Over the last few years, Europe has lived through a perfect storm. Recession has strained its economic and political institutions to the limit. The situation was enough to keep anyone from being able to sleep: banking crisis, sovereign debt crisis, risk that the euro would disintegrate and risk of deflation. However, Europe has survived this perfect storm "thanks to the role played by the European Central Bank during the crisis and the institutional encouragement of European authorities toward building a genuine banking union," says José Manuel González-Páramo in an article in "Cuardenos de Información Económica" by Funcas under the title The ECB and banking union: working toward a more integrated and resilient Europe.

Today the European Banking Authority (EBA) released the final methodology and macroeconomic scenario for upcoming stress tests of the 53 main European banks, including BBVA.

In 'The Telescope', Ana Munera, Global Equity manager at BBVA Markets Research, explains the causes of volatility in the markets, where investment opportunities lie and how she expects the stock markets to perform in 2016.

The opening in 2013 of the new BBVA Innovation Center in Bogotáand the activity that the Colombian innovative ecosystem in these three years has been one of the main reasons why it was chosen as a winner by the public in its category (financial services).

In the past three years the Nobel prize has been awarded to three economists who had previously received the Frontiers of Knowledge Award: Angus Deaton, Jean Tirole and Lars Peter Hansen. In just eight editions, these awards bestowed by the BBVA Foundation have been able to identify the contributions and distinguish the researchers who, months or years later, would achieve the most prestigious award in the world.