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Banking Updated: 10 Sep 2020

BBVA, best transaction bank in Latin America

The Banker has named BBVA Best Transaction Bank in Latin America for second year in a row. The U.K. magazine, a Financial Times group publication, underscored the bank's innovative approach in the region, which allowed customers to continue accessing the bank’s services seamlessly during the pandemic.

At its Transaction Banking Awards 2020, the magazine highlighted the progress made by the different BBVA franchises across the region in their digitization process to deliver a better service to its clients, with increasingly innovative products and solutions, amid the unprecedented scenario caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Joy Macknight, managing editor, The Banker, “BBVA’s digital transformation is paying off with corporate clients,” as proven by the “new functionalities on its global e-banking solutions such as real-time global position for BBVA accounts, payment traceability and mobile app. Overall the bank has supported great initiatives across the continent, acting as a pioneer in offering sustainable, transactional products,” she said.

This year's awards are especially relevant because they take into account how entities have adapted to keep operations up and running during the pandemic. Jose Luis López-Sors, head of global transaction banking Americas at BBVA, explained how the bank continued operating under coronavirus threat: “Our first challenge has been ensuring that 95 percent of our team could work from home in a very short period of time, without affecting the day-to-day business we do with our clients. The second challenge we faced was to provide liquidity to our clients in a timely way, as we experienced a dramatic increase in the demand of funds from our corporate clients in the first two months of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Our first challenge has been ensuring that 95 percent of our team could work from home in a very short period of time, without affecting the day-to-day business we do with our clients.

Among the bank’s most innovative initiatives, The Banker cited the API launch by BBVA Mexico to offer online, 24/7 services for payments, account queries and cash withdrawals without cards, as well as an API market. The Group also became one of the first financial players to roll out the Swift gpi system, which it pioneered in the Mexican and Peruvian markets.

The publication also praised BBVA’s efforts to streamline client transactions across the region with the implementation of host-to-host and SwiftNet services. In addition, the Group used the Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard system that allows it to connect to its U.S. unit as part of its global infrastructure. The bank already has more than 600 companies operating under its global infrastructure, with 180 more undergoing the implementation process, which allows it to process more than 5.8 million orders each month. 70 percent of the clients operating in Latin America benefit from the bank’s advanced payroll, payments, factoring and account information features.