Leading Digital Adoption: Unionbank Celebrates 39th Anniversary

Wednesday, January 20, 2021


 


 

Digital banking has made the challenging days of the pandemic a little bearable. AI and block chain has also been useful to transform this all as Unionbank leads the way for the digital adoption of the Philippines. They are currently celebrating their 39th Anniversary and with this, they continue their mission to spearhead digital banking technology with you their customers in mind. They are also making good headway.

Mr. Henry Aguda the SVP and Chief Technology and Operations Officer + Chief Transformation Officer for Unionbank says "Exciting things are happening with Unionbank as we celebrate our 39th anniversary. Our celebration started with the Unionbank SME Business Banking app. We currently rank 2nd in Instapay which means we are second with regards to usage among other companies. This allows our SME's to have banking capabilities just like the big boys. We also launched BUX and it has already 50K onboard. We also launched SeekCap and Sentro so SME's can get capital and sell bulk as they scale products into the market."

They also addressed Senator Sherwin Gatchalian's case and said "We value the privacy of the good Senator and we have made warnings for our other clients. These hackers prey on emotion, use other sites or emails, use and copy Unionbank's logo to do phishing. While we cannot disclose details, we are working with authorities to run after them. It is not a security hack. We have the transaction details and logs and we are not resting til they are held accountable. We are working on it til now. We ensure the processes are logged to protect our clients. It's a shared responsibility of both us and our clients, so make sure you use different emails for online banking and the regular work. "

"Are we ready? Yes, we have the support of our regulators and a framework that requires us to report incidents like these. There are a couple of bad actors/criminals that make this difficult but we do not succumb to them. It has increased the awareness of our customer base, we are becoming vigilant, to more digital transactions with multiple validations. They will only prey on the weak, but everybody is coming together to push out these criminals out of the banking industry."

"We went through this digital transformation 4 years back. We made sure we prepared for AI. We created the organization to aggregate more information and curating them with other agencies and corporations in  compliance with the National Privacy Commission. It's a long journey but now we are here. We are going to tailor fit customer products that are most relevant to our customers. This also protects transactions going to the bank. From laundering, to fraud, this is anticipated as patterns, all of which are in the initial stages. Our advocacy is to be more sophisticated than criminals, AI is helping us with that. We are now at 170 institutions and continue to scale up, Unionbank has launched PHX. We hope to share this with the government and our corporate clients."

When asked about education campaigns for less tech inclined customers, he says "The best awareness campaign is making the app as easy to use as possible. We took a look at our GSIS customers and worried they won't be able to use the app, our program "Convert" taught them to use the digital platform. Now they can bank at the comforts of their home, but most of them still prefer to go to the branch. When we got them onboard though, they became our ambassadors."

Their mandate today is to move the Filipino into the digital space. Their platform made it possible to reach a lot of people. They are one of the most successful banks in the ASEAN and this transformation has driven them to do it til now.

Unionbank is excited to continue to advocate digital banking services. The end goal is where their customers would move to. Nobody gets left behind. They could move much faster but they have customers who prefer the personalized service is. They are still there servicing customers during the pandemic, the branches have been able to accommodate seniors. They are letting their customers grow with them, and that's a good thing.

You'll see more of that.




COW

RAFFY TULFO Starts WANTED: Ang Serye on TV5

Tuesday, January 19, 2021


 

 
 
Looks like they are amping up content creation over at TV5 and they're bringing in the big guns as WANTED sa Radyo now becomes a series with their new show WANTED: Ang Serye (Mga Kwento sa Likod ng Reklamo) starring the man himself Idol Raffy Tulfo. This will come out 9-10pm on Saturdays on TV5 and it's associated channels soon. The show will feature several of their actual cases, based on real life which have been shown on the hit news show.

 

 
The first few episodes include Epi Quizon, Ritz Azul, Adrian Alandy whom we also interviewed during the mediacon today. The first one talks about a transgender and a lesbian having an abusive relationship, the other one is about fidelity and all the complexities that come with it. This unfortunately will not be shown on YouTube yet but perhaps soon, as we were told, they will still be looking into it. Here's a short interview we had with them this afternoon.
 



Sir Raffy was asked about why he was the number one person to look for when they have issues, he says "Maybe because I am able to solve their problems, so when they need help they actually look for me first." Here's a little talk from the man himself.


Raffy also promised that in every episode that you will see in this show, you'll learn valuable lessons from the lives of ordinary Filipinos who have been on the show. Not only that, you'll also see some of the really nice solutions to domestic problems that are all around the country. You'll also get to see how they end up, some really reconciled... but you would have to see that on the show. Make sure you do this Saturday at 9PM on the Kapatid Network, TV5!



COW

Why Millennials Choose a BRIA

 

It's a tough season to actually have that thought of getting properties these days. The working class, are full of young, hungry and motivated bunch of youngsters that are very driven, but undecided where to put their money in and for them, one clever option is buying their own homes and investing in properties.. As they grow older, smarter, they now have the capacity to invest and choose real estate properties in different places across the country. Question is, why a BRIA?

