In an interview published by the financial newspaper Expansión, BBVA’s CEO explains what the coronavirus crisis has been like for him, and how the bank has adapted its operations to continue providing customers the same service. “It is very rewarding to see how our teams have adjusted to the challenges posed by this scenario,” he said. Onur Genç thinks the crisis is going to have a major impact on the economy and businesses, and that now is the time  “when we – the banks – need to stand by our customers more than ever before, and be part of the solution to this crisis.”

Egon Zehnder, a global consulting firm, is holding a round of digital meetings with CEOs of banks around the world to hear about their strategies to navigate the COVID-19 crisis and their insights into unprecedented situation. During a meeting held on April 4, BBVA CEO Onur Genç detailed the Group’s priorities in the face of the health emergency caused by COVID-19: safeguarding customer and employee health and continuing to deliver its services and supporting customers.

As part of Turkey’s national solidarity campaign, BBVA’s franchise will donate 200 ventilators to the Turkish Ministry of Health.

At the end of 2019, when the first cases of COVID-19 began to be detected in China, a lockdown seemed like a remote scenario. Four months later, isolation and social distancing have emerged as the most effective measures to stop the virus from spreading, forcing more than 3.6 billion people around the world to isolate themselves in their homes.

Since the start of the COVID outbreak, a plethora of mobile data collection applications have been developed to help users to report their symptoms and track the disease. In countries like South Korea these ‘apps’ have gone even further and provide authorities with the ability to alert users when they’ve been in direct contact with a confirmed positive case. In this article we take a look at how these applications work, what they are for and how they handle user information.

After the simultaneous paralysis of society and numerous economies around the globe resulting from efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, opinions on the relationship between the virus and climate change — how the pandemic is causing a global drop of pollution levels  — have been manifold. In the longer term backdrop there is an additional school of thought that is associating global warming with the emergence of new viruses that could represent future threats akin to that of SARS-CoV-2. How is climate change affecting the virulence, emergence, and re-emergence of viral threats?

Scientific information, and many essential niche concepts to tackle it, have lept into the spotlight. Understanding certain key scientific concepts behind the battle against COVID-19 and how SARS-CoV-2’s biological mechanisms actually work will allow us to navigate in the sea of information to better gauge the scope of the problem and the prospects concerning the development of potential treatments.

On Monday, the Country Manager of BBVA in Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, held a virtual meeting with the team from bank’s entire business area in Spain (more than 20,000 people) to offer support and update them on the bank’s current situation. The director reported that the bank has managed to adapt to the new situation in record time.

Saving lives and preventing the collapse of intensive care units (ICUs). That is the priority for Spanish hospitals (and those around the world) during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report by the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid, which analyzed one of the non-invasive ventilators from China (Yuwell 730), concludes that “its use is expected to delay or even prevent the need to transfer patients to the ICU, and therefore help to relieve their saturation.”

April 7th is World Health Day, and this year the World Health Organization has decided to call special attention to the essential role of nurses and midwives. Amid a world pandemic with incalculable consequences for humankind, the invaluable contribution these roles play is as apparent as ever.

Lending institutions belonging to the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) and the Spanish Federation of Savings Banks (CECA) are joining forces to announce a new voluntary measure to help mortgage customers affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a statement from both entities. People with a mortgage on their first home who are affected economically by the coronavirus outbreak may apply for a deferral of up to 12 months in the capital repayment. Likewise, principal repayments on personal consumer loans are to be deferred for up to six months. This means that these customers will only pay the interests on the mortgage loan, which will reduce considerably the amount they were paying until now.

Thanks to initiatives by BBVA employees, the bank has donated 175 external cell phone batteries to the new IFEMA hospital and 210 blankets to the Alcalá de Henares hospital, both in Madrid.

BBVA’s has increased its initial €25 million commitment to €35 million to be used in to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the countries within its operating footprint. BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila recently explained that the bank must “step up” and use everything in its power and all its resources “to save lives, alleviate the economic impact, and help others overcome these difficult times.”

Garanti BBVA has put 10 million Turkish lira (approximately €1.4 million) into a fund to support public hospitals as they contend with the coronavirus pandemic. The money has been earmarked to address the most urgent needs of health care workers.

The Group is to donate €25 million to combat the coronavirus outbreak across its footprint. This week, BBVA will deliver an initial batch of medical equipment, respirators and surgical masks, worth approximately €3 million to Spanish health officials.

BBVA is lighting its corporate headquarters in Madrid as a symbol of its support for the professionals who are fighting day in and day out against coronavirus.

BBVA is operating as normal after activating additional measures on Tuesday following the recommendations made by the Ministry of Health and the Madrid and Basque regional governments, and after an employee at the bank’s Madrid headquarters tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). Following this positive case, the bank has closed the area where the employee worked, as well as some common spaces as a preventive measure. The rest of the bank’s facilities are operating as normal.

The American Heart Association (AHA) yesterday named BBVA USA to its 2019 Workplace Health Achievement Index, a comprehensive annual survey that uses science-based and evidence-informed methods to evaluate the overall effectiveness of workplace health programs across the nation.

Univfy®, an AI platform company whose mission is to improve fertility patients’ experience and access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), announced today a collaboration with BBVA USA, the U.S. subsidiary of global financial institution BBVA, to offer a finance program with rates starting at 0% APR (up to 18.99%).

