BBVA Group opened a new office in Houston with the aim of leading the financing of the energy transition in the United States. This move to support its sustainability is spurred by the BBVA´s Group´s plans for growth in the country and forms part of its Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) operations in the United States.

Cleantech, or new clean technologies, are all those technologies that will allow us, or at least should allow us, to achieve the EU’s overarching goal of becoming net zero in emissions by 2050. They are innovative solutions, in many cases disruptive and predicated on innovation and technology. Many of them are still in an embryonic stage. Other more mature proposals need funding to grow and, above all, to make them profitable and scalable for industrial applications.

We’re here to talk about all this with Alberto Toril Castro, energy sector manager at Breakthrough Energy, a platform featuring various climate funds and founded by Bill Gates. As an advocate of affordable green energy, he firmly believes that “electrification is the future of the economy.” He calls for more public-private partnerships in the cleantech ecosystem and proclaims that “financial institutions play a key role when it comes to decarbonization.”

The bank is expanding its cryptocurrency custody and trading services to include USD Coin (USDC), a leading stablecoin whose value is pegged to the US dollar. This addition will enable BBVA’s institutional clients to speed up their trading operations by enabling them to transfer value more efficiently with blockchain and secure their stablecoins into BBVA’s vault.

The bank expects to bring in investments from 65 companies in its first year. Mexico has more trade per year with Texas than with Asia.

The Global Startup Awards (GSA), one of the most prestigious events for independent startups, will be held in Türkiye for the first time on September 24-25. With Garanti BBVA as the lead sponsor, GSA aims to recognize innovative startups in the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem, while bringing together a large community of entrepreneurs, investors, VCs, thought leaders, industry benchmarks, ecosystem partners, and other key stakeholders.

The U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority has given green light to BBVA to take indirect control of TSB Bank plc, Banco Sabadell’s banking subsidiary in the United Kingdom. The authorization is one of the conditions to which the purchase offer to Banco Sabadell shareholders is subject and a necessary step to complete it, since TSB would become part of BBVA.

Onboarding initiatives are a key tool when it comes to retaining talent and generating a strong employee experience. BBVA has been improving its processes for new hires, achieving tangible benefits for both the candidates and the company itself.

The city of Barcelona is hosting the first edition of this event in Spain, which ran from August 25 to 29. Within the broad program of activities, BBVA sponsored its Finance Day, which focused on the applications of AI and machine learning within the financial industry.

As is customary each year, BBVA has been joining in the LGTBIQ+ Pride celebrations in a bid to spread the word among employees about the importance of creating safe spaces for everyone. Shining the spotlight on LGTBIQ+ role models has been working wonders by raising awareness in the countries in which the bank operates. “At BBVA we want to be an even more inclusive and open company, with more role models, more stories and more safe spaces,” remarks Cristina Gabriel, Head of Diversity at BBVA.

The natural world possesses deep value that economic systems have been shunning for centuries. However, understanding and harnessing this natural capital is key to finding solutions to climate change. New Zealand is a prime example of how countries can integrate this concept within their business community and public institutions. In BBVA’s monographic study titled ‘Natural capital, curbing climate change’, you can learn more about the benefits and rewards of using natural capital as a means of improving social well-being.

BBVA’s strategy in Spain of targeting companies and SMEs has scooped three awards from Global Finance magazine at this year’s edition of its ‘Best Digital Bank Awards’: Most Innovative Bank, Best Mobile Banking App and Best Open Banking Strategy.

Garanti BBVA has been honored as Türkiye’s "Best Private Bank for Sustainable Finance" at the Global Sustainable Finance Awards, organized by The Digital Banker magazine, a globally trusted news, business intelligence, research and awards body, servicing the worldwide financial services sector.

BBVA tapped the market today with a Tier 2 subordinated debt issue totaling €1 billion, maturing in 12 years and featuring a redemption option from year seven. The issue has been very well received, with demand exceeding €3 billion at times, tripling the amount ultimately allotted. The price was set at mid swap + 200 basis points, below the starting price (mid swap + 225 basis points). It is the bank’s seventh wholesale transaction this year.

Garanti BBVA continues to make life easier for its customers with Garanti BBVA Mobile: with more than 15.5 million active users, it is the most widely used private-sector banking app in Türkiye. App usage has risen fivefold over the past five years, and in the first half of 2024 topped 2.7 billion logins, making for a monthly average of 450 million visits, while completed transactions increased by 25 percent to almost 800 million.

Garanti BBVA won the "Best Contact Center with More than 1,000 Employees" award in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia at the Global Top Ranking Performance Awards. The accolades, organized by Contact Center World, a leading authority in the contact center industry, drew over 2,000 entries from 80 countries. This year marked the 19th edition of the event.

BBVA’s AI Factory, a center dedicated to developing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, expands to Mexico and Türkiye in order to create products globally and leverage knowledge across the Group. With these new centers, BBVA aims to accelerate the adoption of AI-based solutions to improve customer experience and optimize internal processes. In addition, the bank has hired 230 AI experts, doubling the headcount of these ‘factories’ to more than 400 professionals.

