BBVA’s venture capital investment unit, Propel Venture Partners, is participating in a new funding round by an app-based business dedicated to helping US workers with flexible working lives.

BBVA’s Garanti Bank was singled out as the only Turkish bank among the ‘Most Honored’ financial institutions in this year’s Emerging EMEA Executive Team: Leaders survey by Institutional Investor Magazine (IIM). Garanti CEO Fuat Erbil and IR Head Handan Saygin were also recognized.

• BBVA’s mobile platform marks the start of a new transformation stage for the Group, with a solution that unifies design, functionality and user experience
• BBVA Bancomer becomes the first BBVA franchise to adopt this new development in its mobile banking solution, which will be rolled out progressively across the Group’s footprint
• BBVA already has over 24 million digital customers, of whom 19.3 million use mobile devices.
• BBVA Bancomer’s digital sales have grown from 7 percent at the end of 2015, to 31 percent in the first quarter of 2018, and are expected to hit 41 percent by the end of the year

Meetings, reports, deadlines … a symphony of tasks that can sometimes turn the workday into a slog. On top of all this, add the intention to live a healthy lifestyle and it might seem like an impossible task. Luckily, there’s always a smartphone at hand and an app to help you face the day.

BBVA’s Garanti Bank has been named Silver Stevie Winner in the category of ‘Best Use of Technology in Sales’ for its new onsite banking application. The new platform greatly enhances the mobility of sales teams by allowing them to carry out direct, independent and face-to-face, off-branch business with customers where the customers are.

Our mobile phones have become an extension of ourselves. Even more so when looking at markets like Spain where there is significant smartphone market penetration. That’s why BBVA has committed its firm support to creating a unique experience for its customers using mobile devices. The data validates the positive progress made by the business in this digital channel. The bank’s app in Spain has just surpassed 5 million downloads by individual Android users, and at the close of March, the number of mobile customers exceeds 3.4 million.

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End up hating the sound of the alarm. Have coffee for breakfast and with any luck a couple of biscuits. Drive right into the middle of a traffic jam and can’t find anywhere to park. All these problems can be avoided by creating for yourself the desired routine with a smartphone in hand and the best morning apps.

Garanti continues to break new ground by making pension fund product available through its digital channels Garanti Internet and Garanti Mobile. This digital freeway enhances the speed and ease in which customers can carry out pension product transactions.

BBVA’s drive towards delivering a world class digital banking experience has taken another step forward. Over the past year the bank has seen an almost twofold year on year increase in the number of products and services its customers and clients are taking-up via digital channels.

Fair-trade coffee, quality guarantee, ecological tomatoes… consumers read the labels on the things they eat. But is there any way of checking that what they say is correct? In order to do so, you would need a register of the processes to which the product has been submitted, something blockchain can do.

Digital identity is the online version of an individual’s physical identity.  It consists of all of the individual´s personal data that is available online —not just an email or physical address, but also pictures, banking info, shopping preferences. This identity is not uniform, as we share different attributes in different platforms. In other words, we don’t share the same type of information on LinkedIn and Facebook, for example.

The “proptech” companies and the most innovative financial institutions are already offering services that improve the customer experience in the real estate sector.

BBVA today launched its new BBVA for Everyone app, available for both iOS and Android operating systems, which enables the blind and those with physical or mild mental disabilities to use the bank’s network of over 6,300 automatic teller machines (ATMs). This new tool will guide those with visual disabilities to the ATM of their choice and help them withdraw cash. BBVA is a pioneer in this type of mobile solutions, which complement the services already available for people with disabilities on the web and corporate apps.

Sixty per cent of Spaniards look for health-related information online, but only one third of themtrust their search results. This figure is in stark contrast with the level of trust that is placed on thepersonal advice provided by health professionals, about 92%. To address this demand for reliableonline information, Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and the BBVA Foundation have created PortalCLÍNIC.

The widespread use of mobile devices on a day-to-day basis brings with it the risk of very personal information such as bank details, photographs, messages, contacts and emails and a long list of private details falling into unwanted hands.

