BBVA Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila has reiterated the importance of the bank operating globally if it is to meet its purpose of bringing the age of opportunity to everyone.

Data may have been the key buzzword at the Money 2020 Europe event in Amsterdam last week, but it was its constituent parts that were really vying for attention.

BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila underscored the Group’s strong commitment to Mexico today. Speaking at the bank’s annual Meeting of Regional Advisors, he noted that the Group has made considerable investments in the country, while sharing its expertise and talent, always focusing on the goal of creating opportunities for Mexican companies, families and its society as a whole. “Mexico has grown with BBVA, and BBVA has grown with Mexico,” he said.

After two years of fast growth, entrepreneurial banking specialist Azlo sets its sights on building a network-affect business community.

Money 2020 Europe is the biggest conference on the continent focused on the future of banking, money and financial services. Over the course of three days in Amsterdam, around 10,000 business leaders, entrepreneurs, start-ups, press and potential customers will be sharing and debating the trends likely to shape the future of the sector.

The company, in which BBVA invested in 2018, was named best startup in growth stage at the Fintech Germany awards.

An exceptional user experience and value added features are the keys to differentiating a banking application from its competition. These are the elements that held the most sway when, for the second consecutive year, the consulting firm Forrester chose BBVA’s app as the best banking app in the world and gave the Garanti BBVA app in Turkey the best in user experience.

In just three years from inception, German ‘startup’ solarisBank has become one of the hottest ‘fintech’ startups. BBVA has been backing the company since 2018.

Last week during the 2019 first quarter results presentation, BBVA CEO Onur Genç outlined some of the continued progress the bank has been making in its digital transformation.

BBVA has been honoured with three accolades in the 2019 edition of Global Finance Magazine’s The Innovators Awards.

Garanti Bank customers can now personalize their health insurance coverage on the Garanti Cep app. Customers can select the level of health coverage they prefer, adding or removing services as needed.

Garanti continues to bring innovative solutions to the Turkish banking sector with SWIFT GPI, a new standard that provides significant improvements to the handling of international payments. Foreign currency transactions made to both domestic and foreign banks via Garanti Bank can now be easily tracked with SWIFT’s ‘Tracking Report’ feature, which has been integrated into Garanti Online Banking.

BBVA and Telefónica have signed a strategic agreement that designates the operator as the single telecommunications service provider for the bank and its employees in Spain. The alliance will allow BBVA to optimize its communications systems, increase the capacity of its technology network, and extend its adoption of cloud computing, providing a distinctive advantage to the business’ needs.

Designers around the world working for the BBVA Group now have a pioneering new tool at their disposal. The platform allows designers to reuse parts in order to create homogenous digital banking experiences across all of the countries where the bank has a presence. BBVA, with presence in 30 countries, is the first bank to launch a platform like this on such an international scale and in multiple continents.

More customers now join BBVA via its award winning app in Spain than they do via other digital channels, the bank has revealed in the latest update to its digital transformation programme.

Money is often cited as being one of the biggest causes of stress in people’s lives. So imagine a ‘Self-driving’ bank account that took away some of that stress by watching your finances 24/7 and acting on your behalf to make your money work harder for you. Well it’s a future that’s very close to becoming a reality with latest advances in Artificial Intelligence now able to do more for you than ever before.

Global consultancy Deloitte recently released a series of articles from their global digital banking consumer survey. In their third article, Recognizing the value of bank branches in a digital world, they found that bank branches continue to have value, even as digital becomes increasingly prevalent in all our day-to-day interactions.

Houston Dynamo season is officially here for soccer (Sorry – football) aficionados, and with it comes updates to one of the city’s East End neighborhood staples: BBVA Compass Stadium. Fans clad in their orange and white will have plenty of chances to check out the new facilities, and those with BBVA Compass blue in their pocket will have some updated perks.

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.

In its most recent issue, The Fintech Magazine examines some of BBVA’s most recent technology advances, such as payments powered by facial recognition and the use of artificial intelligence in its mobile banking application.  The magazine also outlines the core of the bank’s digital strategy and describes how BBVA is taking steps to fulfill its vision of automated banking in the future.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its most recent Consumer Trends Report. Prominent among the conclusions of the report is the fact that mortgages are the retail product that most impact consumers’ finances, whereas more than half of the European population already uses online banking.

BBVA in Switzerland has taken another step forward in the digital transformation of private banking with the launch of its new website. The new site, www.bbva.ch, offers customers an innovative navigation experience and adapts to the bank’s evolving activity in the Swiss country.

Susana Valencia led the charge long before she earned the position of head banker in BBVA Compass’ Laredo market.

