UBX, SouthBank beef up rural banking in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines — The open finance platform of the Aboitiz Group and Cagayan de Oro-based SouthBank entered into a strategic alliance to provide customer-centric and inclusive digital financial services to more Filipinos in Mindanao.

Under the agreement between UBX and the rural bank, the banking-as-a-service venture of UBX called i2i would expand SouthBank’s financial services to the countryside.

This would empower the rural bank with the technology to offer digital financial solutions to its customers and clients.

With the partnership, SouthBank is able to beef up its native mobile application called SBPay, a platform that equips users with financial tools that they can use via their mobile phones.

SouthBank president and CEO Sonny Mendoza said the partnership with UBX allows the bank to strengthen its active pursuit of digital banking initiatives to provide clients with a better banking experience.

“This strategic alliance with UBX, the country’s leader in open finance, supports the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ push for the digital transformation of rural banks and promotes greater financial inclusion,” Mendoza said.

SouthBank is a rural bank in Mindanao that extends rural credit to small farmers and tenants, as well as to various rural industries and enterprises.

UBX chief product officer Anne Yosuico said the company is honored to work with SouthBank as it embraces technology to improve the banking experience of its clients and partners.

“Financial inclusion and economic success remain at the core of everything we do in UBX, and powering SBPay will definitely help us achieve these goals,” Yosuico said.

With the partnership, UBX services have been successfully integrated in SBPay via API. Through this strategic alliance, SouthBank is able to easily deliver a wide range of banking products and services to its bank clients with an added customer experience that is simple and reliable.

UBX’s open finance platform also allows partners like SouthBank to connect financial institutions to the largest payment networks in the Philippines.

At the end of last year, i2i has formed a community of 3,000 banking agents across the country, including ordinary merchants like sari-sari store owners that provide the basic financial services to the most underserved and unserved communities.

By integrating UBX’s financial technology solutions into SouthBank’s platform, the country’s major economic contributors such as farmers and tenants are empowered to attend to their financial needs in only the best way possible.