Registered micro, small and medium enterprises, including startups, can avail collateral-free digital loans up to P1 million to meet working capital needs and expand their business.
“Right now, UnionBank’s Business Loan is really up to P1 million although we have initiatives in the future or by the end of the year, we want to increase that,” said Chen Tampos, product manager of UnionBank of the Philippines SME Product Team.
Tampos said the borrower can choose up to 36 months in tenor of the loan which has a competitive interest rate of 36 percent per annum.
“If you get an approval within the day or as soon as possible, if you want to speed up the disbursement process, please open an account digitally by using UnionBank MSMEs banking app,” she said.
Tampos said the digital loan product is available via Seekcap, an online SME loan marketplace powered by UBX PH, a UnionBank subsidiary.
“…Our disbursement is actually automated so as soon as you provide the account details, you can just authenticate it and get a disbursement as soon as possible,” she added.
Meanwhile, registered MSMEs are also encouraged to use modern digital technology to start or grow their businesses.
Gerry Austria, vice president for Merchant Acquiring, said UnionBank has launched an MSMEs business banking app, UPay, an integrated online payments platform.
“If they have a UnionBank account, they can pay through their UnionBank account. But if they do not have a UnionBank account, we have other channels to accept their payments –there’s GCash, GrabPay, Mastercard. There are over-the-counter channels so there are many ways so that your customers or buyers can pay for the items they buy from you,” he told MSMEs in mixed English and Filipino.
Austria said one good feature of UPay is the buyer can receive notification through a short message service (SMS) that the seller is billing him for the product or service, and there is a payment link where he can settle the payment.
Sellers, on the other hand, are also notified via SMS once the payment is made, he said.
“Now, give us two to three days to activate your access (to UPay). But don’t worry, from the third and fourth quarter, we will make your access the same day. We are still doing further improvements so it will be more convenient for our MSMEs,” he added.
Austria said UPay platform charges minimal transaction fees. – Press release
April 16, 2024
