The transformation of the economy opens the door to collaboration between big corporations and startups: they need to understand each other and collaborate. It’s a beneficial relationship for all, but one which is not always easy.

BBVA continued leading the way to innovation in Latin America during 2017, becoming the region’s digital bank par excellence. That distinction was confirmed by Global Finance magazine, which judged BBVA’s mobile banking app to be the best in Latin America. BBVA’s local franchises in the region have set the pace in the development of products and services which, just as in the case of mobile banking, aim to make their customers’ lives easier and deliver on the Group’s intent to bring the age of opportunity to everyone.

At BBVA, design matters a lot. So much so, that it only took BBVA Spain a couple of months to release a new version of its award-winning mobile banking app, lauded as the world’s best by Forrester Research last July.

More and more, going digital in banking is seen as 21st century cool, while for branch banking, some believe the death knell has sounded. At BBVA Compass however, branches are an increasingly important part of the bank’s digital transformation.

Chad Houser of Dallas-based Café Momentum, a restaurant training platform for juvenile offenders, won the top prize of $50,000 last week as the BBVA Momentum program for social entrepreneurs closed out its inaugural season in the U.S.

BBVA has been recognized as one of the corporations doing the most to support startups in Europe. Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), an initiative established by the European Commission to support new companies in the technology field, praised BBVA’s open innovation strategy and included the bank in its ranking of the top “12 Corporate Startup Stars."