Trust drives inclusion, and Filipinos will only embrace digital banking if they feel genuinely safe. banking if they feel genuinely safe. With AI-driven fraud growing quickly in the Philippines, older methods like OTPs and passwords are no longer enough to protect customers. Implementing iProov has allowed us to strengthen our defences without adding friction, which is essential for a digital bank that serves a broad and diverse market.

Through iProov’ s biometric identity assurance and real-time liveness detection, we now protect the most critical points in the customer journey such as new device registration, password resets and high value transfers. This has helped reduce the risk of account takeovers and money mule activity, two of the most harmful fraud patterns we see in the industry.

Most importantly, the experience remains simple and accessible. Customers only need to look at their camera, and it works even on basic smartphones. This keeps financial protection within reach for every Filipino and reinforces the message at the heart of everything we do to bank safely, confidently and securely, because strong protection should empower, not exclude.

How did you‘ sell’ the benefits of the iProov solution to UnionDigital Bank employees?

Internally, we anchored everything on our mission. Protecting customers is essential to financial inclusion, and if Filipinos do not feel safe, they will not transact digitally. This helped us frame iProov not as another layer of complexity but as a key enabler of trust, growth and responsible banking.

For our product and operations teams, we explained the business impact in very practical terms. Stronger identity assurance means fewer account takeovers, fewer escalations and stronger alignment with BSP Circular 1213, which encourages banks to move beyond weak authentication methods like SMS OTP.

For compliance and leadership, iProov was a proactive investment that strengthens our defences before fraud incidents scale.

We also reinforced the value to the customer experience. iProov’ s passive liveness check is far simpler than multiple OTPs or challenge questions. Customers only need to look at their camera and the process works across both highend and basic smartphones.

The message that resonated across the organisation was clear. We are not adding friction. We are building a safer and more inclusive path so more Filipinos can bank with confidence through UnionDigital Bank.

Where do you see the partnership with iProov taking UnionDigital Bank in the future?

We see iProov as a long-term partner in strengthening the digital trust foundation that supports UnionDigital Bank’ s growth. As AI-enabled fraud becomes more sophisticated, the industry is moving away from simple facial matching and toward science-based identity assurance that can withstand deepfakes, replays and injection attacks.

This direction aligns closely with BSP’ s push for stronger, real-time authentication standards.

Looking ahead, we plan to expand biometric assurance to more high-risk touchpoints such as new device binding, sensitive profile updates, account recovery flows and larger fund transfers. This strengthens our risk-based authentication strategy by keeping everyday interactions simple while applying stronger controls when the risk is higher.

The partnership also supports our financial inclusion goals. iProov works reliably across a wide range of smartphones, including lower-cost devices used by many first-time digital banking customers. This reflects our commitment to making security both strong and accessible. It aligns well with our

16 WWW. INTELLIGENTCISO. COM