Talk

UBX CEO talks democratizing insurance through embedded experiences

In the latest iteration of Union Bank of the Philippines’ (UnionBank) E-TalkTales, UBX President and CEO John Januszczak, Coherent CEO John Brisco, and Chubb Deputy Regional President for Asia Pacific Glen Browne discussed the ongoing insurance crisis in the Philippines and how UBX’s insurance platform Assured is helping address this crisis through embedded experiences powered by innovation and co-creation. Januszczak highlighted three possible factors that are keeping a lot of Filipinos from availing of insurance products. First, he said that it's not easy for most to have even a basic understanding of how valuable insurance can be for them, which is why it's important for providers to make it easier to discover. "You have to make it easier for the consumers to discover the value of insurance. And insurance is obvious when it is hyper-personalized and offered in a hyper-relevant context." Another problem that is contributing to the insurance gap in the country is that insurance prod

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Get ready to shop 'til you drop at Shopee Aug 30 Payday Sale

We’ve nearly reached the end of the month, which only means one thing—it’s almost time for payday this 30th! First, prioritize buying essentials, paying off bills, and setting some savings aside. But it’s also important to indulge yourself a little from time to time. You’ve worked diligently, and this payday it’s time to go all out and enjoy some of your hard-earned money. Aside from Shopee’s payday sales every akinse, you can now maximize your money’s worth at the upsized Aug 30 Payday Sale. You can also use ShopeePay to make the most out of your paycheck with exclusive discounts, cashback, and ₱1 Deals. From gadget upgrades to new makeup and everything in between, check out these luxuries, big and small, that’ll definitely bring you joy this 30th: Can’t start the day without a warm, energizing boost of caffeine? Upgrade your usual instant coffee with B Coffee Co. White Cup Bundle Pack. Each bundle pack includes 100% arabica in three roasting profiles: light-medium roast, medium ro

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UnionBank first to join Visa FinTech Fast Track Program as BIN sponsor in PH

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) has announced that the company is the first partner in the country to join Visa’s FinTech Fast Track program as a BIN sponsor. This means that UnionBank can work with fintech providers to help them gain access to the same global payment technology, expertise and revenue opportunities as they would if they were a direct card issuer with Visa. Partnering with UnionBank also provides fintechs the solutions and expertise they need to launch their programs with speed and efficiency. “At Visa, we are focused on engaging and building strategic partnerships with FinTechs through our existing programs. We’re extremely pleased to have UnionBank join us as the first Visa Fintech Fast Track program partner and BIN sponsor in the Philippines," said Dan Wolbert, Visa Country Manager for the Philippines. "We will collaborate with UnionBank to identify Fintechs that can create relevant payment programs to reach out to the underserved segments and leverage

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Yield Guild Games raises $4.6M from a16z to accelerate play-to-earn gaming

Yield Guild Games (YGG), a decentralized gaming guild of players and investors who generate yield from NFT-based games, announced Friday it has raised a $4.6M investment led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The round, which was finalized prior to the YGG token sale on July 27, was joined by Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures, and gaming entrepreneur Gabriel Leydon.  The funding will be used to continue YGG’s investment in digital assets in games and virtual worlds across the play-to-earn ecosystem, while expanding its global community of over 48,000 gamers, with more than half of the members residing in the Philippines. As a provider of scholarships to the game Axie Infinity, YGG’s player base can borrow its yield-generating in-game assets under a revenue-sharing model, so they can begin earning an income from playing NFT games without having to invest any money upfront. To date, YGG has 4,700 scholars, over 2500 of whom are Filipinos, in

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Huawei Developer Day 2021 happening on August 20

Global tech leader Huawei is set to present its most recent feats in the Philippine market across its many verticals on August 20 at the HUAWEI Developer Day. The tech giant is also expected to provide updates on how it is building and growing its ecosystem in the Philippines vis-a-vis the local rollout of the recently launched HarmonyOS and how it is projected to further the smart lifestyle of Filipino Huawei fans. Another highlight of the upcoming e-conference is the showcase of the Petal Search Nearby -- the latest update to the Petal Search which optimizes its suggestions and searches related to location. On the enterprise front, Huawei will be sharing how the Huawei Cloud is accelerating the digital transformation of Philippine enterprises. This is Huawei Philippines’ third installment of its annual developer’s day to reaffirm its commitment to making the lives of Filipinos through technology. “We at Huawei have always had the best interest of our customers as the bedrock of eve

