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UnionBank drives financial inclusion in PH, brings rural bank partners to cloud with Microsoft

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) partnered with Microsoft and Swiss software company Temenos to bring Filipino banking to the cloud platform Azure and expand opportunities for financial inclusion and innovation in the Philippines. Under the tripartite agreement, UnionBank’s fintech arm, UBX, now has the capability to enable rural banks, microfinance entities, and cooperatives in the Philippines with technology to power their financial operations quickly and bring financial services within the reach of more Filipinos. Over the recent years, the adoption of technology in the Financial Services Industry (FSI) has grown exponentially, with recent strides on various innovations such as blockchain, virtual currency, instant payments, and robotic process automation. In the Philippines, digital banking has also seen rapid growth, raising financial literacy among Filipinos. People who used to have no access to financial services can now enjoy a myriad of options through various cust

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Eastern Communications wins two Anvil Awards

Eastern Communications, one of the country’s leading telecommunications companies, took home two Silver Anvil Awards for its 140th Anniversary celebration and Link VIP Club program at the recently concluded 55th Anvil Awards Gabi ng Parangal at the Manila Hotel. The first winning entry, Eastern @ 140: A Celebration of 140 Years of Strong Connections under PR Program Directed at Specific Stakeholder (Employee), was focused on Eastern’s year-long anniversary celebration for employees.  This campaign includes employee incentive and recognition programs, recreational activities, employee empowerment seminars and even CSR activities. The anniversary was an opportune time for Eastern Communications to strengthen employee engagement as the company recognized achievements and the employees who have made their successes possible. Eastern Communication’s Elevating the Customer Experience: The Eastern Communications Link VIP Club also won a Silver Anvil for the PR Program Directed at Specific S

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PH the next hotbed for tech innovation

The Philippines is all set to cement its role as the next hotbed for fintech and tech innovation with all the necessary ingredients to tech up already present in the Southeast Asian country. A solid financial and business ecosystem with projected 6.2% GDP growth in 2020; an innovation-ready regulatory environment; a large, young, and increasing population with an internet penetration rate of 63% — most of them through mobile devices — the Philippines is certainly ripe for fintech growth. “We strongly believe that this is a pivotal moment for us to become more relevant and competitive in the global marketplace. DTI has always been supportive of the growing fintech industry because of its massive potential for financial inclusivity for our people. With all the work and tech innovation building up in the country in recent years, we are ready to expand our horizons,” shared Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Dr. Rafaelita “Fita” Aldaba. She underscored the significanc

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Epson launches new dye-sublimation printers with enhanced usability

Epson has announced the launch of its new 64-inch, dye-sublimation printers, the SureColor SC-F9430 and SC-F9430H digital textile printers. The printers have been developed to deliver outstanding quality and high- volume printing, for sports apparels, fashion apparel, home decorations, outdoor signage as well as other printed merchandise. A first for Epson, the SC-F9430H printer offers businesses the additional feature of printing fluorescent colours using the new Epson genuine fluorescent yellow and fluorescent pink inks. The new Epson Fluorescent Color Collection library in Edge Print software enables colour processing for fluorescent inks, bringing customers more colour variation during processing. “The introduction of Epson’s genuine fluorescent solution provides new value to our customers. Customers can now get a wider application of sports apparel, fashion wear, home decorations and even soft signage with our fluorescent inks, opening the doors to greater creativity and express

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Online mortgage broker Nook launches in the Philippines, taps top banks for easier loan applications

Recognizing the need for an easier and more efficient property loan application process in the Philippines, online mortgage broker platform Nook launches in the Philippines. The first in the country, it would enable Filipinos to conduct entire property search, do loan comparisons, and experience a seamless loan application process online. With the increasing purchasing power of Filipinos and thousands of new residential options built each year, the property market is projected to see a continuous surge on both office and residential demand from locals and foreign nationals alike. According to the numbers released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the first half of 2019, there is an increase in the share of real estate loans to the industry total loan. Banks reported that over 73 percent of residential real estate loans (RREL) were used for the purchase of new housing units, wherein most RRELs granted in the National Capital Region were used for the acquisition of condominiu

