Nearly 2.5 million people chose digital channels to become BBVA customers in 2020. The figure represents 33.3 percent of total new customers achieved throughout the Group via individual channels (offices, app, web, ATMs …) and represents a 56 percent jump with respect to new users gained digitally in 2019.

GoBanking Rates released its annual Best Banks of 2021 lists this month, naming BBVA USA in three categories: Best Money Market Accounts, Best Regional Banks and Top 100 Banks. 

World Finance magazine has given two awards to Garanti BBVA in the 2020 edition of its Digital Banking Awards. BBVA’s Turkish unit has thus become the Best Digital Bank for the fourth consecutive year and was named as having the Best Mobile Application in the Turkish market.

Three years ago, BBVA USA unveiled a new front-end sales and service application that would be a key tool for the frontline branch employees across the bank’s footprint. That tool was Client Vista.

Users without a bank or credit card can easily receive a new password by logging on to Garanti BBVA Mobile with their new ID.

Contact Center World, one of the most prestigious call center associations in the world, presented Garanti BBVA first prize in the categories for the best call center and best customer service in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

BBVA and Xiaomi have signed a strategic agreement so that the technology company’s smartphones launched in the Spanish market have the financial institution’s mobile banking application pre-installed exclusively. This is Xiaomi’s first alliance in Europe with a bank.

El Corte Inglés and BBVA have signed an agreement to include Bizum as a payment method for the online purchases customers make on both El Corte Inglés’ website and app. The bank collaborated with the distribution group by providing the contractual and technological framework to allow the company to add this new PSD2 adapted payment system, reducing the average time to make a purchase compared to card payments.

BBVA has launched a service in Spain that allows customers to instantaneously and securely pay for lottery tickets and bets and collect winnings using their mobile phone. By going to the bank’s app, customers can use Bizum to generate a QR code that allows them to pay or collect money at 11,000 Loterías y Apuestas del Estado retailers. This is the first time that people have been able to pay in physical stores using Bizum and a QR code.

The most popular and innovative credit card in Turkey, Garanti BBVA’s Bonus, has launched the service ‘Bonus Check-up’. This service informs customers of their finances and offers guidance when their credit card applications are denied.

According to a report by Smartme Analytics, BBVA’s app has the largest share of users at 22.6%. BBVA’s country manager for Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, stressed that “investment in technology in recent years enabled a rapid reaction to the crisis.” Peio made these comments at the 27th Meeting of the Financial Sector, with the theme ‘Building the Future’, hosted by Deloitte and ABC (a leading Spanish newspaper), while speaking about the role of the financial sector in the crisis and its future challenges.

Out of all of BBVA’s customers in Spain, 67% are digital and 61% use their cell phones to engage with the bank. This means that the vast majority of BBVA customers in the country opt for the website or the app to connect with the entity. The pandemic has driven the digitization of customers who, until now, were not familiar with the use of these channels. All this, together with the fact that BBVA’s app is the most used in Spain among all banking applications according to a report by Smartme Analytics, places BBVA as a leader in digital banking in Spain, with a market share of 22.2%.

Smart transactions allow Garanti BBVA customers and clients to streamline their daily banking activities and keep their personal finances under control using the bank’s mobile app.

With data as of September 2020, BBVA has 35.6 million digital customers, double the number four years ago, and 32.8 million mobile customers, three times more.

Throughout 2020, we’ve witnessed changes that have shifted the very foundation of our society, many of which will reverberate into the next decade. The economic fallout of the pandemic has been felt by small businesses, individuals and everywhere in between. People across the U.S. are hurting financially.

BBVA has launched Aqua, a new line of pioneering credit cards in Spain which feature a dynamic CVV code and do not contain card numbers (PAN) or expiration dates printed on them. This reinforces security both for its digital and physical versions since not having this data prevents possible fraudulent use of them. In addition, BBVA´s app has renewed the entire payment experience to make it easier for the customer to manage their expenses and order the services it offers based on their use. The bank is already working to launch this mobile experience in other countries.

Garanti BBVA launches Bonus Diji, a rewards credit card that is extremely secure, as it does not include any numbers or codes that can be copied.

Garanti BBVA earned three Stevie awards, the prestigious prize conferred to the most successful enterprises and executives from the international business community.

Azlo, a provider of digital banking and business services for small businesses, is seeing a surge in new account openings in 2020 in the midst of the “Covid Economy” that is spurring new entrepreneurs into action. The digital business banking service—built from day one to serve the needs of small business owners—today announced it has doubled its customer count, year-to-date, and is launching a new subscription service, Azlo Pro, designed to further meet the needs of entrepreneurs around the U.S. by saving them time and money.

On May 25, 2020, the General Data Protection Regulation celebrated its second year of entry into application. As envisaged in the standard itself, the European Commission performed an assessment on its application and functioning over this period of time, taking into account the feedback provided by associations, companies, consumers and EU institutions. The commission has finally released the corresponding findings, which concludes that, on top of having a very positive impact, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that the Regulation is prepared for the new digital age

BBVA USA has been honored by Global Finance as one of the World’s Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks in North America for 2020.

Speaking at IIF Digital Interchange meeting, BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila said that the lockdown as a result of the pandemic boosted pre-existing trends toward the adoption of new technologies, towards digital. In his opinion, digital inclusion suppports all types of inclusion: educational, social and economic. That is why society needs to make an effort to ensure that no one’s left behind. “I think what stands out is the need for a more sustainable and a more inclusive economy. For this, we need a policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation,” he noted.

The wealth management sector is a unique area of the financial industry. Like two merging streams, it can easily blur the lines of consumer and business banking, and mix it into a quickly moving entity that changes at every curve.

Blue is pleasant, patient, and able to put itself in the shoes of others. It loves talking to humans and is always willing and ready to help customers. And it wants to learn lots of things in order to become even more insightful. These are just some of the personality traits that characterize BBVA’s new voice assistant, which came to life out of a complex process that factored even the most minor details.

In 2016, U.S. consulting firm Gartner predicted that by 2020 the average citizen would have more conversations with bots than with his or her spouse or partner. They were not far off. Virtual assistants are increasingly present and integrated in our daily lives. If a few years ago it was strange for us to talk to robots, it is now commonplace to ask Siri what the most popular pop song is, to get help from Alexa on making a cheesecake, or asking Cortana the fastest way to get from point A to point B. Virtual voice assistants are increasingly more human, but with something in common: their sex.

In early August, BBVA USA announced it would be one of a few early adopter banks collaborating with Google on a digital bank account to be offered via Google Pay and launched in early 2021.

BBVA Garanti has become the first bank worldwide to complete integration of the new SWIFT GPI pre-validation service, an international money transfer service developed by SWIFT. Controlled testing of the service is ongoing.

BBVA USA today announced that it is collaborating with Google to offer consumers a digital bank account through Google Pay, continuing its focus on innovation in the financial industry.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has been recognized as the ‘Best Retail Bank’ in the country for six consecutive years. It has also been named ‘Europe’s Best Retail Bank’ for the third time.