IN a major leap toward Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered banking, Union Bank of the Philippines has become the country’s first lender—and one of the first in the ASEAN region—to deploy Amazon Quick Suite, allowing more than 200 employees to pull up business insights through simple natural-language queries and dramatically cut data-request processing times.
UnionBank’s adoption of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Quick Suite marks a significant shift in how the bank handles analytics, freeing business units from heavy dependence on data teams and enabling real-time access to reports, dashboards, and insights. The move is central to the bank’s push to strengthen customer-centric innovation through data democratization.
Traditionally, business users relied on technical specialists to compile analytics reports, an approach that slowed decision-making. With Quick Suite’s generative AI capabilities, staff across operations, product development, technology, and customer-facing teams can now generate insights independently, adjust parameters instantly, and ask business questions in plain language.
Once fully deployed, UnionBank expects data turnaround times to improve by three to five times, while realizing about 30 percent lower operating costs due to reduced reliance on IT resources. Current use cases include customer campaigns and account management, with future applications aimed at detecting fraud, identifying market opportunities, and deepening customer understanding.
“Data is the foundation of AI transformation in banking,” said Dennis Omila, UnionBank Chief Transformation Officer. “By giving our teams direct access to analytics, we’re democratizing insights, improving efficiency, and solidifying UnionBank’s leadership in digital banking across the Philippines and ASEAN.”
AWS Philippines Country Manager Precious Lim said AI adoption in the country is rising by 50 percent annually, with financial institutions leading the charge. “UnionBank is showing how generative AI can expand financial inclusion and improve customer experiences,” she said.
The bank’s latest initiative reflects its long-term strategy to enhance agility, accelerate product delivery, and support more personalized financial services through advanced analytics and AI-driven insights.