Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) became the first local recipient of Visa’s Champion Security Award, a reflection of the bank’s sustainable growth in credit card and digital transactions.
UnionBank is the only Philippine bank that received the Champion Security Award 2023 after Visa launched it in Asia-Pacific nearly a decade ago.
“Considering the strides we have made in card acquisition and management this year, the bank is strongly committed to maintain and even surpass the service we provide our customers,” UnionBank senior vice president Christopher Go said Tuesday in an email to the DAILY TRIBUNE.
Visa Philippines country manager Jeff Navarro said UnionBank exhibited effective monitoring and prevention of fraudulent transactions.
Exceptional performance
“UnionBank has stood out among others due to its exceptional performance based on a number of key metrics. We recognize the bank’s capabilities in managing issuing fraud rates, issuer authentication approval rates, acquirer fraud rates, and risk program identifications,” he said.
UnionBank is beefing up cybersecurity as it maximizes momentum on credit card growth and digital transactions, partly due to its integration of Citi cardholders.
“The first three months of this year showed we even had a higher acquisition rate of 50,000 new cards monthly,” UnionBank president and chief executive officer Edwin Bautista said.
As a result, UnionBank’s clients have increased to 14 million.
Most downloaded
highest rated app
“UnionBank online is the most downloaded and highest rated app in Google Playstore, with over 10 million downloads,” Bautista added.
The bank’s consumer loans expanded to 59 percent of its total loan portfolio as net interest income jumped by 17 percent to P13 billion in the first quarter compared to the same period of 2023.
“We are very grateful to Visa for recognizing the widespread efforts of UnionBank in ensuring secure, efficient, and innovative card and digital payment options for our users,” Go said.