UNIONDIGITAL Bank, the digital lender of UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc., has partnered with cloud-native banking technology company Thought Machine to help operate its online platform.
In a statement on Wednesday, UnionDigital said built its products with the help of Thought Machine’ core technology.
UnionDigital has deployed Thought Machine’ core banking engine, Vault Core, a product-building framework that where it can also modify and launch products. It is a fully application programming interface-enabled platform.
The Vault platform was written from scratch as an entirely cloud-native system and gives banks control to build any product required to adapt in a changing environment.
“We put innovation at the heart of everything we do at UnionDigital Bank. It made sense to partner with Thought Machine, as they share the same passion for driving significant transformation through the power of state-of-the-art technology,” UnionDigital Bank Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Arvie de Vera said.
“We are delighted to be working with UnionDigital Bank — a leader and pioneer in the region and an exciting, high-potential initiative from the UnionBank of Philippines. With our technology, we look forward to seeing this new digital bank blossom and gain market share,” said Nick Wilde, Thought Machine managing director for Asia-Pacific.
UnionDigital said its partnership with Thought Machine will help make online banking safe and accessible and help boost the Philippines’ digital economy.
“Thought Machine’s next-generation core banking platform, Vault Core, is a key differentiator for UnionDigital Bank and enables a great foundation for the future of financial services,” UnionDigital Bank Chief Transformation and Technology Officer Pieter Franken said.
“At UnionDigital Bank, we are extremely excited with this future and its limitless possibilities it offers us. Thought Machine helped us draw this path further, by building a powerful digital bank in world record time that will serve and at the same time empower underserved communities to access financial services that they deserve,” Mr. Franken added.
UnionDigital was given a digital banking license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in July 2021.
Digital banks are expected to help the central bank reach its goal to bring 70% of Filipino adults into the banked population and have 50% of payments done online by 2023.
The UnionDigital Bank app is now available for a limited set of clients. Updates on its full launch will be made through the bank’s social media channels. — K.B. Ta-asan
