Carlos Torres Vila: ''Europe has the opportunity to lead the way in AI adoption to boost productivity and strategic autonomy''

In a conversation with Pablo Isla, chairman of Nestlé, Carlos Torres Vila said that the world has been facing a period of great uncertainty for several years, with significant trade tensions, protectionism and a reconfiguration of blocs. As he explained, current armed conflicts are straining long-standing alliances, exposing vulnerabilities to potential attacks and affecting the cost and availability of energy and other critical supplies. Despite this, the global economic impact remains limited for now: “Economies are proving more resilient than expected.” In this regard, he recalled the key strengths of the bank’s business model — the leadership of its franchises and geographic diversification — to provide resilience in the current geopolitical environment.

He also stressed that the opportunity to address the current context lies in two trends: AI and investment in the energy transition as the main drivers of future growth. “Europe faces major challenges but also major opportunities, which lie in increasing investment to foster its competitiveness,” he highlighted. Carlos Torres Vila added that, for Europe, AI is a top-tier strategic challenge and, at the same time, an opportunity to regain productivity and strengthen its strategic autonomy.

BBVA Chair emphasized that AI is one of the greatest technological transformations in history, with an unprecedented pace of adoption. “At BBVA we have an optimistic view of artificial intelligence,” he said. As he explained, AI is going to create enormous value because it enables better services to be offered: more personalized, cheaper and higher quality, while making knowledge accessible that was previously reserved for experts.

He explained how the change will be enormous in the banking sector because it will enable more personalized advice, improve the customer experience and transform processes. “AI has a transformative power unlike any other technology in the past,” he said. Thanks to AI, BBVA will be able to anticipate each customer’s needs, make every interaction simpler and devote time to what truly adds value for customers.

“BBVA has always been characterized as a highly innovative bank. We demonstrated this through digitalization over the past decade and we are going to do it again through AI,” he reiterated. The challenge, he said, is adoption, which will be rapid but will require an enormous cultural transformation.

BBVA has an agenda built around three lines of action regarding AI. The first is universal adoption and, in this regard, more than 100,000 BBVA employees use AI in their daily work, enabling the entire organization to be prepared for this change. The second line is a transformation agenda centered on eight workstreams that integrate AI throughout the value chain: from the personal digital advisor for each customer, Blue, and for bankers, to risk, operations management and software development assistants. The third line is that BBVA is evolving toward a truly AI-driven bank by renewing its operating model through the industrialization of the creation, deployment and management of AI agents at scale across the bank. “The potential of the technology is to transform everything we do at BBVA,” he said.

Lastly, Carlos Torres Vila stressed that true transformation begins with the company’s purpose and values, which “set the course for where we want to go. That has been a defining element in the evolution of BBVA’s culture.” BBVA Chair underscored the value of an innovative culture as a driver for adapting to the pace at which the world is changing: “If you do not want to be left behind, you have to change at the same pace. At BBVA we place great importance on fostering change.”