UnionBank

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FPI develops UnionBank's Internet Banking System

E-On cyber account launched to offer Web-based banking

On May 31, 2000, UnionBank of the Philippines launched the country's first true cyber account branded "E-On", patterned after the pure Internet accounts in the United States that offer 24 x 7 banking from anywhere in the world. E-On is an Internet-only bank account handled by a virtual Internet branch, with better yields and lower service fees than the regular bank account offered by the "brick-and-mortar" UnionBank branches.

The basic application software that includes back-office, Internet front-end, and ATM connectivity was done by Fujitsu Philippines, Inc. and executed by its wholly owned software subsidiary WeServ Systems International, Inc. This project was done by FPI in less than 30 days.

Breakthrough features

In addition to account balance inquiry and bills payment through Internet access, which UnionBank made available to its depositors since last year, E-On has several breakthrough features that include:

• Electronic funds transfer, moving funds for cash disbursement needs and investment purposes; and,
• CyberCheck, the first electronic check payment in the Philippines and a standard E-On account feature that eliminates the need for checkbooks and the hassle of tracking all check disbursements. It also enables the customer to pay all his bills online. UnionBank will even send an advice via fax or email if the payee has received the issued check.

The cyber account will have the most number of third-party companies for its online bills payment. Over 80 names of utility, credit cards, insurance, and other companies will be available for E-On customers. The E-On account earns higher interest. With no initial deposit and minimum balance requirement, individuals can readily open an E-On account by logging on to www.unionbankph.com. The only reason to go to the branch is to make cash or check deposits.

Internet banking

"The principal proponent of our electronic or Internet banking is really our Chairman and CEO Justo Ortiz. He knows that if we are not there to do Internet banking, we will be losing the race," said Hoton Elicaño, First Vice President and Chief Internet Officer of UnionBank. "He is the major driving force behind this. Normally in organizations like this, Internet banking or Internet solutions are driven by technology.

As Chief Internet Officer, Elicaño sees opportunities for the bank Internet banking. "We really don't have a ready application to do this. When you browse through the Internet, there are probably a thousand and one applications available in building community development. Some are expensive, others extensive, and some superficial. But you've seen how quickly we can move."

No frills relationship

Elicaño and Teodoro M. Panganiban, Senior Vice President of channel management, process and quality management at UnionBank, had dealings with FPI for a very long time. FPI is one of the few no non-sense organizations that have no frills in offering an application, service or some hardware. "Fujitsu product or service does not come with all the hoopla. We always know there's a lot of value for the money we are paying for when we deal with FPI both in their products and services."

"There are very few banks that provide real, honest-to-goodness real-time banking. In the course of reviewing other products of Fujitsu, we have come across Fujitsu TeamBANKS and its impressive functional capability," he claimed.

"And when FPI showed me the production environment, I could not believe the two banks were running Pentium servers for their mission-critical applications. That really peaked my interest," Elicaño noted. "We started looking into the product and thought of Internet banking. And when FPI said that Fujitsu TeamBANKS could easily be integrated with the Internet Banking solution, we decided to work with Fujitsu."

In addition, he pointed out that FPI sales staff was good at servicing his information requirements. "FPI has always come up with its own solutions with very good value for money. I hope that FPI will continue to be a no non-sense, value for money solutions provider for its customers."

The E-On account runs on state-of-the-art client-server technology based on Fujitsu's TeamBANKS banking solution. The site is registered with VeriSign and is issued a Digital ID to ensure the public that they are really talking to UnionBank of the Philippines. He added that E-On transactions go through a secure encrypted session when connecting to unionbankph.com. It automatically encrypts or scrambles transaction details before sending them to UnionBank, ensuring privacy and the integrity of transactions.

Expansion plans

UnionBank ended 1999 with 100,000 new customers and now has a customer base of 400,000. The bank will keep translating its first mover advantage in technology into new customers, converting 100,000 new customers each year for the next five years.

Elicaño revealed that E-On would have a second version as the universal bank is expecting phenomenal response. "Our target is to get 100,000 new E-On accounts before the end of the year. This target is extremely aggressive but we are confident that we can do it."

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