The world of work and professional environments are in the midst of a full blown transformation process, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. According to Ophelie Richard, BBVA global head of Talent Acquisition, “the value of assigning workstations to specific individuals based on their hierarchy within the organization has been completely redefined.” And this, in her opinion, “opens up great opportunities, from hiring employees regardless of their geographic location to workstation virtualization.”

In June, BBVA’s Group executive chairman held a round of meetings with the bank’s teams in Spain, Mexico, the U.S. and Turkey. At the meetings he went over the situation in each country and shared future challenges. “The pandemic will serve to accelerate our strategic priorities – digitization, data and sustainability – as well as the search for new ways of working,” he explained.

The arrival of COVID has forced many companies to figure out new ways of working, and to accepting the idea of allowing, where feasible, employees to work from home. These new alternative work arrangements may yield substantial sustainability, cost saving and productivity benefits, but also expose of corporate confidential information to new threats. In this context, adopting increased security habits becomes more important than ever.

Rob Brown, BBVA’s Chief Marketing Officer and head of Design and Responsible Business, shares his experience on working remotely during the redesign of BBVA’s brand last year. He explains how telework can help enable a global mindset, and how the most important element is to always stay connected as a team.

‘No one left behind’ in the fourth industrial revolution: this is the commitment made by various international organizations including the United Nations and the International Labour Organization. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits to the principles of universality and equality, two fundamental ideas that should be redefined in the context of the digital revolution. How can these principles be ensured in the midst of the profound change produced by technological progress?

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and BBVA are joining forces to provide financing on favourable terms for Spanish SMEs. EU bank Vice-President Emma Navarro and BBVA CEO Onur Genç signed an agreement today in Madrid enabling the Spanish bank to provide EUR 600m to support the investments of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With this agreement, BBVA will be able to offer them favourable financing in terms of both maturity and interest rates.

The 13th annual Turkish Women Entrepreneur Competition, organized by Garanti BBVA in collaboration with Ekonomist Magazine and the Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Turkey (KAGIDER),  recognized the best and brightest women entrepreneurs in 2019.

‘Work better. Enjoy Life.’ This is the slogan BBVA used to present employees in Spain the new measures for productivity and work-life balance with which the bank aims to foster change in the way work is done. The initiatives are set to promote a more flexible and balanced work environment, that guarantee equal opportunities and the professional development of all employees based on goals and not presenteeism.

Garanti Bank once again hosted women entrepreneurs from a range of different sectors for a meeting in Samsun. Organized in collaboration with the Women’s Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER), the purpose of the 2019 Women Entrepreneurs Meeting is to help open new markets and provide women entrepreneurs the knowledge they need to further develop their businesses. The meeting in Samsun was the first of a series of similar events planned for cities around the country.

Diversity and inclusion have become the keystones around which BBVA structures its response towards the equality and wellbeing of its employees. One of the focal points of Talent and Culture’s policies is tearing down the barriers preventing greater diversity in positions of responsibility. That is why work-life balance emerges as a priority issue to attract and retain talent within the organization.

The digital revolution has transformed the business of many industries and the way in which they offer services to their customers. Carlos Casas and Ophélie Richard, or BBVA’s Talent & Culture area, addressed during Talent Day 2018 how these changes also require companies to radically transform the way in which they work and manage in-house talent.

Big technological companies and some banks such as BBVA are already using artificial intelligence (AI) in their products and services. However, the revolution that comes with this new technology has only just begun. At a conference organized by the IESE Business School, Ricardo Forcano, Global Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA, set forth six key issues that companies should bear in mind when adapting to this new environment.

Natalia Romero of BBVA Francés knows that behind every loan application is a family’s dreams and the opportunity to make them come true.

BBVA Open Talent, the world’s biggest fintech competition, will this year mark its tenth anniversary by working with more start-ups than ever before.

Find out more and register for Open Talent 2018 here.

