Imagine a world where applying for a bank product is made possible by simply downloading the bank’s own mobile app, without having to go into a branch first - or ever.

The paradigm shift that will shape the future of banking was the subject of a keynote address by BBVA’s Derek White in Madrid this week. “BBVA is taking on Big Tech and building the future of banking”, he said.

BBVA’s executive chairman, Francisco González, believes that the success of a company's transformation is directly related to employee talent. "To have excellent people is a must" he said at the South Summit, an event held in Madrid this Wednesday. "If you don’t have the best people, it’s impossible to advance."

BBVA’s CEO, Carlos Torres Vila, has spoken of the great impact entrepreneurs bring to society at the opening of Spain’s biggest startup conference.

Mario Pardo, the global head of Enterprise Solutions at BBVA, shared the stage at the Open Innovation Forum with Henry Chesbrough, renowned academic of the University of California and known as the ‘father of open innovation’. Both speakers spoke about how BBVA is working with its corporate clients and startups to develop better banking solutions.

This open-source blockchain platform has made its way into different sectors of the economy and aims to become the blockchain technology standard in the world of business. BBVA is an official member of the Hyperledger consortium and has used its technological platform to manage blockchain-powered corporate loans.

Twenty-six young people have joined the ‘Young Professionals Data’ in Spain and Argentina program, a BBVA initiative to recruit and develop the best talent in advanced analytics. The selection process to take on another 21 young people in Mexico has started and in the following months Colombia, Peru the U.S. and Turkey will join the project.

The software company Salesforce is celebrating its annual meeting Dreamforce, aimed at showcasing excellence when it comes to customer engagement and experiential design.

BBVA backed digital banking platform Simple is shaking up the U.S. savings market by introducing a sector leading rate for consumers.

Some companies are now working to incorporate blockchain technology into smartphones. A cell phone that incorporates these characteristics could become the most secure on the market. This would be possible thanks to blockchain's intrinsic security provisions.