With a focus on internal upskilling and AI-powered transformation, UnionBank of the Philippines is building an innovation-led culture to future-proof its workforce and operations
As banks contend with digital disruption and rising customer expectations, the ability to scale artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities across both technology and talent has emerged as a key differentiator. UnionBank of the Philippines (UnionBank) has responded with a generative AI-led (GenAI-first) strategy that embeds the technology across core workflows, while simultaneously building a learning ecosystem that equips its people with the skills to lead this transformation from within.
AI fluency as a workforce imperative
Recognising that sustainable digital innovation must be anchored in human capability, UnionBank launched a structured learning and development programme in 2024 aimed at building an AI-augmented workforce.
More than 471 employees took part in live sessions covering everything from prompt engineering to application programming interface (API) integration, supplemented by on-demand content and critical thinking modules to support GenAI adoption.
This was not a one-off training cycle. Instead, UnionBank set out to institutionalise AI fluency by appointing 37 ‘GenAI Champions’ across 21 departments. These internal advocates acted as knowledge bridges between teams and the bank’s AI Centre of Excellence, helping embed use cases tailored to functional needs while cultivating a bottom-up innovation culture.
From learning to real-world impact
What makes UnionBank’s approach stand out is its tight coupling of upskilling and application. Several GenAI tools now embedded across the organisation emerged directly from GenAI champion-led workshops and employee ideation.
Projects such as the GenAI Reputation Dashboard and IT Operations Coach exemplify the bank’s executional maturity. The former doubled sentiment accuracy metrics (from 0.30 to 0.75) and saved brand managers significant time, while the latter reduced the time taken to handle an incident from two hours to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, BoardGPT accelerates strategic decisions by compiling boardroom insights instantly and GenBI empowers non-technical users to build campaign dashboards, cutting dashboard requests by up to 70%.
Culture as a catalyst
UnionBank’s GenAI journey has not been without challenges. Initial scepticism around adoption was addressed through the champion network’s peer-led model, while technical integration hurdles were overcome by strong coordination with the IT team. The result is not only a growing suite of AI tools but a culture that embraces experimentation, iteration and continuous learning.
By combining talent enablement with operational AI integration, UnionBank has created a blueprint for holistic AI transformation – one where people and platforms evolve in lockstep. This dual commitment earned the bank two major honours at the Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazer Awards 2025: Best Learning & Development Programme and Trailblazing Use of AI or Machine Learning in Financial Services.