Growing up in Pensacola, Fla., now residing in Jacksonville, Nelson Bradshaw is used to being close to the water and reeling in a big catch.

Global Finance has selected BBVA as the best global private bank for customers with a net wealth of under $1 million for the “The World’s Best Private Banks 2019” awards.  The magazine also named the Group as the best private bank for entrepreneurs in Western Europe and Latin America.

BBVA has closed a new deal in Italy with the gas utility SNAM, thus reaffirming its position as a leading structuring bank of sustainable solutions in the European loan market. The transaction is a €3.2 billion revolving credit facility (RCF), the third sustainable loan in Italy led by BBVA as sustainability coordinator.

BBVA and Red Electrica Corporation have become the first businesses in the world to deliver a syndicated loan using blockchain. The €150m deal, granted by BBVA, BNP Paribas and MUFG, was reached in record speed using BBVA’s proprietary platform- which is powered by distributed ledger technology.

The barriers keeping SMEs away from funding were one of the pivotal topics of the SME Finance Forum, held this week in Madrid. José Manuel González-Páramo analyzed how to improve access to financing for many micro, small and medium sized enterprises, as well as the regulatory framework for both banking and alternative funding sources,  “We need to eliminate barriers for SMEs’ to widen their funding sources,” he underscored.

BBVA’s CEO recently spoke at the DeustoForum in Bilbao. Carlos Torres Vila discussed BBVA’s transformation strategy in front of an audience of the Basque business community and current Deusto University students and alumni. “In today’s world opportunities are digital. That’s why we focus on the digitization of our customers, providing channels that are always available and a simple, agile experience,” he maintained.

BBVA has once again excelled in EU-wide bank stress tests thanks to its resilience in the face of potential economic shocks. According to the exercise results, published today, BBVA would reach a fully loaded CET1 capital ratio of 8.80 percent in 2020 under the adverse scenario. The bank would also have the second least negative impact among its peers between the initial ratio in 2017 and the final ratio in 2020 (1.93 percentage points). Among big European banks  assessed, BBVA is one of the few banks with the ability to generate an accumulated profit in the three-year period under analysis (2018, 2019, and 2020), under the adverse scenario.

José Manuel González-Páramo, Executive Member of the Board and the Head of Global Economics, Regulation and Public Affairs at BBVA, attended a meeting on the challenges facing the banking industry’s regulatory architecture on an international and local level.  He spoke of the importance of further developing the Basel III framework, as well as the need to implement it in a consistent and flexible manner.

Saving money can feel like a personal triumph (and it should!). To live within your means and set aside funds for a rainy day, major purchase or personal goal is very empowering. But did you know your savings can also impact the country’s economy as a whole?

At a press conference Carlos Torres Vila released BBVA’s earnings for the January-September 2018 period. The forthcoming decision on who should pay the levy on documenting mortgages loans – banks or the customers – which is due to be made by Spain’s Supreme Court on November 5, was raised during the presentation. In regard to the possibility of the ruling being retroactive, he stated “You can’t penalize those who have followed the law. This is precisely what the principle of legal certainty embodies, which protects us all.”