UnionBank Chief Technology and Transformation Officer speaks at IBM global forum

UnionBank Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer Henry R. Aguda was the lone Philippine banking executive who delivered a keynote speech at the IBM InterConnect 2017, a premier Cloud Conference recently held in Las Vegas.

Aguda, who joined global technical experts and innovators in the summit, spoke about UnionBank’s successful use of IBM Bluemix for system enhancements. IBM Bluemix is the most advanced cloud platform that weaves together services, infrastructure and data to rapidly bring ideas to production.

“We will put the Philippines on the map with IBM Bluemix, API Connect and the cognitive computing power of IBM Watson,” Aguda said. “With the potential of this collaboration, we will change the way people approach financial services in the country.”

UnionBank and IBM are one in saying that instead of flooding the market with more branches, it would be more convenient to make services available on smartphones, connected devices, or on the web.

UnionBank has a rich history of leadership in financial service innovation. Among its notable “firsts” in the Philippine banking industry are opening the first bank website in the country and other pioneering efforts such as being first with online-banking, as well as for the country’s first electronic savings account, the EON Cyber Account.