Fair-trade coffee, quality guarantee, ecological tomatoes… consumers read the labels on the things they eat. But is there any way of checking that what they say is correct? In order to do so, you would need a register of the processes to which the product has been submitted, something blockchain can do.

Following up on her recognition of being named among the Most Powerful Women in Business by Black Enterprise, BBVA Compass Chief Talent & Culture Executive Rosilyn Houston has recently earned an appearance on the publication’s top executives list, 300 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America. Houston’s recognition underscores her contribution to positioning BBVA Compass as an inclusive, innovative and employee-centric organization.

LinkedIn is the most used professional network in the world. It currently has more than 500 users, of which 106 million are active monthly users. It can therefore be difficult to stand out from the large number of professionals out there. Like any social network there are some things you should know to get the best out of it.

Your ability to build strong relationships with colleagues is critical to the success of your career. It opens doors to key projects, personal development, mentoring opportunities and promotion.

Sustainable Development is essential to achieving more peaceful and just societies and the United Nations counts on the private sector to help in this effort. The BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) has contributed its experience in the finance sector to the report entitled “Business and SDG 16: contributing to peaceful, just and inclusive societies,” drawn up by the Sustainable Development Goals Fund and the University of Pennsylvania.

The new technologies, and their presence in everyday life, are radically changing the way we look at entertainment, social relationships and work. They have also created new professions that do not yet have a set educational pathway, such as videogame developer.

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.

Traditionally, it has been held that the value of a company equaled its net worth, that is, those elements that constitute the company’s own funds. However, this item (which is defined as the difference between assets and liabilities) doesn’t take into account an intangible asset that is inherent to a company and which can generate future profits: goodwill.

BBVA is the only bank participating in the European Business  – Education Summit organized by the European Commission and CSR Europe in Brussels. At the meeting, BBVA’s Executive Member of the Board, Head of Global Economics, Regulation and Public Affairs, José Manuel González-Páramo, defended the importance of providing young people, not only with financial education, but also entrepreneurial skills, to boost Europe’s economy.

The BBVA Group recently held a new edition of Live@BBVA, an in-company event that focused on new business models and support for the innovation ecosystem.

BBVA is the Spanish bank with the greatest capacity to attract and retain talent, according to the results of the 12th edition of the Merco Talento study. The 2017 ranking, which is led by clothing retailer Inditex, lists the 100 best companies to work for in Spain.

Futurist Jerome Glenn, CEO of Millennium Project, urges companies and governments to be proactive in the face of technological advances and outlines three different scenarios in which artificial intelligence can determine the course of society.

The development of new technologies as a means to alleviate workloads is part of the day to day running of businesses. Increasingly, robots, artificial intelligence, and computer algorithms are taking over humans in the execution of mechanical tasks. However, many theoreticians are wary of the consequences this development will bring upon the workplace. Darrel M. West discusses the impact of these emerging technologies on society in the book ‘The Next Step. Exponential Life’, which can be downloaded for free from the BBVA OpenMind project website.

BBVA Compass Underserved and Multicultural Segment Manager Julieta Falcon creates opportunities for people from all walks of life to obtain the financial tools to have a bright future. In this edition of Employee Spotlight, BBVA Compass gains insight into Falcon’s professional outlooks and milestones, as well as her passion for tailoring the retail banking experience to best serve and meet the needs of the unbanked and underbanked populations.

Managing internal data appropriately can be the key to optimizing a company’s human resources – from predicting whether a candidate will be successful to combating brain drain.

BBVA Global Head of Talent and Culture Ricardo Forcano told the young people attending the jobs forum organized by the newspaper El País that the world in which we are going to live in the coming decades will be one of constant and rapid change, which will radically transform the labor market. The Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA recommended that young people seeking employment cultivate their curiosity, empathy and integrity.

When a storm of controversy erupted in Spain about the alleged mistreatment of interns in Michelin-starred restaurants, there were some surprised faces in the world of haute cuisine. It is true that in this sector, which has been so fashionable for a number of years, there are still those who are in favor of a training system of the “no pain, no gain” type; but these implacable instructors coexist side by side with maestros who, like the Roca brothers, have for a number of years been committed to a humanist revolution in the kitchens.

