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SINGAPORE — Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. (UnionBank) is working on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to curb fraudulent activity and make online transactions more efficient, including a speaker verification mechanism that may be released by next year.

The bank said it is working on technology for enhanced user authentication through voice.

“We are planning to roll this out, but we are still prepping for that. We hope (by) next year,” Adrienne Heinrich, who heads UnionBank’s AI and Innovation Center of Excellence, said in a media roundtable here on Wednesday.

“It’s definitely faster, more efficient, and also [allows for] better interaction with customers. We’ll understand them better, we’ll have a more holistic view of them — we can be much more personalized [and] bring more value to customers,” she added.

Ms. Heinrich said testing for this technology has been done and it is now in the planning stage for deployment.

She, however, cited potential challenges when using the technology, including capturing a user’s voice when they have a clogged nose, the use of different dialects, and noisy environments, among others.

This technology will be applied to customer service calls, but it could potentially be used for the bank’s other systems.

“This is for calling customer service. If this all works out really well, then we can also see… In developing AI, [it’s] important to do it step by step so the customer is not so impacted so much,” Ms. Heinrich said.

“I can tell you the mindset is there; we want to build scalable technology. There are many channels we can bring it in,” she added.

UnionBank is also exploring AI technology for active listening in customer experience, identifying mules and fraud, and digitalizing cash delivery, among others.

Separately, UBX Chief Executive Officer and President John Januszczak also highlighted the importance of AI in helping expand access to finance.

“We believe that AI is the next lever in reaching the rest of the population… we’ve been leveraging AI, but at UBX we’ve stepped on the gas exactly for this reason: AI is going to unlock financial inclusion for the rest of the population in this country,” Mr. Januszczak said in a media roundtable here on Thursday.

UBX Head of Platform Business Charles Chan said UnionBank’s fintech arm is consolidating its products.

“You’ll start seeing products are more integrated with each other,  you can lend, you can sell, you can make payments,” he said.

He also noted UBX’s use of targeted and specific AI.

“The user from a lower tier is different from a user from an enterprise tier, so we’re trying to make experiences better.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Januszczak said UBX is approaching P100 billion in gross transaction volume on its platform for the year so far.

“For credit alone, we’ve processed close to P30 billion in credit applications and transactions,” he added.

UBX’s goal in five years is to “multiply gross transaction volume as a measure of real customers using the platform by ten times,” he said.

Mr. Januszczak said they have been growing at a “tremendous trajectory.”

“We’ve grown five times year over year in revenue over the last few years. There is an opportunity to unlock more growth.  Our market penetration is quite small, so we’re just starting. I believe UBX is a highly investable business,” he added. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

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