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Innovation

Innovation

Argentina’s small and medium sized enterprises, despite being pummeled by taxes and struggling to access credit, managed to survive the collapse of consumption. Now, they are gearing up to capitalize on the improving economic outlook, thanks to the lending and tax measures that the government will roll out in short to encourage them to invest. Four our of every 10 companies say they intend to do so.

In the business world, we increasingly hear the term “soft skills.” It refers to the social skills that can only be acquired in everyday life, that allow people to successfully integrate into work environments. The demand for soft skills is on the rise, but how can we strengthen them?

Banks and fintechs should compete on the same playing field, and this poses a great challenge to financial supervision and regulation. Santiago Fernández de Lis, Chief Economist, Financial Systems and Regulation at BBVA Research, in a recent report entitled Fintech: Key Regulatory Challenges reviews the regulatory priorities posed by the digital disruption of financial services. In his opinion, the focus of policy for regulating fintech companies should be to build “a level playing field for all providers to properly address the risks and guarantee fair competition.”

BBVA customers in Spain now have access to a new feature that completely simplifies mobile-to-mobile money transfers. The transfers are totally secure and do not require customers to use BBVA’s mobile banking app. Both Android and iOS users can send money through BBVA’s “chatbots” on instant messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and Telegram. And those using the iOS operating system (iPhone) will also be able to do so with the voice assistant, Siri. All this has been made possible thanks to an evolution of the Bizum system, which enables users to send money between cell phones with the apps of the major Spanish banks.

Madrid hosted last week the Service Design Global Conference (SDGC17), a leading event in the world of service design that pays special attention to how this discipline is changing the world of banking. BBVA took part in one of the sessions to explain how design is, without a doubt, a key element in the success of its financial products and in satisfying customer needs at a time of great challenges for banking.