Philippines

UnionBank appoints world-leading Data Scientist to advance digital capabilities

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), a universal bank, and one of the largest in the Philippines, has announced the appointment of Dr. David Hardoon, Ph.D., as the Bank’s Senior Advisor for Data and Artificial Intelligence (D&AI).

The appointment comes as part of the bank’s commitment to make banking simpler and more inclusive via best-in-class digital and mobile capabilities. In his new role, Hardoon will report to Edwin R. Bautista, UnionBank’s President and CEO.

The announcement was made as the Bank continues to see a surge in digital transactions among customers as a result of evolving consumer behaviour amplified by the current enhanced community quarantine, according to a press release. These transactions mean an increased volume of data running through the Bank’s systems which data science and AI can unlock to allow the Bank to serve its customers better.

Edwin Bautista, President & CEO, UnionBank, said: “Leveraging Data and AI is a key driver to our next-level of digital transformation as we continue to put the customer – both individuals and businesses – at the heart of our business.”

Hardoon replaces John Januszczak, who is now focused in his role as President and CEO of UBX, UnionBank’s FinTech subsidiary.

Hardoon is a graduate of Royal Halloway, the University of London with First-Class Honours B.Sc. in Computer Science and AI, and a holder of a Ph.D. in Machine Learning from the University of Southampton School of Electronics and Computer Science United Kingdom.

Prior to his appointment at UnionBank, Hardoon was the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) first appointed Chief Data Officer and Head of the Data Analytics Group, and subsequently MAS’ Special Advisor on Artificial Intelligence. In these roles, he led the development of the AI strategy both for MAS and Singapore’s financial sector as well as efforts in promoting open cross-border data flow.

In addition, he led and established the ASEAN Advanced Analytics of Ernst & Young Advisory Singapore as Director of EY Data, IT Advisory Services, and co-founded Azendian Solutions, an information management and data science consultancy between 2013 and 2017. He was also Head of Analytics at SAS Institute, Singapore, from 2010 to 2013.

As Senior Advisor for Data and AI, Hardoon will be working with various centres, groups, and units to reinforce data infrastructure and governance, behaviuor modelling, machine learning, and AI capabilities as well as applications in the Bank and its parent company Aboitiz Equity Ventures.

Aside from his role with the Bank, Hardoon is concurrently Senior Advisor for AI to Singapore’s Corrupt Investigation Practices Bureau, and Senior Advisor for Data Science to Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board.