The digital transformation of the world’s banking industry is a critical evolution that’s needed to ensure the sector stays relevant to its customers and clients.

The relationship, amusingly portrayed as a love-in between big banks like BBVA and fintech start-ups, was the subject of special Valentines Day show in London last week.

Euromoney recognized Garanti for its groundbreaking personal banking products and services, selecting the bank for its ‘Best Private Banking’ award.  The leading  financial magazine plans to present the award next week in London.

For the third consecutive year, the Houston Rockets and BBVA Compass will be rolling out their annual small business contest on February 19, beginning a new chapter in their focus to foster entrepreneurship.

Last year was a big year – the best year, in fact – for BBVA Compass Retail Banking.  

The retail bank unit, with a 644-branch network, not only realized its best year ever in customer growth, nearly doubling growth from the prior year, it also ramped up productivity and achieved record profits. And if that weren’t enough, the team tripled its in-branch mobile demos, reached the top level of retail network and mortgage origination Net Promoter Score (NPS) and improved workflow both inside and outside the branch.

BBVA Compass was recently named one of the 10 Best National Banks of 2019 by financial site GOBankingRates, a list compiled by extensive research around rates, fees and policies of the top banks in the nation.

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.

BBVA Compass launched BBVA Compass Financial Tools as part of its mobile app functionality in August 2018 and recently released numbers prove just how valuable customers found the addition.

Garanti blazes a trail in the Turkish credit card market with the launch of Shop&Fly, a new product in the bank’s portfolio that makes life easier for its customers.

Global Finance selected Garanti Bank as the Best Trade Finance Bank in Turkey for the 9th year in a row. The magazine – one of the world’s leading financial publications – recognized the bank’s experience and leadership in foreign trade financing.

U.K. digital banking disruptor Atom has signed up with the Bacs payment system to boost its offering and enable its customers to offer direct debits for the first time.

A digital banking pioneer in Turkey, Garanti was once again chosen as Turkey’s best for digital banking services, according to World Finance magazine.

World Finance magazine has named BBVA as Spain’s best digital bank and the bank with the best app in its ‘World Finance Digital Banking Awards 2018.’ The awards single out those companies that are successfully tackling industry challenges and “driving the digital revolution with dynamic business strategies and groundbreaking technologies.”

Garanti Bank is expanding its unique range of innovative products and services with the rollout of Garanti Stories, a new feature embedded in the Garanti Cep app. Garanti Stories offers services that go beyond traditional banking while fulfilling customers’ basic needs and expectations, delivering an experience similar to the stories on popular social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram.

BBVA created the Global Head of Data position in March 2017 as part of its strategy to make decisions based on data. David Puente took on this new role, leading one of the most disruptive and essential projects in the bank’s transformation.

BBVA has reached an important milestone in its continued drive towards technologically powered banking, with 50% of its customers now using its digital channels.

BBVA is developing an open innovation program in the region, known as fast track, which makes it possible to streamline and make more efficient the processes that the Group develops together with startups to implement new digital products and services for the benefit of customers.

Usually when BBVA Compass posts Fintech Friday, there’s a theme or a trend that the news cycle follows.

The global products and services BBVA is now delivering across its countries, driven by the adoption of re-useable code and technology, are offering a unique and personal experience to customers around the world.

Biometrics, artificial intelligence, blockchain. These are just some of the technologies the bank is using to change the way it engages with its customers and clients, offering new experiences and streamlining processes. Technology adoption and collaboration with the fintech ecosystem is putting BBVA at the forefront of the financial sector’s digital transformation. This is no longer a vision of the future, rather the execution of projects with tangible results. Here are some of BBVA’s most notable achievements in 2018.

No one can predict the future. But calculated forecasts can be made based off of robust information.

BBVA only Spanish bank amongst 15 global finance leaders to join pre-validation pilot focused on error detection in gpi payments.

Peio Belausteguigoitia (Bilbao, 1973) is BBVA Spain’s Head of Business Development. He was previously responsible for Spain’s northern territory, and prior to that ran the eastern territory and was regional director for the northeast.

The unit that he runs is key to the bank’s transformation in Spain. In the year and a half that he has held this position, BBVA has ramped up the number of digital deliveries for private customers – providing them tools to help make better financial decisions – and boosted sales and the number of online customers.

And now, BBVA has created the digital transformation factory for businesses. With a multidisciplinary team of 250 professionals, it facilitates the delivery of digital solutions to customers in more flexible timeframes. The bank recently launched Avalbox, which radically digitizes the guarantor request process; and One View, which helps businesses make more efficient decisions and optimize their cashflow.