Last week, BBVA held the first Open Talks event in Portugal. Experts from Portugal’s innovation and fintech ecosystem gathered at the Tivoli BBVA Theater to share their insights and discuss the transformation challenges facing the country’s financial system.

Even though sustainable finance has been a fundamental issue in the social agenda for many years now, thanks to the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change, the world became aware of the environmental risks and economic impact resulting from the effects of climate change. However, it is not just society that is increasingly more aware. The financial industry is also contemplating climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as relevant factors to determine their investment strategy.

In recent times, EU institutions have made significant headway in developing a credible banking union. But despite progress, there is still a lot of work to do. According to José Manuel González-Páramo, Executive Director and Global Head of Economics and Institutional Relations at BBVA, the Europe’s new lawmaker team must promote new reforms to advance towards a true union.

BBVA is Spain’s most transparent financial institution, according to ‘Contribution and Transparency 2018‘, a report published by Fundación Compromiso y Transparencia (Commitment and Transparency Foundation). In the benchmark report, which lists all IBEX 35 companies according to their fiscal transparency practices, BBVA takes the fourth spot.

At the 2018 EMEA Finance Awards, Garanti BBVA collected a total of 17 awards in 13 different categories for eight projects. EMEA Finance is one of the leading financial publications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and held its awards ceremony in London on June 12th and 13th.

Speaking at the European Conference on Financial Integration and Stability, BBVA Head of Regulation Santiago Fernández de Lis detailed the benefits of a true single digital market and the need for greater harmonization of the regulation governing digital financial services. The event, jointly organized by the European Commission and the European Central Bank, was held in Brussels last week.

An integrated and fully-entrenched capital markets union in Europe is needed to ensure an orderly transition in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. José Manuel González-Páramo, BBVA Head of Global Economics and Institutional Relations stated as much today.

The European Council announced this Tuesday that it has approved a series of regulatory changes previously approved by parliament, which aim “to reduce risks in the banking system.” The legislative package, known as CRD-V, revises capital requirement legislation and the recovery and resolution framework that governs financial institutions within the eurozone.

Türkiye Garanti Bankası A.Ş., announced its financial statements for the period ending March 31, 2019. Garanti’s net income in the first quarter of the year stood at TL 1.76 billion while its total assets increased to TL 423,32 billion, driven mainly by Turkish Lira loans.

Current progress in finalizing the Banking Union has been insufficient. There are still a number of elements to be settled, fundamentally resolution, insolvency, and the deposit guarantee scheme. “It will not be easy to reach an agreement on the most important aspects prior to the European elections for parliament, but it is critical to do so as soon as possible to avoid jeopardizing member countries’ commitment to the Banking Union,” maintains José Manuel González-Páramo, BBVA executive board member.

One lesson from the crisis is just how important it is for international standards like Basel to be applied uniformly across countries. Furthermore, decisions related to compliance with standards, such as equivalence or mutual recognition through which countries declare that their regulations are aligned, should not be left to the full discretion of national authorities. Reports international authorities already carry out could be used for this purpose, allowing countries in adherence with the standards to receive equivalence, or mutual recognition.

BBVA Compass has been recognized on Forbes’ inaugural World’s Best Banks list, earning a place among 60 ranked U.S. banks out of approximately 6,000 competitors across the country.

BBVA’s commitment to technology has translated into an increase in the number of digital customers, which now represent more than 50% of the bank’s total customers, as well as climbing digital sales, now comprising 41% of all sales. But this digital journey means much more. Digitization has also contributed to greater customer satisfaction and a diminishing drop-out rate – 47% lower among digital customers.

Several initiatives were launched in 2018 that will lead to new legislative developments – primarily related to the implementation of the Basel framework and the completion of two major European projects: the Banking Union and  the Capital Markets Union. These are some of the regulatory trends for 2019 that BBVA Research principal economist María Victoria Santillana explores in an op-ed published in the newspaper, Expansión.