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realme still no. 1 spot in PH for Q2 2021, now the fastest to sell 100M units globally

realme Philippines continues to dominate the local smartphone industry as it claims the no. 1 spot in the market once again, according to international research firms IDC, Canalys, and Counterpoint Research in their respective Q2 2021 reports. With this milestone, the fast-growing tech and lifestyle brand has now managed to hold the top spot for two consecutive quarters—an impressive feat the brand attained in less than three years. The brand first held this position in Q3 of 2020, just less than two years since its entry into the Philippine market in November 2018. According to Canalys, realme accounted for 26 percent of the local market share, besting four other smartphone brands in the category. It also reported a 51 percent year-over-year growth for the brand during this quarter. The brand also ranked first in a separate report by Counterpoint Research, with a 21 percent market share. Similarly, realme also showed leadership in e-commerce channels. “realme continued to lead the

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Huawei to invest $100M in Asia-Pacific startup ecosystem over three years

Huawei has announced its plan to invest $100 million in startup support at the inaugural HUAWEI CLOUD Spark Founders Summit, which took place simultaneously in Singapore and Hong Kong. Huawei said the investment would go towards its Spark Program in the Asia-Pacific region including the Philippines, which aims to build a sustainable startup ecosystem over the next three years. Huawei has been helping Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand build their startup hubs. At the summit, Huawei also announced the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam as four additional startup hubs, with the overarching aim of recruiting a total of 1,000 startups into the Spark accelerator program and shaping 100 of them into scaleups. Huawei also launched its Cloud-Plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, to further ramp up its support for startups around the world. Huawei will devote ongoing efforts and leverage its complete business portfolio in the cloud-plus-cloud collaborati

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Gear up with MSI's back to school promo

It is once again that time of the year when school starts right around the corner. MSI, a world leader in producing high-performance and innovative laptops, is ready with its back-to-school promo that starts on August 1 and lasts until September 30. Students of different backgrounds, whether they are gamers by night, studious types or artistic individuals, and coming from all sorts of diverse strands from arts, business, engineering to the sciences, can all gear up for this upcoming school year when they purchase their MSI gaming or business and productivity laptops that come with various freebies that can be worth as much as P11,000. Freebies such as gaming headsets, backpacks, neck pillows, wireless mice, external HDD, and many more are up for grabs! Make the most out of your school experience with MSI The hustle and bustle of school have its own challenges, especially while people are still stuck in their homes. MSI’s GF Series, Modern 14, Summit E15 and Stealth 15M are perfect f

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Safeguarding valuable productivity, reducing downtime with Fortinet Email Security

In IT, availability and the cost of downtime are top of mind. In fact, it’s a surefire bet that any downtime caused by an unplanned disruption or outage will get the attention of employees and leaders faster than anything else IT is doing at a given time. But aside from the annoyance, when applications fail, it costs organizations money. Especially, with a business-critical application like email, downtime of even a few hours can add up. To reduce downtime and ensure employee productivity is uninterrupted, Fortinet offers email continuity services as part of its FortiMail Cloud SaaS service. Cloud-based email services can introduce unexpected costs Gartner estimates that 71 percent of organizations today are using cloud-based email services. Though the reasons for using these services are clear—no underlying hardware or software to maintain, bundled costs and pay for what you use licensing—they can introduce unexpected costs.  For instance, in a three-week period in 2020, Microsoft

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Huawei, JMC ink ICT deal for 5th industrial revolution

Jose Maria College (JMC) signed July 6 an agreement with telecommunications giant, Huawei, to keep up with the latest innovations that technology can offer to today’s education and pursue the fifth industrial revolution of educational technology. Through the partnership, students will soon be able to access the most modern educational tools such as state-of-the-art Learning Management Systems (LMS), Virtual Laboratories, Virtual Reality, Smart Campus, etc. According to Ken Sentorias, the JMC Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) Director, the opportunities are limitless because both JMC and Huawei are on the same page of commitment and that is to deliver the latest educational technology. It can be noted that the Philippines is among the countries that are still in the third industrial revolution of educational technology. Students from developed countries such as Japan, China, and the United States are currently the only ones experiencing the fifth industrial revo

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