UnionBank continues to lead the way in supply chain financing, supports MSMEs and expands to more industries

UnionBank of the Philippines continues to be a digital trailblazer in the Supply Chain Financing space with its recognition by the 7th IDC Future Enterprise Awards (FEA) as the Best in Future of Industry Ecosystems both in the country and in the Asia-Pacific. These awards exemplify its dedication to staying at the forefront of financial innovation, catering to the evolving needs of its valued customers.

With a legacy of excellence and a forward-looking approach, it remains the go-to partner for businesses seeking to optimize their cash flows, streamline operations, and foster stronger relationships across their supply chains.

In fact, its base and disbursements have doubled in the last couple of months – mainly because of the combination of ecosystem-based growth and digitization-based solutioning.

“With SCF, we get introduced to new supply chain ecosystems by our clients such as in the case of New Hope, where a distributor or wholesaler has referred us to other Agri-feed manufacturers who became new ecosystem anchors,” said Mon Duarte, EVP and Head of Transaction Banking and Platform Development for UnionBank. “We’re also getting inquiries from potential anchors after they heard of a successful SCF execution in their industry.”

He added, “At the back of it, we’ve been able to sustain the growth because of our drive to continuously promote better experience through technology. We continuously engage ecosystem anchors to get feedback and suggestions on how to improve our products and services. For example, to promote better repayment experience for the MSMEs, we have just enabled SCF on the MSME mobile app (recently Powered Up and launched as UB Negosyante), allowing them to monitor their loans and make repayments via their smartphones.”

Currently, UnionBank’s SCF is serving largely in the Agriculture, FMCG, Food, Import Distribution, Wholesale and Retail, and Petroleum, among others – with the intent to continue growing these bases while extending to other industries such as HealthCare, Technology, Construction and Logistics.

But apart from these, UnionBank is also seeking to expand and diversify its portfolio. This includes Retail and Manufacturing industries.

“We intend to grow the FMCG, Retail, and Manufacturing industries further as while revenge spending might end, forecasts studies cited by ADB show that PH economic growth will still be driven by consumer spending along with infrastructure,” said Duarte. “We also continue to support Agricultural industries in support of the Philippine government’s push to invest more on Agriculture, along with HealthCare.”

For buyers to further extend their cash flows or get additional capital, Duarte said that they are currently working on Buyer Financing. “Likewise, we are already studying how we can further expand financing to suppliers,” he said. “We are also developing industry-specific programs that will be more tailor-fit to the payments and trade behavior of specific industries.”

UnionBank’s supply chain financing, thus, stands as a beacon of financial innovation and support for businesses. With a focus on creating value through streamlined processes and innovative solutions, UnionBank enables companies to navigate the complexities of the modern supply chain with ease. “We are addressing these changes in an ever changing business environment. We are ensuring these services are readily available to those who are in need. This is aligned to our vision of TechingUp Pinas but also for our businesses,” said Duarte.

To know more about UnionBank’s supply chain financing, visit their website at https://www.unionbankph.com/corporate/supply-chain-financing

ADVT.