It is not easy to start out in the financial technology sector and be successful on your first try. Investment is important to be able to implement ambitious projects and ideas, but startups also need quality products and services, knowledge of regulations and should avoid underestimating the complexity of the target market.

As the great Pedro Vargas – and later Vicente Fernández – already sung decades ago in “El Rey”: ...“you do not have to get there first, but you need to know how get there,” (“no hay que llegar primero pero hay que saber llegar”). Something similar has taken place in Mexico. It may not have been the first one in the race towards digital revolution or in the adoption of new technologies, but it is proving that it knows “how to get there.”

The banking core is undergoing a transformation to be able to connect with the customer at any time and at any place: with the cloud, Business to Business (B2B) connections, Business to Consumer (B2C), Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Big Data and IoT sensors. All these ways of communication must coexist and the challenge for banking is to improve them every day to meet current expectations.

Expectation is building among the 17 shortlisted Latin American candidates that will be pitching their projects during the BBVA Open Talent Latam 2016 final. Today, Monday, they will be working long and hard on fine tuning their project presentations, with help from BBVA experts. The winners will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday..

A new report on consumers’ adoption of mobile deposit found that BBVA Compass offers one of the best experiences with the convenient feature that allows people to deposit checks with their smart devices.

Derek White, Global Head of Customer Solutions for BBVA, presided over the European final of the 2016 Open Talent competition. He took advantage of his time in London to analyze the challenges banks are facing and the role of the fintech ecosystem in financial services.

The digital ecosystem in Mexico is changing and growing beyond expectations. New players are emerging with whom the banking industry can co-exist. Meanwhile, changes in technology are improving customer experience since the services add value to both personal and business activities.

Industries, businesses and services have been revolutionized by new technologies, greater information processing capacity and speed, as well as easier data connection possibilities and lower smartphone costs. Travel agencies, car rentals, music and book sales, the retail sector and public transportation are just a few examples of areas that have completely changed.

The analysis of financial transaction data can provide critical insights into understanding the economic resilience of people affected by natural disasters, as revealed by a new research project from UN Global Pulse and BBVA Data & Analytics, BBVA’s center of excellence in financial data analysis.

Biometric data come to the payments industry and guarantee greater security in digital commerce.