Global banks face six major challenges when tackling their anti-money laundering efforts: their international footprint, supervisory pressure, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, leveraging technology, recognizing specialized talent and raising awareness among society about how important it is that everybody collaborates with financial institutions.

A bill recently presented by Mexican Senator Ricardo Monreal banning some bank fees has been the topic of debate, creating a space for bankers and the government to discuss the topic. In the article “Are bank fees high in Mexico?” published in the newspaper El Financiero, BBVA Bancomer Chief Economist Carlos Serrano Herrera presents information to keep in mind in order to reach some common ground on the issue.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman took part in a seminar organized by Spanish newspaper ABC on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. In this four decades “Spain has become a consolidated democracy and from an economic standpoint, it has made great strides,” said Francisco González. “What has taken place in Spain over the last 40 years has been amazing”

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently published its list of Global Systemically Important Banks, or G-SIB. A BBVA Research paper takes a look at the three key changes in this year’s list compared to the 2017 list: on the one hand, two banks exit the list and one is included, while, two banks have been shifted to a lower bucket.

The digital transformation is altering the Spanish economy as demonstrated by varying levels of ‘routinization’ in numerous fields and the growing relationship between average salaries and hardware and software use in different occupations. These are some of the conclusions detailed in a report prepared by BBVA Research, which analyzes the impact of the routinization and computerization of different manufacturing sectors, occupations, and employment profiles on the Spanish economy.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has launched its European banking transparency exercise for 2018. This is the fifth time the European supervisor has carried out this probe of the banks in the euro area. It will reveal its findings of 130 banks covering 900,000 data points in December.

The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has been scrutinizing EU banks’ business and profitability models since 2016. Among the findings of the review, published in a report, the supervisor shines the spotlight on the factors that undermine bank profitability, as well as the levers that can help boost it, including digitization. However, the report argues that offering digital products is not enough. Banks need to prepare their platforms to migrate from the analogue to the digital world.

Three Texas cities are about to get a dose of high-end items when BBVA Compass brings its Christie’s events to the Lone Star State.

The European Central Bank unveiled today the new €100 and €200 notes, which will be introduced in May 28, 2019. These notes complete the Europe series, the second since the introduction of the euro. The new notes, featuring security components that make them harder to counterfeit, are the highest-value denominations after the phase out of the €500 note.

BBVA Compass’ Global Wealth team has a broad array of solutions for consumers who might have a one-size-fits all need. In fact, wealth management is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the bank’s plethora of products in this area of banking.

The fintech world boasted big news this week.

Fintech news went the way of regulation both on a global and national scale this week. One constant is the rise in funding, which saw a spike in the last quarter.

In 2015, the ECB launched its Bank’s Integrated Reporting Dictionary, or BIRD, a project ultimately intended to organize the data that it gathers from EU financial institutions for its statistical area. This project is part of a broader strategic approach aimed at improving the system that banks and other players use to report statistics to the European supervisor, known as IReF (Integrated Reporting Framework). BIRD is one of the pivotal milestones in the list of achievements by the Statistical area of the ECB. And just as the rest of the organization, BIRD is celebrating its anniversary.

Specialized magazine Euromoney names BBVA Bancomer “Best Bank in Mexico” for second year in a row, and “Best Investment Bank.”

On the back of increased web attacks, the priority of cybersecurity has increased for businesses and banks worldwide. How do financial institutions balance this risk with the need to expand their digital services?

Born in Chantada (Lugo), Spain, in 1944.

Graduated in Economic and Business Sciences from Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

In a strong show of support Wednesday, the Senate passed a bipartisan financial regulatory reform bill by a favorable vote of 67-31.

The bill, S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, includes an easing of regulations particularly for small banks, community lenders and regional banks and is widely seen as the most significant revision to financial rules since the sweeping regulatory reform known as Dodd-Frank was passed in the wake of the financial meltdown in 2010.

