UnionBank’s API portal yields P3 B transactions

The application programming interface (API) developer portal of Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines has generated P3 billion worth of transactions from both corporate and individual customers.

Dennis Omila, chief information officer at UnionBank, said the listed bank aspires not only to expose its own capabilities but also those of its clients and partners.

“Today, there are numerous partner APIs that are also exposed in the developer portal together with UnionBank’s own banking APIs,” Omila said.

Translated in terms of API calls, the API Portal is averaging around 40 million calls per month, or close to half a billion calls per year, and continues to grow rapidly.

“The goal is that once you go to our site (developer.unionbankph.com), you will see all the APIs that you will need, and not just banking,” Omila said.

In just three years, together with the start of its digital transformation, UnionBank now has the largest API developer portal among Philippine banks, with over 600 APIs.

This total also makes UnionBank’s API Portal one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, in the company of powerhouse multinational banks. It was also the first local bank in the country to expose its APIs externally in 2016, when it organized its first “Hackathon.”

UnionBank’s APIs cover the bank’s various capabilities like bills payment, funds transfer, inquiries, authentication and other functions that are exposed for public consumption.

The API Developer Portal, meanwhile, is the interface between UnionBank’s full set of APIs and their various developer stakeholders, particularly financial technology firms that develop new technology to extend financial services to the masses.

UnionBank president and chief executive officer Edwin Bautista said the development of the bank’s API platform is a crucial element of its digital transformation.