BBVA Compass Bancshares, Inc., a Sunbelt-based bank holding company (BBVA Compass), reported today net income of $184 million for the second quarter of 2018, a 17 percent increase from the $157 million earned during the second quarter of 2017. Return on average assets and return on average tangible equity(1) for the second quarter of 2018 were 0.83 percent and 9.05 percent, respectively.

Net income for the first six months of 2018 totaled $393 million, an increase of 41 percent from the $278 million earned during the first six months of 2017. Return on average assets and return on average tangible equity(1) for the first six months of 2018 were 0.90 percent and 9.77 percent, respectively.

Türkiye Garanti Bankası A.Ş. announced its financial statements for the first half to June 30, 2018. On a consolidated financial basis, in the first six months of 2018, Garanti had assets of TL384.878 billion, while its contribution to the economy through cash and non-cash loans increased to TL319.244 billion. The Bank’s ROAE (Return on Average Equity) was 18.1 percent and ROAA (Return on Average Assets) 2.1 percent.

These are the ratios that show up the financial position of a bank. This is a disclosure of BBVA’s ratios calculated as of June 2018.

BBVA reported net attributable profit of €2.65 billion for the first six months of 2018, up 14.9 percent from the same period a year earlier (+29.5 percent in constant terms). Upbeat revenue trends, containment in operating expenses, and lower loan-loss impairments and provisions were the key drivers of growth.

The European Central Bank on Thursday announced it is maintaining its monetary policy unchanged. Interest rates will remain at current levels until the summer of 2019 or “as long as necessary”, as announced in its June meeting. In doing so, ECB President Mario Draghi gave no further clarification on the next steps in the bank’s roadmap and intoned the mantra of prudence and patience.

BBVA today released its second quarter 2018 financial results. What were the key figures? To begin with, the bank is close to meeting its goal of having 50 percent of its total customer base made up of digital customers. Customer digitization drives sales through digital channels, propels total sales and improves efficiency. BBVA CEO Carlos Torres Vila said,  “We were off to a very good start of 2018 last quarter, and this quarter we’ve managed to achieve some excellent results.”

• Transformation: At the end of June, BBVA’s digital customer base stood at 25.1 million (+26 percent yoy). Of these, 20.7 million were mobile customers (+43 percent yoy). Digital sales increased in H1-18 and now account for 39 percent of total sales. All this contributed to strengthen recurring banking revenues and to keep efficiency at 49.2 percent
• Income: Solid trends in recurring revenues and cost containment efforts drove operating income growth in the first six months of 2018 (+6.8 percent in constant terms). Profitability has also improved significantly. ROE stood at 11.7 percent, while ROTE was 14.3 percent
• Risks: Risk indicators continued to perform robustly. At the end of June, the NPL ratio stood at 4.4 percent, with coverage of 71 percent
• Capital: A pro-forma fully-loaded CET ratio of 11.40 percent was reached in June. It includes the sale of BBVA Chile (finalized in July) and the Cerberus agreement to reduce its exposure to the real estate business. The tangible book value per share grew in the quarter

Answering this question is not easy. Academics and financial industry representatives met to discuss whether it would be appropriate for central banks to issue digital currencies. In the forum, BBVA executive board member, José Manuel González-Páramo, indicated that he believes it is probable that central banks will issue cryptocurrencies in the years ahead.  Future advances in blockchain technology will open the way to its use by financial authorities.

At the bottom of every check you write and every check you cash or deposit, you’ll find a long string of numbers: nine digits, then a colon followed by eight more digits, one more colon and another four digits. But what do those 21 numbers really mean?