UNION Bank of the Philippines, the ninth-largest lender in terms of assets, will renovate some of its branches and turn them into the so-called “Arks,” as the bank shifts from manual to digital banking.
Bank president and chief executive Edwin Bautista said Union Bank would build around 14 Arks before the close of the year strategically located nationwide.
“[We have] fourteen by the end of the year. There will be four big Arks like this [in Makati] and 10 smaller versions,” Bautista told reporters before the weekend during the launch of the first big Ark near the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati City.
He said the other three big Arks would be in Cebu, Davao and one in Bonifacio Global City.
He declined to estimate the total cost of putting up all the 14 Arks before the year ends.
“I don’t know how much it will cost but we are not building new branches anymore but we are spending to renovate the old ones into Arks. We are not building additional branches, so whatever is in place, that’s it but we will turn them into Arks,” he said.
Bautista said the Ark’s main purpose was to make it easier for existing customers to migrate to digital banking in a safe and convenient manner. Importantly, these “digital converts” often turn out to be the bank’s best customers—based on the “4-6-12” formula. This means “digitized Union Bank customers are likely to have 4 times the deposits, perform 6 times more transactions, and end up 12 times more profitable than the average bank customer.
With no bank tellers, the Ark is manned by ambassadors who are knowledgeable and capable of processing customer transactions and introducing new, tailor-fit Union Bank products to customers. The Ark has various spaces for customers to sit down and execute transactions, view and interact with screens enabled by augmented or virtual reality.
The Ark launched four new machines including a virtual teller machine—the first in the Philippines—that provides cash deposits and cash withdrawal services.
Union Bank chief user experience officer Ana Delgado said the bank was planning to establish over 30 more Arks and Arklites by 2019.
The Ark of Union Bank was awarded as best branch customer experience in the Asia-Pacific at the Retail Banker International Customer Experience in Financial Services Awards held in Singapore on July 5, besting 17 highly-prestigious banks in the region.