For Professor Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics expert and Emeritus Professor at Coventry and Reading Universities, the future of humans is literally tied to artificial intelligence, with technologies that will allow us to link our brains to machines to augment our physical and mental abilities. He recently sat down for an interview with OpenMind, BBVA’s knowledge community, to share some of his insights into this fascinating topic.

Infectious diseases, high maternal and neonatal mortality rates, illness and ineffective reproductive and sexual health are some of the problems plaguing many places in the world. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number three “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all people at all ages”, seeks to address these and other health-related challenges. BBVA also strives to promote initiatives in its field to achieve SDG 3, especially through the work of the BBVA Foundation.

The American Heart Association recently announced the results of its 2018 Workplace Health Achievement Index, a comprehensive annual survey that uses science-based and evidence-informed methods to evaluate the overall effectiveness of workplace health programs across the nation.

For a while after science-fiction was first coined as a term, it seemed like the only thing the genre would be capable of producing would be just that: purely fictional works with no connection to reality. Today, we can already enjoy some of the futuristic innovations featured in some movies a while back, such as virtual reality or artificial intelligence. Which sci-fi movies predicted the future digital era and got it right?

The European Union’s banking and medicine agencies are moving. This is one of the direct consequences of the United Kingdom’s approaching departure from the European Union (Brexit). On Monday, November 20th, the 27 member states will vote on which European cities will be the new home of these two agencies.

On Sept. 12, the American Heart Association announced the results of its 2017 Workplace Health Achievement Index, a comprehensive annual survey that assesses and measures the quality and overall effectiveness of workplace health programs at companies across the nation. BBVA Compass is the only company headquartered in Birmingham, Ala. and bank with an employee count of over 5,000 to earn Gold level for cultivating a culture of health within its workforce.

Clover Health and Bright Health, two insurtech companies dedicated to health insurance, have in recent months received nearly 300 million dollars in their funding rounds, contributing to the growth of investment in the sector.

Under 30, entrepreneurs and digital. This are the common traits that define the young Europeans chosen by Forbes magazine in its ’30 Under 30′ list. A mobile navigation aide for the visually impaired, a meal kit delivery platform, a t-shirt that allows users to peek inside the human body, a nightlife finder in London… Many tech-related projects that deserve special attention.  Here we take a look at a few of them.

Vacationing is easier with a smartphone at hand and a handful of essential apps for the beach, the mountain or the city. Whether to save on fuel, park in the shade or find the nearest public restroom, a millennial’s vacation wouldn’t be the same without a bit of digital help.

From medicine to finance, large-scale data processing technologies are already starting to deliver on their promise to transform contemporary societies. Far-reaching social changes don’t take place overnight. Little by little, they become part of our daily life, until their revolutionary nature dissipates. Years ago, hybrid cars started turning people’s heads. Today, electric cars are becoming less of a rarity  – at least in larger cities.

The debates about potential impact of ageing for institutions and economies, the fiscal sustainability of the pension and welfare systems are based on a convention that was established one century ago: the definition of 65 years as the fixed threshold at which old age and economic dependency begins.

The Indian Doctors Association of Houston held its annual gala on Friday, celebrating key community achievements and providing scholarships to young, aspiring doctors.

“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas”. This is one of the most famous quotes from renowned scientist Marie Curie. IT was, precisely, her interest in the world that led her to become the first woman to ever win a Nobel prize, at a time when women were rarely allowed to pursue University studies, at least in Poland.

Francisco González, Group Executive Chairman of BBVA, presented the book The Next Step: Exponential Life in an event held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  This work collects the insights of twenty of the world’s most authoritative voices in a number of fields, analyzing the tremendous opportunities – and the risks and uncertainties – that the so-called “exponential technologies” will bring to humanity

The BBVA Foundation is distinguishing, in this ninth edition of the Frontiers of Knowledge Award, in the Development Cooperation category researchers Pedro Alonso and Peter Myler, for their pivotal role in the fight against infectious diseases that affect millions of people throughout the developing world.

The Dolphins Cancer Challenge, the signature initiative of the Miami Dolphins Foundation’s health pillar, kicked off last Saturday with support from BBVA Compass, Lennar Corporation and The Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation.

The BBVA Foundation has bestowed its Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category on Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna and Francisco Martínez Mojica, for igniting “the revolution in biology permitted by CRISPR/Cas 9 techniques.” These tools facilitate genome modification with an unprecedented degree of precision and far more cheaply and straightforwardly than any previous method.  Not unlike today’s word processing programs, CRISPR/Cas 9 is able to “cut & paste” several genes at the same time.

The presentation ceremony of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards again transformed Madrid headquarters of the BBVA Foundation, into a window from which to contemplate some of the key ideas, insights and challenges that define the modern age.

Optogenetics is a technique whereby light serves to control the behavior of a live animal. The scene might go something like this: the laboratory rat sits peacefully in its box, but with a fiber optic cable emerging from its head. A light comes on and the animal starts to run; the light goes off, and it stops.

IBM is carrying out a neural network project aimed at avoiding and preventing brain seizures using technology.

The World Insurance Report 2016, from the insurance firm Capgemini in partnership with the European Financial Marketing Association (EFMA), found that Spain’s generation Y (young people between 15 and 35 years of age) are among those most disenchanted with the services provided by conventional insurance firms.

Voice, face, fingerprint and written signature biometric systems enable user authentication and identification and are struggling to replace the current password system.

A group of researchers at the Carlos III University in Madrid have developed a prototype of a tool that combines virtual reality with a movement sensor for exercises for the rehabilitation of the shoulder.

Real Madrid and Microsoft sign an agreement to use Big Data.