If there is something that unites the BBVA Paraguay team is its members’ passion for the brand. And no other color reflects that passion better than blue.

BBVA Compass repeated its participation in the AFPAware Community Service Day and helped the most disadvantaged. This year, the Community Service Day took place in Orlando and raised 4,500 kilos of food and 2,000 care kits for abuse victims and families in need.

In the last five years, Paraguay’s economy grew at an annual average rate of around 5% - one of the highest in the region. This economic performance is especially remarkable considering it occurred in a rather volatile international environment, characterized by turbulent international financial markets, lower capital inflows to emerging economies and falling prices for metals and agricultural products. The Paraguayan economy was also affected by declining activity of some the region’s most significant trade partners.

Generation Z will radically change work methods, team structures and companies in general. They are the real digital natives who grew up during the crisis and they know how to get by better than anyone.

Reflecting on BBVA’s long and successful history in Paraguay, Agustín Antón highlights some of Paraguay’s most favorable characteristics, a "country that, grossly overlooked as it may be, is blessed with a number of strengths which translate into great opportunities”, as the basis to continue improving as a universal bank in all its aspects.

Around 300 female managers participated in Encuentro Promociona which was held at Ciudad BBVA. This event, chaired by Her Majesty Queen Letizia, is part of the Promociona Program designed to promote women’s access to senior management positions and boards of directors of companies.

One of the questions hanging over the European economy and more specifically, the financial sector, is if the ECB will maintain its current policy of low, or even negative, interest rates for an extended period of time. Moreover, after the warnings announced last Thursday by the Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, who predicted a hike of the interest rates "relatively soon" if the improvement in the labour market and the inflation continues.

Economists and experts differ over whether this policy is reaching its end, or is here to stay for a while. While the ECB decides if the low rates will remain or start to increase, banks are reflecting on how to face this new environment that is putting their profitability at risk. One key way is through digitization.

Javier M. Flores, CEO of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, renewed the foundation's commitment with the Sustainable Development Goals Fund until 2019. During the session held at the headquarters of United Nations, the SDG Fund also presented the report “Universality and the SDGs: A Business Perspective”. This publication examines some of the key issues facing companies when incorporating and implementing the SDGs within their core strategy.

Ciudad BBVA held Encuentro Promociona, which helps women land senior management positions and seats on boards of directors. The event was presided over by Queen Letizia of Spain and attended by BBVA Executive Chairman Francisco González; the president of the CEOE business association, Juan Rosell; and the Minister of Healthcare, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Monserrat.

Speaking in Seville, BBVA’s Executive Board Director explained that the reason why Spainis growing at a much faster pace than Europe is because the country has tackled very importantreforms in recent years. However, "we need measures capable of bolstering productivity in Spain,” pointed out José Manuel González-Páramo during his address in the context of the 6th Assembly of the San Telmo Institute Member Association, an event attended by King Felipe VI.