Snapcash, the new function of the Snapchat instant messaging app, makes sending money as easy as sending a message with a cell phone.

BBVA Ventures, the corporate venture arm of BBVA Group that invests in disruptive startups in the financial services industry, announced today that it has made an investment in Coinbase, the world’s leading Bitcoin platform.

BBVA’s Data Processing Center (DPC) in Tres Cantos (Madrid) has been awarded the Tier IV Gold Certification of Operational Sustainability from the Uptime Institute. This is its highest rating in operational sustainability, which makes BBVA the first bank with such advanced installations in Europe.

BBVA Compass today announced an agreement that opens its technology platform to payments innovator Dwolla, allowing customers of the bank to use the Iowa startup’s real-time network to make money transfers.

Clausematch and Counterest have won the BBVA Open Talent 2014 Europe contest for the New Banking and Digital Life categories. Both startups won a prize equal to 30,000 euros in the form of a contract with BBVA, which allows them to test their product or service. European entrepreneurs accounted for the largest number of projects submitted to BBVA Open Talent 2014, with 402 projects. Spain boasted the most participants in the European edition, although the United Kingdom, Germany and France played also played a major role.

Developers from around the world can pre-register for BBVA’s second “hackathon”. The participants will have access to anonymous, statistical, and irreversibly dissociated data from Mexico’s three largest cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara and  Monterrey.