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Huawei Film Awards celebrates the marriage of tech & creativity

Huawei recently staged the Huawei Film Awards (HFA), a grand showcase of the gift and talent of Filipinos. Sustaining the success of the Huawei Mate 30 Series in the Philippines, HFA empowers filmmakers to further expand their horizon in creating content with the help of Huawei’s cutting-edge smartphones. Renowned names in the film industry graced HFA's audience with thought-provoking and heart-warming films. These content creators took advantage of Huawei Mate 30 Pro's 40-megapixel Cine Camera feature and a variety of shooting modes to produce the films. Director Pepe Diokno admired the Huawei Mate 30 Pro which he used as the main device for the short film Things. "We shot the whole film from morning until night and the battery lasted the whole day. We were shocked that we didn't have to charge while shooting! Every single frame was shot using the Mate 30 Pro and we didn't add anything else and the results were just amazing," said Diokno. TV commercial director Sid Maderazo shared

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Lenovo expands northward, opens Legion Store in SM City Clark

Lenovo, the world’s number one PC maker, recently inaugurated its first exclusive Legion store in the Northern and Central Luzon region and third overall in the Philippines. Aside from showcasing Legion’s top-of-the-line devices, Legion Store SM City Clark will also host exclusive events to engage and develop the local gaming community.  Continuing in its mission to develop the gaming communities located across the Philippines, Lenovo’s gaming brand Legion recently reached out to gamers based in North of Manila as it inaugurated the first Legion Store in the Northern and Central Luzon region. Named Legion Store SM City Clark, the store is located at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Pampanga. As one of the Philippines’ major business centers, Clark presents a huge opportunity for both the Lenovo and Legion brands’ expansion efforts and continuous support of the flourishing gaming community. In the past few years, the area has significantly developed into the economic pow

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Fexco's Springpoint makes financial inclusion more possible in PH

Financial inclusion is a key objective for many public and private institutions. The archipelago structure of the Philippines creates additional challenges for those who are advocating for greater access to financial services. As the Philippines consists of thousands of inhabited islands, financial services are difficult to deliver to those who need it most. While there are nearly 3,000 rural and cooperative banks across the country that aim to address the needs of every Filipino, logistical challenges remain. In the Philippines, Fexco’s vision is an accessible innovation that leverages financial technology to bring a simple, safe, and secure user experience to its customers. To deliver this vision and help financial institutions extend their reach both in-branch and beyond the traditional branch network, Fexco is launching its new global Springpoint venture which enables the rapid, low-cost deployment of traditional banking services to underserved areas. Springpoint is a financial

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Yedpay secures cloud deployment with Fortinet Security Fabric

Fortinet recently announced that merchant payment solutions company Yedpay has deployed an end-to-end Fortinet Security Fabric to help bolster security as it moves its infrastructure to the cloud. Fortinet’s dynamic cloud security solutions enable Yedpay to protect its current operations, stay ahead of cyber attacks and confidently expand service offerings to grow the business. Established in Hong Kong in 2014, Yedpay provides a secure platform for e-commerce payments for thousands of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that are underserved by other financial services providers. Its infrastructure connects merchants, including taxi drivers and other SMEs, with payment issuers and supports marketing and analytics tools. Like other organizations in the financial services sector, Yedpay is now leveraging virtualization and cloud computing to help it deliver applications and services with greater speed and flexibility. Fortinet is able to power Yedpay’s speed of digital innovation w

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Taal Volcano eruption evacuation center map by Google goes online

Taal Volcano eruption evacuation center map by Google goes online, now searchable on Google and Google Philippines Facebook page. Using its mapping technology, Google, in partnership with volunteer mappers and the Batangas Public Information Office, released a consolidated map of evacuation centers in connection with the eruption of Taal Volcano. This information can be useful not only for the evacuees but also for those who are looking for ways to help. The Taal Volcano Eruption Crisis Map can be accessed through this link: https://bit.ly/2TGhTaz. You may also manually search "evacuation centers for the taal eruption" on Google or access it on Google Philippines Facebook page: https://bit.ly/30z8WRO. To help report critical information or to enlist more evacuation centers, please send an email to phmappers@gmail.com.

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