UnionBank pilots new digital service

MANILA, Philippines — Union Bank of the Philippines has partnered with Hex Trust, Asia’s leading digital asset custodian, to pilot its digital asset custody service.

Henry Aguda, chief technology and operations officer at UnionBank, said the Aboitiz-led bank sees the digital asset space maturing as more customers and institutional investors show interest in digital assets and the blockchain as regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“Digital assets are here to stay, whether it be in the form of cryptocurrency, NFTs or tokenized assets, and we are seeing more market demand for these. We are excited to be the first Philippine bank to pilot a custody service for digital assets for our own employees, overseen by the BSP, so that we can prepare the groundwork for a safe and protected system for customers’ digital assets,” Aguda said.

The bank’s chief transformation officer said the tieup would enable UnionBank to respond to the needs of customers looking for a trusted and regulated institution to keep their digital assets safe.

This also allows the industry to continue its growth, and at the same time, together with the BSP, remain safe and regulated for new and existing investors.

Under the partnership, Hex Trust would provide digital asset custody as an internal service for UnionBank employees, as a pilot run, to prepare for the next stage – a fully commercialized digital asset custody service for the bank’s customers.

“This partnership once again puts UnionBank at the forefront of the industry as banks start to enter the digital asset sector,” Aguda added.

Hex Trust is a fully licensed, insured financial institution that provides bank-grade custody for digital assets. Led by veteran banking technologists and award-winning financial services experts, it has built a proprietary bank-grade platform – Hex Safe™ – that delivers a custody solution for banks, financial institutions, asset managers, exchanges and corporations.