The houses and lots, condominium units are affordable, they also have several communities with stable internet connection and just about a multitude of digital payments which are encouraged to pay for the property. That in itself would be very convenient for those who have just started to climb the corporate ladder, or a small family, wherein you don't have to waste your time going to offices, the bank or outside in this pandemic. This makes them the home of choice for a vast number of young and ambitious property seekers.



 

This place is quite near major roads or highways as it was planned well. This community is also sprawling with retail establishments, grocery, churches, schools, government offices, several green spaces and hospitals. BRIA Condominiums also have very secured public and private areas, with essential spaces monitored 24/7, and security personnel to make sure you are safe in the confines of the community. Everything is also well lit as they utilize solar lamps, aside from huge ones on roads and pathways. You'll also love the flora, the trees that have grown all around the property.



They bank on affordability and quality which is why there are a lot of millennials already getting their own BRIA homes. If you want one, just head on to www.bria.com.ph and check out the virtual tours they have. It's a pretty good way to check out the properties without compromising your health (pretty safe from COVID). Or if you're more into social network pages, just head on to facebook.com/BriaHomesInc because they've got lots of people to help you there too.

Are you ready to have a BRIA home?




COW

Manscaping Tools From Romano Philippines: The STRIGIL SafeCut Trimmer

Monday, January 18, 2021


Sitting in your room all curled up with a cup of cocoa and Netflix? Hey man, how you doin? Have you already taken a bath? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror and told yourself how horrible you look today? Well, you've got to do something about it because your wife or girlfriend can smell you from a mile away. That's just wrong, that's nasty. :(

Grooming is essential, especially for men. Your woman wouldn't want a smelly boy when you're out on a date or even at home. Your skin tells your age, and if you don't take care of it, expose it much under the sun, you'll get a lot of your friends and family tell you that you look old. If you abuse it, not take care of it, then you will suffer the consequences of not looking and feeling good than people who lived in this planet the same time that you do. Are you a hairy guy like me? Do you have hair growing in different parts of your body that you would rather not have? I do too. Some Filipinos are actually like that and yes, in some instances, it's normal. If you're like me who doesn't like the aesthetic of unmanageable and unruly hair, I'd rather have it taken out either by manually shaving it off (which I do quite regularly). 

It's a little difficult to do it on other areas because of the uneven landscape especially on the privates where nicks and bumps happen. That's just not an option for a lot of men because of the discomfort you get just because you shaved it. There exists Romano Philippines who now have essentials that you can use to get rid of those problems with their premium manscaping tools. Exhibit A, this is their STRIGIL SafeCut Trimmer. This is the same thing professionals use in salons and barbershops to buzz cut hair. I also used this to cut most of my facial hair, to shape my beard, take out things in my chest, ear, and just about everywhere on my body. 



 

I still dig the leg hair so I left that part out. But for most of the face, you can use this to leave a stubble then take care of the rest with a razor if you want a cleaner shave. Although, I like the look of having a stubble so this was enough for everything. This would be something good to include in your grooming kits. I can imagine using this for the bulk of the work I need to do in trimming, then use a smaller one to sculpt or a plain razor to do the rest. But really, this has done quite a remarkable job that I didn't even need to have that because it does a close shave already. Now make sure you also utilize a clear mirror so you can see the things you can do if you decide to wear a beard or mustache. It takes a little getting used to if you want to sculpt things. Like in my case, I wear a beard so it could lengthen my face and look like I've lost weight LOL.

Now aside from the STRIGIL SafeCut Trimmer, they've also got an After-Trim Body Cleanser. This does the job, leaves your skin still supple and prevents it from becoming super dry. This thing has Aloe Vera which makes your skin feel cool and hydrated. This is pretty necessary right after the trimmer work you had. It also smells nice too, like a fainter, more manlier version of a popular men's perfume. I prefer it that way rather than making it a bit too musky or with leather notes. Some women can't really stand that sometimes. This one also feels fresh and something you'll love to wear after you take a shower, it doesn't smell like strong soap or chemically induced.




This is also very affordable, the replacement blade can also be sourced from the same store. They are a local brand and they want to spark change in the way the Filipino man depicts hygiene. They want heightened standards to make sure you feel good inside and outside when you use their essentials. I've been using it for a few weeks now and I've been satisfied overall. I even feel I can use this to have a haircut or facial hair (which I did for sampling), but it's special, I'd rather use it for just grooming THAT alone. Add to that, my own obsession with moisturizers before I sleep and after washing my face in the morning, I guess that's a good thing. Watch our unboxing here!

 

 

 Now if you fancy getting these, they're available at https://romanoesntls.com or their IG account @romanoesntls, Remember, 72% of women actually want their man trimmed. You know what to do. This would also be a nice thing to gift your husbands, boyfriends or just that guy who wants to keep clean. Can't stop you from doing that!


COW