The holidays can be stressful for those who have a large number of names on their gift list. Not much time remains for those in the full swing of their shopping spree. As the pressure mounts to finish, any little bit helps.

In a world flush with acronyms - hello, banking! - “API” might seem like the latest notable term. But the truth is, APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, have been on the scene for many years, and was made popular in the year 2000 when SalesForce officially launched its web-based sales force automation.

BBVA customers can now use an app that predicts their future income and expenses (Bconomy). Now, BBVA has developed —together with Google Cloud— an artificial intelligence model that would allow them to improve the accuracy of predictions. This model is explained in a white paper that also offers users recommendations on ways to protect the privacy of their data.

How will banks be impacted by big tech (Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.) entering the financial services industry? Can regulation promote a level playing field? These are some of the questions raised at the “Big Tech Banking” event organized by CUNEF (University of Financial Studies) and the Spanish Banking Association (AEB). BBVA joined financial experts and regulators participating in the event, where a common thought prevailed: data will play a key role in the battle between banks and Big Tech.

The advantages are many. This doesn't mean we have to be specialists in computer science. Programming languages are what allow machines to be given instructions, and what makes them, more or less, intelligent. So, the more we know about these processes, the better we understand how the world today functions. We will also be better protected against urban myths and fake news. For example, if we knew how the algorithms that protect our bank accounts work, we would be leery of the urban myth that says if we enter our pin backwards in the ATM, the bank immediately notifies the police.

This new computing paradigm will reduce latency and streamline data traffic coming from millions of devices on the Internet of Things.