The pandemic is not all about pain, struggle, and survival. It is also about progress. That is why Unionbank, with its progressive mind, created the Philippines’ first mass retail banking hub. Their goal? To bring down the rain of support to micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs) who are doing their best to succeed in these trying times.
And with the bank’s 9th E-TalkTales held last February 17, one of its aims is to provide a
one-stop center for resources that MSMEs might need to support their businesses regardless of how small or big they are.
During the event, UnionBank’s Chief Mass Market and Financial Inclusion Executive Manual G. Santiago Jr. stressed the usual struggles of entrepreneurs, especially amidst the pandemic.
With resources hard to come by this pandemic, Santiago observed that entrepreneurs are being very extra careful in their business decision-making. With the largest threat faced by businesses today, the “wait and see” mindset has been very visible.
“We’ve seen that in the way they apply for loans. You would think that because you have loans
available that people are going to flock and apply,” Santiago said. “In fact, even those existing loans
that we have that have reached the renewal stage, MSMEs would even say ‘can you renew that at half the amount only, and I will just come back to you when things are better?’,” he added.
And now, UnionBank has been driven to help these businesses. It created an easing route for businesses to take during this pandemic.
They even created an easy way to acquire business loans thru UBX SeekCap, an online Loan Marketplace where business owners and SMEs may easily browse short-term business loan products and apply digitally. And through SeekCap, any business-owners can get approved within hours.
The growing digitalization in the country has proven an advantageous solution to this pandemic. The bank, realizing the popularity of digital platforms, created the SME Business Banking App.
Entrepreneurs can use this to manage their financial transactions. The application features a way for users to facilitate all their business payments by creating the most extensive list of government and utility billers. It can also transfer funds to both local and international banks as well as making complex business approval flows customizable. And through an easy-setup, the app can enroll all companies and subsidiaries of the user. It also allows the easy opening and managing of payroll accounts of business owners for their employees, making it a breeze. These are just a few of their features, and they are coming up with more ways to ease their clients.
The steps that UnionBank has taken to serve Filipinos better in these critical times serve as a tale worth telling. That a bank took another step forward to helping businesses strive. With a successful business, behind it is UnionBank, providing all the support.