UnionDigital by Union Bank Acquires 1.73M Customers and USD50M Deposits in Four Months
UnionDigital Bank, the digital banking subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, reported today that it had gained 1.73 million members, established a loan book size of US$ 70 million, and earned US$ 50 million in deposits in its first four months of operations in the country. UnionDigital Bank has seen double-digit growth in digital loans to mass market communities because of UnionBank ecosystem connections.
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| UnionDigital by Union Bank Acquires 1.73M Customers and USD50M Deposits in Four Months |
“Since our launch, UnionDigital Bank has been focusing on serving the needs of the underserved communities within UnionBank by offering digital deposit and lending products to our ecosystem, and we will continue to support the needs of these customers with additional products overtime,” shared Arvie de Vera, co-founder, President, and CEO, UnionDigital Bank. “The series of milestones that we have been able to achieve is a testament to the strong execution power of the team, in accordance with our community-led business model.”
Arvie de Vera attributes the Digital Bank's success to its "laser focus" on the fundamentals: prioritizing the balance sheet.
“As a bank we’re very clear: it’s not just about having a cool app or millions of users who don’t generate revenue - it’s about a balance sheet. It’s about growing the loan book because that’s where the revenues come from- it doesn’t come from payments, it doesn’t come from sign ups. Valuation is great, but it’s not profitability.”
UnionDigital Bank's success in building its loan book is due in part to its savvy utilization of accessible data on customer behavior within the more extensive Aboitiz ecosystem to produce tailor-fit loan products as a subsidiary of the Philippines' largest tech conglomerate.
“If you’re lending within an ecosystem, you have an anchor community, and that’s a robust way to provide credit because you have more data. Rather than using payments data, which is really not a good proxy for someone’s capacity and willingness to pay. But if you have robust set of data with context on their financial behavior, then you can properly price the risk, because you have historical data on the customer, you know you can give him a customized interest rate. A one-size-fits-all pricing is an inappropriate lending business strategy and sub-optimal consumer experience.”
UnionDigital Bank's objective to advance financial inclusion begins with expanding loan availability to marginalized populations by leveraging technology and decades of alternative data from the UnionBank ecosystem to develop robust credit models tailored to the Philippines.
The UnionDigital Bank app is now available to a select group of customers. For the time being, the app is only available through invitation. Future updates on the launch will be available on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as the digital bank's social media platforms.