It’s the holiday season, which means many of us are hitting our favorite stores or shopping online with plastic in hand. With all this activity, it only makes sense that credit and debit card fraud tends to increase during this time of year.

BBVA and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) have signed a synthetic securitization of €1 billion. The agreement is a very innovative financing operation, as it is the first synthetic securitization to be supported by blockchain technology in the European Union and the third synthetic corporate loan securitisation signed by the EIB Group and BBVA. Moreover, BBVA and EIB Group will provide €360 million to finance investments projects of SMEs and midcaps.

Like many Americans, you may find your mailbox stuffed with envelopes from banks, credit card providers and other lenders who want to make you an offer. (That includes your email, too.) Those offers may range from a pre-approved offer, to an invitation to apply, to a 4-page application.

Over the years, my life has gotten increasingly digital, without me even realizing it. Take for instance, payments. Typically, I pull out a debit or credit card to pay for store purchases. Online bill pay works for the monthly bills. And for splitting dinner bills, classroom payments, sports fees and babysitters, P2P does just fine.

BBVA Compass has increased its Net Promoter Score (NPS) among Commercial clients across its footprint, according to a recent Voice of the Customer study by market intelligence provider Greenwich Associates.

Speaking at the Rome Investment Forum, José Manuel González-Páramo weighted on the future of three key projects for the European Union: the banking union, the capital markets union and the fiscal union. This discussion took place at a key moment for the European bloc, after the meetings held in the last Eurogroup, in the Ecofin and the European Council.  “During this year 2018 there has been a window of opportunity, which has clearly been missed by Europe to implement the necessary reforms,” he noted.

BBVA and Porsche Holding Salzburg, the largest and most successful automotive distributor in Europe and a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, closed a €150 million term loan backing strategic acquisitions in the retail distribution network in Europe and Asia.

The world has recently taken a turn toward trade protectionism. Given this situation, at a forum in Madrid, BBVA Executive Board Member José Manuel González-Páramo proposed committing to multilateralism through the World Trade Organization. He expects “Europe to play a relevant role” in this movement. These efforts are essential, he maintained, because protectionism threatens global growth.

AENA and a group of banks led by BBVA have closed an €800 million ESG-linked revolving credit facility (an “ESG-linked RCF”). With this sustainable credit facility - intended to fund general corporate needs - AENA becomes the world’s first airport operator to resort to this type of funding arrangement. BBVA led the transaction as lead arranger and sustainable facility agent.

BBVA Asset Management (BBVA AM) believes that the stock market may be the most profitable asset for the coming year as a whole, but within a volatile market environment. This has been pointed out by Joaquín García Huerga, director of Global Strategy of BBVA Asset Management, in the presentation of the market outlook for 2019. If the economic cycle is not turned around, the stock markets could rise by an average of 10% by adding dividends.