As we have seen in previous articles, the intelligent use of data, with the right talent and the pertinent business strategies for applying creative solutions, can provide insights that help solve a whole gamut of problems and take on board new opportunities. Data places within our grasp an enhanced decision-making ability and a deeper understanding of our clients and what they need. But as in the case of any other tool, these new skills can be put to positive or not so positive use, whether intentionally or not.

The use of virtual assistants, mainly in the form of smart speakers, is rapidly gaining ground. In less than a year, devices such as Echo and Google Home have appeared in households across the globe and users are becoming increasingly comfortable carrying out searches, purchases and even bank transactions using this format, which looks set to become the transactional interface between customers and companies.

Whether it’s chatting, finding your soul mate or jotting down notes, there are few things that twentysomethings and younger people can’t do on a smartphone. With so many applications available for smartphones, which are the ones most preferred by millennials?

At BBVA, new digital solutions for customers are constantly being developed. The bank´s affiliates in Mexico, Peru and Chile are launching new tools for personal finance, implementing the use of the digital signature for contracting loans, and adding new functions to their cell phone apps.

BBVA presents Baby Planner, a new functionality within BBVA’s app and website that allows customers and non-customers to understand the expenses associated with having a baby. The monetary expenditure for families with a child under three is 10% higher than for those without, as concluded by estimates from BBVA Research after factoring in other differences between households. This added functionality serves to give new parents the information they need to plan their finances. BBVA Baby Planner also provides the economic effects associated with maternity and paternity-leave and other schemes to offer “work-baby balance.”

Using the full functionality of the bank in your pocket is easier at BBVA Compass with the release of version 5.4 of its Mobile Banking App.

In the latest release, the bank added a search engine inside the app so users can fully capitalize on the many features that have won it multiple awards. With the new search, users simply start typing what they would like to do in the search bar, and the app automatically displays a list of applicable functionality from which the user can select. When the client taps on one of the results in the list, the app automatically navigates the client to the exact spot in the app where that functionality is or information is located.

A leading European fintech consultancy has named BBVA as the world´s best incumbent bank. The award comes from specialist Fintech and digital banking experts 11:FS, as part of their annual Pulse Best of 2017 Awards.

‘World Finance’ magazine chose BBVA Bancomer and Garanti Bank as the best digital banks in Mexico and Turkey, respectively, in the 2017 edition of the World Finance Digital Banking Awards. In addition, it has chosen both banks’ mobile banking applications as the best in their respective countries.

Garanti Bank’s online banking service was named second best in Europe by Forrester, one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. The Turkish bank also earned a best-in-class mention for facilitating daily banking operations, such as viewing recent transactions, checking account balances or moving money.

The global finance industry is marching to the beat of innovation, especially in retail banking, fund transfers and commercial banking, Argentina is no exception, according to PwC’s Global FinTech Report.

The APIfication phenomenon is by no means restricted to the banking sector. At the API Forum held this week in Madrid, insurance and entertainment companies participated, together with BBVA, to discuss the keys to designing APIs capable of attracting developers.

A review of the year’s big winners in the fintech universe reveals China’s growing role in the world’s digital economy.

This isn’t an article about magic or a secret trick for using cell phones. It’s simply about using the voice assistants that any mobile device contains: Siri for Apple and the popular “OK Google” for Android. Both allow users to send messages while leaving the smartphone on the table, untouched.

Car sharing and driverless cars are shaking the very foundations of the automobile industry. Will technology make car ownership obsolete?

Big Data Spain brought together more than 1,200 specialists in data analysis and science in Madrid for two days, during which it was made clear how this technology can bring a new dimension to any area: from marketing to user experience to economic and geopolitical analysis.

BBVA is close to passing another important online target as it continues to build out its digital banking capabilities.

WhatsApp announced it earlier and the date is quickly approaching. On December 31, 2017 some operating systems will no longer be compatible with the instant messaging app’s latest updates. For this reason, it will stop working on some of the oldest devices.

They’re always popular with users of Android mobiles and they’re a fixture on any smartphone. Weather applications allow you to be always informed, in real time, about the meteorological conditions at a given place. Some of these apps are free, others have a cost; some are well known and others are just making a name for themselves in the market.