BBVA has presented the case of its digital transformation at the 13th Asia-Pacific High Level Meeting on Banking, held in Singapore. José Manuel González-Páramo explained BBVA’s digital business model to representatives of Asia’s most important central banks and financial institutions. He also discussed some of the regulatory challenges the region is facing, noting the need for international coordination on digital regulation in the financial sector.

A report by Standard and Poor’s Global (S&P) analyzes the potential impact on the financial sector of the entry of tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Although no immediate changes to bank ratings is foreseen, the report points out that in the long term these companies are well placed to get a position  in segments of the chain such as payment systems.

On January 31st, the European Banking Authority (EBA) announced the formal launch of this year’s EU-wide stress test exercise of the euro area. It also unveiled the macroeconomic scenarios under which the exercise will be carried out. The  adverse scenario implies a deviation of EU GDP from its baseline level by 8.3% in 2020, resulting in the most severe scenario to date. The EBA expects to publish the results of the exercise by 2 November 2018

Since it was launched in 2016, the FCA’s regulatory sandbox has supported 60 firms to test their innovation with real customers in the live market under controlled conditions. Now, it is assessing different options to scale up the model at global level to solve the challenges of operating internationally in the fintech market.

BBVA took part in the first seminar organized by the Institute of Compliance Officers (IOC).  Executives of Spanish multinationals addressed the main challenges facing the profession in applying current regulations within a company. They underscored the fundamental role of the compliance officer in companies committed to transparency and good corporate governance.

Market analysts reported positively on BBVA’s 2017 results. The majority pointed to the solid underlying trends, the strength of recurring revenues and cost containment as the key drivers of the bank’s solid performance.

BBVA is committed to working with the fintech community in a way that delivers real benefits for the start-ups, the bank and of course customers and clients.

Alternative finance keeps gaining traction in Europe and Spain is no exception. By volume of activity —and excluding the UK— Spain ranks fifth in the European Union for the fourth consecutive year in this segment, behind France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. In 2016, Spain’s alternative finance sector grew by 162%, to €131 million.

Today marks the second anniversary of death of David Bowie, a pop icon who needs no introduction. Hundreds of lines have been written about his life, career and concerts. But what many are not aware of is that Bowie was also a pioneer in the financial world: he was the first artist ever to issue a “celebrity bond.”

The beginning of the normalization of monetary policy in 2018 should bring greater profitability for banks, a larger investor appetite and a positive outlook for the stock market. However, what is perhaps more important, the new policy will enable banks to meet one of their principal goals: supporting economic growth by financing companies and private individuals.

What is the future of fintech? A group of experts recently met in the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF) to discuss the European Fintech Action Plan. The meeting brought together about 60 representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, consumer groups and the financial industry. BBVA was represented by Alvaro Martín, Head Economist for Digital Regulation at BBVA Research.

The debate revolved around the following questions:

Customer experience, the new business models and investment in social commitment are the three opportunities for the banking industry, as it seeks to maintain a relevant role in society. “Investing in social sustainability is part of the banking industry’s responsibility,” said José Manuel González-Páramo, BBVA’s Executive Director and Head of Economy, Regulation and Institutional Relations, during the event entitled XIII Banking Industry Meeting organized by IESE (13th Meeting of the Banking Sector, organized by IESE) in Madrid.

BBVA Group Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Rafael Salinas analyzed the challenges of digital transformation and the rapid evolution of technological developments in risk management at the event entitled ‘CRO Forum,  Rethinking Risk Management’ organized in Amsterdam by RiskMinds International.

BBVA Francés is fully immersed in its transformation to digital banking. This year, the bank moved into a modern tower in Buenos Aires, where it is growing as a company, both culturally and in terms of teamwork. Customer experience is setting the pace of change towards a mobile future. For CEO Martín Zarich, the customer experience sets the pace towards a changeable future. In his opinion: “the moment is now, not in five years’ time”.