Jaime Sáenz de Tejada is Spain’s best CFO and the best in Europe’s banking industry, according to the Extel Survey. Group BBVA has achieved excellent results in different categories in the 2018 edition of this prestigious international survey.

The new accounting regulation IFRS 9 aims to buttress financial stability against future crises.  It obliges financial institutions to more faithfully reflect credit risk and calculate provisions for insolvencies following an expected loss model (versus the previous “incurred loss” model). For a majority of financial institutions, this has resulted in an increase in provisions and the subsequent impact on capital.

Black Knight, Inc.’s latest Mortgage Monitor Report indicates that taken together, rising interest rates and home prices have affected housing affordability, resulting in a more than $100 increase in monthly payment on a 30-year mortgage used to purchase a median-priced U.S. home.

BBVA has reaffirmed its leading position in sustainable finance by closing the first green loan deal with a company in the Spanish distribution sector, the Valencian cooperative Consum. The €5-million operation proves that this type of financing is not limited to major multinationals present in the capital market. Smaller enterprises also have access to it.

The European Commission has presented its proposal on developing a new class of low-risk assets in the form of sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBS). The new security, whose goal is to enhance diversification and reduce sovereign bond risk in the euro zone, was included in the European Commission’s roadmap. The plan unveiled in December 2017 aims to deepen European Economic and Monetary Union.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), BBVA took part in a conference on capital markets. What will they be like in the future? According to José Manuel González-Páramo, they will be "digital and sustainable". Digital on the strength of innovation by technologies such as blockchain, automated advice and trading algorithms; and sustainable because they will help attract "green" finance.

Following the recent rating upgrades from S&P and DBRS, Moody’s today upgraded BBVA’s rating to A3, from Baa1. After this action, BBVA achieves again a category A rating with all agencies.

Emerging economies were amongst the topics addressed at the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) spring meeting, held in Brussels last week. This BBVA-sponsored event convened financial institutions, regulators and public bodies to debate some of the industry’s most pressing issues, including the economic and political outlook, regulation and fintech.

In the future, artificial intelligence will, among many other things, allow to develop helpful customer products for unbanked segments of the population. “Artificial intelligence and financial technologies create opportunities for the democratization of finance,” said Álvaro Martín, Head Economist of Digital Regulation and Trends at BBVA Research, during the meeting of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), held in Brussels. In his opinion, “artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing will boost financial inclusion”.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. In recent years it has opened the way to different areas of our lives, reaching what were previously unknown territories. This is not a single technology, but rather a set of construction blocks that act as catalysts for major advances, which is why BBVA is committed to an innovative approach based on data science and artificial intelligence to boost its capital markets business.