MANILA, Philippines — Suyen Corporation, the company behind homegrown fashion and lifestyle brand Bench, recently tapped Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) to help the company digitize its payroll system through the solutions offered by UnionBank’s Transaction Banking Group.

The partnership was made official through a memorandum of agreement signing ceremony last June 22 at UnionBank Plaza in Pasig City.

UnionBank’s award-winning payroll solutions will streamline Suyen Corporation’s payroll disbursement.

This will allow the company to disburse pay in a more efficient and secure way to the 8,000 plus employees throughout the Bench group network via the UnionBank Online app together with its other innovative and superior digital banking capabilities.

At the signing were Suyen Corporation’s Vice President for Business Development Bryan Lim, Vice President and General Manager Jude Ong, Senior Credit & Collection Manager Imelda Mission, Cashiering Manager Roma Ancot, UnionBank’s Retail Banking Center Head Mary Joyce Gonzales, and Transaction Banking Center Head Ramon Duarte.

The signing event was attended by key representatives from Suyen Corporation, including Vice President for Business Development Bryan Lim, Vice President and General Manager Jude Ong, Senior Credit & Collection manager Imelda Mission, and Cashiering manager Roma Ancot.

Joining them were UnionBank’s executives, Retail Banking Center head Mary Joyce Gonzales and Transaction Banking Center head Ramon Duarte.

According to Lim, the partnership would offer significant benefits to their HR team, streamlining payroll preparation and leveraging the features and capabilities of the UnionBank Online app. 

“When we first considered our payroll partner, we looked at who is capable of providing us with the most convenience, and we felt that the UnionBank system would be the easiest way for our HR team to work with so that’s why we chose to work with UnionBank,” Suyen Corporation’s Bryan Lim said .

“The partnership will also allow us to take advantage of the features and capabilities of the UnionBank Online app, which is an added benefit for our employees,” Lim added.

For his part, UnionBank’s Ramon Duarte said, “I think we have a very unique proposition for our cash management services, particularly for payroll. It’s something quite innovative and I hope that they will experience the benefits of our new approach to doing payroll.” 

Moreover, Duarte emphasized that the goal is to equip Filipinos and Filipino companies with cutting-edge strategies for cash management and banking services. 

“Part of ‘Tech-Up Pilipinas’ is also ‘teching-up’ and enabling Filipinos and Filipino companies with the latest approaches to cash management and banking services in general, and us both being Filipino companies, we are happy to be able to share some of these ideas with a fellow Filipino company,” Duarte said.

This new partnership is just the latest in a series of engagements between UnionBank and Suyen Corp., which also includes a joint initiative in December last year where UnionBank is enabling QRPH codes to more than 800 Bench branches nationwide through – making payments more convenient for their customers.

The partnership is in line with UnionBank’s “Tech-Up Pilipinas” initiative that aims to empower Filipinos through technology and innovation in the name of nation building.