The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently commemorated 25 years of being publicly listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange with an opening bell ringing ceremony at the PSE Ayala Trading Floor.
Since its initial public offering in 1992, UnionBank has become one of the country’s biggest banks – gaining recognition for its operations, innovative systems and products, information security, investor relations, employee engagement, as well as customer service.
For 25 years, UnionBank has grown in terms of assets, earnings, capital, deposits, number of branches, etc. But more than this, it is known to be one of the key innovation leaders in the industry – with products and services that address the needs of its customers in the face of digital transformation.
Ever since, the bank has always been about digital innovation. It was the first lender to open a banking website, and was the first to introduce online banking and electronic savings account. This year, the bank has launched yet another breakthrough: the EON e-money account which introduced selfie-banking in the country.
Alongside constant innovation of products and services, the Bank has remained among the top five most profitable banks in the country in terms of return on equity and return on assets.
“Our total assets have grown by over 40 times in the last 25 years from 12.8 billion pesos in 1992 to P519 billion as of the end of first quarter of this year,” said UnionBank President and COO Edwin Bautista.
In terms of earnings, the Bank’s net income recorded a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent from P226 million in end-1992 to P8.9 billion using annualized first quarter figures for 2017, resulting from the Bank’s business diversification from proprietary trading to building customer businesses. Growth of deposits is in line with the growth of assets, which grew 61 times, from P6.6 billion in 1992 to P405.1 billion as of first quarter of 2017.
In terms of branches, the bank’s physical network increased six-fold (or by 250 branches) over the course of 25 years, to a total of 305 branches today.
UnionBank’s initial public offering price was P22.50 per share, and closed at P27 per share on its first day of listing on June 29, 1992. Today, it is worth P85.25
To maintain and even surpass previous successes, UnionBank has strategically partnered with different institutions to complete its universal bank product portfolio. It has formally launched its partnership with Lombard Odier, a leading Swiss private bank and wealth manager with over $220 billion in assets under management, and teamed up with the first and largest Filipino-owned life insurance company, Insular Life, to sell insurance products.
At the end of 2016, UnionBank purchased the 11-branch First Agro-Industrial Rural Bank, marking its first official foray into the micro-finance banking space.
“We are proud that we achieved all this while balancing the interests of all our stakeholders. We have consistently sought to provide our stockholders with a good return on their investment, to provide our employees with a great place to work, to provide the community with good corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and to provide our clients with practices that promote sustainability. We look forward to our next 25 years,” Bautista said. RIZA LOZADA