Only two months ago, it was just an experiment. Twitter decided to double the number of characters per message for certain selected accounts. The goal was to find out whether the traditional 140-character limit was an obstacle to the best use of the application.

BBVA has revealed how a redesign of its award winning mobile app has led to astonishing results in its sales figures.

In a few years, we may not be paying with cash, cards or even with smartphones, but rather, by car. Vehicle connectivity will change the way we manage time and money, but a number of problems still need to be addressed.

Madrid hosted last week the Service Design Global Conference (SDGC17), a leading event in the world of service design that pays special attention to how this discipline is changing the world of banking. BBVA took part in one of the sessions to explain how design is, without a doubt, a key element in the success of its financial products and in satisfying customer needs at a time of great challenges for banking.

One of the recurrent themes at this year’s BBVA Open Summit was the importance of customer centricity. A great example of this was the panel session featuring BBVA’s Global Head of Marketing, Design and Responsible Business, Rob Brown and 11:FS Co-Founder Jason Bates.

Is your smartphone’s performance sluggish? Storage full? Battery dead in just a few hours? Always running out of data? If you can’t find the answer to these, or similar, questions, this article will shed some light and help you improve the performance of your Android handset. Security software firm Avast recently released its quarterly report, which ranks the top battery-draining, storage-hogging, and mobile-data-eating apps.

BBVA’s digital sales in South America now account for 32% of total sales in the region, after rising almost 16% over the past year. This growth is based on a highly diversified portfolio: 50% of insurance policies, 48% of investment funds, 40% of long-term deposits and 35% of consumer loans in the region are nowcontracted digitally.

It’s official: WhatsApp will allow users to delete their already sent messages. This is a feature that users were begging for. However, the app only gives users seven minutes to delete a message. After that, there will be no way to delete messages for everyone from a chat. Therefore, these 420 seconds acquire a very special dimension in the use of the most popular instant messaging app.

Esri, a global leader in Geographic Information Systems and BBVA API Market, have rolled out a collaboration project to embed BBVA’s ‘API PayStats’ in Esri’s platform. The aim is to enable companies and public institutions to make business decisions based on customers’ actual commercial behavior.

Facebook continues to take steps to reach the widest possible public and as it does so, minimize the competition. As part of its constant tug-of-war with Snapchat, Facebook has acquired an app that is very popular among adolescents: the polling startup “tbh,” which allows users to send messages anonymously, in response to survey questions about their friends. The acronym tbh” means “to be honest.”

WhatsApp continues to add new functions in its effort to become a “total” application. The Facebook-owned company is currently developing a new feature that will allow users to make group voice and video calls. The project is currently in a development phase and is expected to see the light in 2018.

Big data is much more than a trend that´s being studied in the innovation departments of cutting-edge companies. Some multinationals have already changed forever, thanks to the strategic use of data.

Exercising and staying in shape are now easier than ever, thanks to technology. Smartphones, tablets and wearables have burst onto the exercise scene, offering numerous fitness benefits. And millennials and athletes in general have taken note.

An artificial inteligence startup aiming to give everyone their own virtual personal money manager  has been named as the winner of the 2017 BBVA Open Talent Competition. Israeli high-growth outfit, Change, beat off strong competition from almost a thousand entries from dozens of country around the world to secure top spot in the world’s biggest fintech competition.

WhatsApp has announced on its blog that it has begun introducing, in stages, live location sharing with contacts on iOS and Android. This function, which the messaging application company had been developing for some time, allows a users’ contacts to see where he or she is, in real time. But will users like it or not?

At 35 years of age, with a world cup under his belt, Cristian Zaccardo can brag about becoming an unusual pioneer in the world of soccer. After terminating his contract with Vicenza, the Italian center back found a new destination thanks to the professional social network. He will now be defending the colors of Malta’s Hamrun Spartans.

Turning speech into text can be a simple and efficient solution for less proficient typists or for people in a hurry. For this purpose, there are currenlty quite a few tools and apps that allow users to dictate what they want to write and quickly turn it into text.