Global Finance magazine has chosen BBVA as the best private bank in Latin America in its “World’s Best Private Banks 2018” awards. Among its attributes, the magazine said, are the Group’s “high technology credentials”.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman was given the Vocento Corporate Leadership Award for his career achievements. Vocento recognized Francisco González as  a “corporate leader with numerous accomplishments who saw the emergence of digitization in our lives as an opportunity, and decided to turn the bank into a digital company.”

BBVA won the Spanish Company category of the third annual Spanish-Turkish Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry prizes, which recognize achievements in promoting mutual understanding between the two countries. At the event, Jorge Sáenz de Azcúnaga, BBVA’s Director of Country Monitoring, said BBVA’s Turkish subsidiary Garanti Bank is one of the pillars of the group’s transformation.

María José Roa, a researcher at the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA), recently presented the results of her study, “The importance of financial capabilities: an empirical analysis in the Andean region,” which was carried out with the collaboration of CAF (the Development Bank of Latin America).

Regulators and supervisors are facing an enormous challenge: how to deal with digital innovation in banking. According to BBVA’s Head of Regulation, José Manuel González-Páramo, the three main short-term challenges are establishing a level playing field, creating regulatory sandboxes and guaranteeing cybersecurity.

Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA’s Global Head of Responsible Business, has been chosen to represent European banks on the Global Steering Committee of the UNEP FI Sustainable Finance Forum from 2018-2020. The candidacy led by Ballabriga was the most voted of a total of eight candidates in the running.