The Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown and matured this year, with the fintech sector leading the way and a considerable boost from investors. While Madrid and Barcelona continue to dominate the national landscape, the Basque Country, Valencia and Malaga have increasingly prominent roles to play, and regions like the Canary Islands and Galicia are working hard to make a name for themselves. A tour of these areas shows the wealth of opportunities for innovation and the diversity of sectors.

BBVA's Chairman called on the entrepreneurial community to “continue to be brave and invest in green technologies” during his participation in the South Summit, where he stressed the need to continue supporting innovation, especially in the field of digitization and sustainability. “We need to decarbonize in 50 years, and that is going to require a lot of investment and innovation in technologies that do not exist today,” insisted the BBVA Chairman at this conference dedicated to startups and whose opening ceremony was presided over by His Majesty the King.

Decentralized finance is a blockchain-based set of applications that, in principle, need no intermediaries to work. These financial products have similar characteristics to traditional services and their boom period could, to some extent, change the financial sector and give rise to both opportunities and challenges.

BBVA´s CEO was invited to speak at the third edition of an annual meeting organized by the students of the Koç School in Istanbul. The event analyzed opportunities in fintech as well as technology and digitization´s contribution to the banking sector.

BBVA USA frequently leads the banking industry in digital transformation, rolling out award-winning products, and collaborating with fintechs and tech giants to bring a new, convenient age of banking to its clients.

Azlo, a provider of digital banking and business services for small businesses, is seeing a surge in new account openings in 2020 in the midst of the “Covid Economy” that is spurring new entrepreneurs into action. The digital business banking service—built from day one to serve the needs of small business owners—today announced it has doubled its customer count, year-to-date, and is launching a new subscription service, Azlo Pro, designed to further meet the needs of entrepreneurs around the U.S. by saving them time and money.

In early August, BBVA USA announced it would be one of a few early adopter banks collaborating with Google on a digital bank account to be offered via Google Pay and launched in early 2021.

BBVA is the first bank in Spain to allow zero-touch cash withdrawals from its ATMs, called ‘contactless ATMs’. This new way of accessing cash not only streamlines the process, it also provides additional protection to customers during times of pandemic.

BBVA USA today announced the launch of two digital updates designed to strengthen financial freedom. The bank launched its new mobile banking app, Mobile 9.0, and expanded transaction detail screen in mobile and online banking, both aimed at leveraging the bank’s technology expertise to provide a better experience and more control for customers.

BBVA in Uruguay has launched its banking application for Apple Watch, another innovation that makes life easier for customers.