cybercriminals and fraudsters.

A money mule is someone who moves illegally acquired money on behalf of other people, in exchange for a small commission or fee. This is actually a crime prohibited by Republic Act 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001. If you get caught being a money mule, you can get up to seven years of jail time and a fine of up to P3 million—all for receiving and transferring money in your bank account!

RDB Asia Pacific Launches Singapore Operations To Kick-Off 2022

RDB starts the new year with a spring in its step, as it extends operations to the Lion City with its newest Singaporean partner and local expert, Sherman Tan. As one of Southeast Asia’s trading capitals and home to most International organizations’ Asian hubs, it was no surprise that Singapore was the chosen destination for RDB APAC’s first step out of Manila. Despite stringent travel restrictions currently in place in most of Asia, in good RDB form, it all happened virtually through varying time zones and without any RDB team member ever setting foot on Singapore.

Building a bridge towards their Southeast Asian neighbor did not happen overnight. The foundation was laid by two old confidantes and work colleagues. RDB APAC’s Managing Partner, Jerianne Ejercito, and Sherman Tan are old buddies in the world of Media in the region. Both made waves together during the last Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) hosted in the Philippines, teaming up with Havas Ortega to bring the sporting event’s marketing to life. Their already proven partnership has planted not only a seed of friendship, but confidence and trust in each other's ability to work across borders, markets, and competences. Years later, they find themselves chasing the same north star once again, this time under the RDB banner, inspired by the same ideals in building a more sustainable Asia Pacific.

“I’m extremely excited to be part of the RDB Global team and looking forward to my new role with the Agency. I see an opportunity with RDB’s strength in Content Creation and Brand Development, using my experience and network, I’m confident we can grow the agency’s business in APAC.”

Union Bank of the Philippines Selects METACO and IBM to Orchestrate its Digital Asset Custody Operations

"METACO Harmonize provides orchestration layer for managing bank’s digital asset operations"

METACO, the leading provider of security-critical software and infrastructure to the digital asset ecosystem, has announced that Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is implementing its digital asset management services. UnionBank is deploying services on IBM Cloud, in order to leverage the confidential computing capabilities of IBM’s digital asset infrastructure which are fully integrated with METACO’s digital asset orchestration system, METACO Harmonize.  

One of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, with over $15 billion in assets under management, UnionBank, will leverage METACO Harmonize, METACO’s digital asset orchestration system, to manage its digital asset operations.  UnionBank can improve insurability with additional FIPS 140-2 Level 4 certified physical controls for managing and migrating keys,  mitigate potential operational risk and loss events through trusted threshold signatures and hardened policies, and address insider collusions with third-party audited source code deployments. These capabilities are supported by IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services

UnionBank at 40: Future Forward, a leap to enduring greatness

Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is widely-known to have been trailblazing many firsts in the country since it began operations forty years ago. UnionBank has always been among the first to embrace technological innovations to empower its customers into the future of banking. The Bank’s 40-year journey began with a simple vision: to become one of the top three universal banks in the country with respect to market capitalization, profits, and customer coverage.

UnionBank began building the foundations for its operations in 1981, and in just a year, became a commercial bank on January 19, 1982. A decade after, in 1992, the Bank debuted at the Manila and Makati Stock Exchanges in June of that year, and was granted a Universal Banking License the month after.

In 1994, UnionBank acquired the International Corporate Bank, which marked the first of a series of acquisitions that would strengthen UnionBank's capabilities to deliver banking services tailored to the unique needs of Filipino customers.