Every year, BBVA Open Challenges proposes a number of challenges aimed at finding solutions to the challenges identified in different areas of the bank. The registration phase for two new editions of this contest will open in August: Challenge F4C, covering proposals to transform the relationship between banks and customers; and Challenge Global Trends, which seeks to transform the trading of tomorrow through augmented reality and intelligent algorithms.

As the finance sector’s interest in creating blockchain-based products grows, so does the demand for professionals with the right skills for capitalizing on this exponential technology.  Just as occurred at the time with software developers, right now the demand exceeds the supply.

Edmund Hillary was the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1953 – a feat that brought him worldwide fame, but also changed his life. His relationship with the mountains was so intense that he once said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” When asked about his hobbies, Ricardo Forcano (Zaragoza, 1977) answers right away, “the mountain.” It´s probably the best place to order ideas, propose new challenges and work as a team. All those experiences can be applied to the business world, and that’s what Ricardo Forcano is doing as head of the Talent and Culture area of BBVA.

Delving into the digital universe implies competing in the sprawling world of search engines and social media. Some of these tips may be highly useful for SME’s starting the adventure.

Master, guru, adviser, guide… The mentor is one of the most important figures for an entrepreneur during all stages of their career. Even those who have reached the top and are true celebrities have needed (and continue needing) the sage advice of experts.

The earth, capital and technology have been the strategic factors in the industrial revolutions that have taken place from the Neolithic period to the 20th Century. However, in the fourth industrial revolution, which is now underway, individual talent will be the key to success.

Volume, velocity, variety, veracity and value are the five keys to making big data a huge business.

BBVA has announced the first finalists for its 2017 Open Talent competitions – starting off with the key issue of identity.

The submission period for the sixth edition of BBVA Momentum, BBVA’s social entrepreneurship program, expired last Friday, March 31st. The number of companies that have registered has exceeded all expectations. Given this great response, the organizers have decided to push back deadline until April 16.

No matter how good an idea or wonderfully designed a project are, without relying on the right collaborators, mentors and entrepreneurs, success is likely to remain elusive for entrepreneurs. Five years ago, Momentum started nurturing an ecosystem that has continued to grow ever since, bringing participants together and promoting collaboration and synergies.

Wanted: entrepreneurs, CEOs, mathematicians, scientists. The fintech world needs more female talent. This is the irrefutable conclusion of the many different studies on the subject. Experts say it isn’t simply a question of numbers. There are also much more profound factors that could benefit industries such as the fintech sector. Given their influence in the global economy, women can help develop specific products and solutions for needs that have not yet been identified, or sufficiently explored.

Nobody wants to go into a care home. Based on this premise, Saraiva Senior, a project by Sacendi (a social and healthcare company that provides integrated services for the elderly in Pontevedra), aims to implement a new approach to care for the elderly. The company, a participant in BBVA Momentum, BBVA’s support program aimed at social enterprises, is determined to change mindsets, promote a positive vision of aging and renew the traditional concept of the care home. The director of this social enterprise, Lucía Saborido, its associate director, Noelia López and its technical director, Ricardo Fra Otero, explain how.

The first regulatory sandbox, or testing environment, is already taking its first steps. Rolled out in the UK last year, it has just announced the 18 startups, with projects that range from finance, to debt management, insurtech or blockchain, that have been admitted to take part in the pioneering development program.

The U.K. is convinced that London will continue to be Europe’s fintech capital and a global financial center after Brexit. But other European capitals are hoping to take its place. It will all depend on the long negotiation about to begin between the EU and the U.K.

Big data, virtual reality, social networks… The dizzying changes that technology is bringing about in society are reflected in the world of work, where new jobs and responsibilities are being created. This is a short guide that will help explain to your parents what your work consists of, or will help you understand what your children are doing.