Garanti BBVA, alongside the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Türkiye (KAGİDER) and Ekonomist, a leading business magazine, is organizing the 18th Women Entrepreneur Competition in Türkiye. Candidates hoping to inspire other women with their success stories have until November 15, 2024 to submit their entries by filling out the form available at www.garantibbvakadingirisimci.com.

Deep learning is a subset of IA within the broader concept of machine learning, so both concepts have a good deal in common, though also differences. Deep learning uses neural networks to draw complex conclusions in a human-like manner. Meanwhile, machine learning is able to make predictions from patterns, although it requires a higher level of human input.

Mahmut Akten, currently the Head of Corporate, Investment Banking and Global Markets at Garanti BBVA, will become CEO of the bank and Country Manager of BBVA in Turkey, replacing Recep Baştuğ, who is stepping down following an extensive career of more than three decades with the organization. The appointment will be effective following the completion of the regulatory approvals.

David Puente has been heading up Client Solutions at BBVA for five years. It is an area which, in his words, “drives growth and innovation” at BBVA. He is tasked with developing the value proposition for private and corporate clients, as well as non-clients. His remit includes overall product design, customer experience, relationship and distribution model, as well as building new capabilities and exploring new business opportunities.

Neural networks, natural language processing, machine learning... AI is an essential partner for BBVA to help its customers manage their savings, manage their investments, analyze their consumption and plan for their next outgoings.

BBVA channelled €26 billion in sustainable business in the second quarter of 2024, a new quarterly record for the Group. Furthermore, the total amount mobilized in the first half of 2024 reached €46 billion, 37 percent more than the same period of 2023.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç discussed the transaction with Banco Sabadell during the earnings presentation for the first half of the year. Genç stressed that this combination creates value for both Sabadell and BBVA shareholders. “We both win in this transaction: we create value and we share it,” he said. Specifically, thanks to the substantial synergies created, Banco Sabadell shareholders would obtain 27 percent higher earnings per share (EPS) in the combined bank than if the bank continued as a separate entity¹, according to calculations based on analyst consensus for both banks.

Türkiye Garanti Bankası A.Ş. has released its financial statements for the period ending June 30, 2024. According to its consolidated statements, the bank’s net income in the first six months of the year came to TRY 44.59 billion. Total assets stood at TRY 2.6 trillion, while the bank’s contribution to the economy through cash and non-cash loans amounted to TRY 1.98 trillion.

In order to take the service and customer experience to the next level, BBVA creates two specialized global areas for each customer segment: Commercial Client Solutions, which will be led by Jaime Sáenz de Tejada; and Retail Client Solutions, with David Puente at the helm. Additionally, the bank is creating a global unit at the highest level of the organization, Digital Banks, which will be headed by Murat Kalkan. All of these units will report directly to Onur Genç, CEO of BBVA. The bank also announces other changes at the first executive level of the Group.

Machine learning has no end of business applications. Consumers and citizens stand to benefit from this technology, which lets them manage their financial health, streamlines their digital processes, or makes their online experience smoother across multiple platforms, among other uses. A basic premise has emerged from this boom: there is nothing mysterious or magical about artificial intelligence (AI), and nor should it seem so. For more complex algorithms, data scientists develop tools to help us understand how they make their decisions.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly mainstreamed in society and used to make decisions that affect people´s lives in areas such as  their workplace or  the justice system. This presents the challenge of biased algorithms, which are mainly caused by biases or distortions in the training data. Proposals are already in place that caution against bias and seek to mitigate its harmful impact on society.

Opening imagen created with Midjourney (AI)

The financial magazine honored BBVA for the fourth time and second consecutive year with the top corporate banking award in its 'World's Best Bank Awards' for 2024, which set the standard for excellence in the financial sector.

Storing electricity to use up to eight days later - electricity that comes from renewable sources. This is the milestone being marked by Malta, the U.S. company dedicated to clean technologies. Its Managing Director in Spain, Michael Geyer, sees the Iberian Peninsula as a strategic region to deploy these new technologies, or ‘cleantech’. “The Iberian Peninsula is in a privileged position to host innovative solutions for energy storage based on cleantech,” he explained in an interview with bbva.com.

BBVA has taken a firm step toward the future by expanding its Data University program, which now features new courses on generative artificial intelligence (generative AI). As part of the agreement signed with OpenAI, the bank is calling on its employees, from data scientists to any other member of the team, to apply the latest advances in AI, machine learning and advanced analytics in developing innovative financial products. BBVA’s Data University has already impacted more than 50,000 employees in 6 years, of whom nearly 5,000 have completed specialized courses. BBVA is also looking to strengthen its educational ecosystem through partnerships with prestigious institutions such as the University of Navarra, Telefónica and Coursera.

BBVA has earned a rating of EE (“strong compliance”), making it the highest-rated bank in Spain and tied for second place worldwide with other entities, according to the latest update of the Standard Ethics Rating (SER). This assessment covers the ESG scores of Europe's 40 largest banks by market capitalization.

Clean technologies, also known as 'cleantech', are technologies that contribute to sustainability and care for the environment. This includes emissions reduction, biodiversity protection and water treatment.

The Iberian Peninsula is on the cutting edge of Europe’s cleantech revolution. It is believed that the industry will create some 2.65 million new jobs and mobilize €150 billion in investment across the region by 2030. These impressive figures are revealed in a new report headed up by BBVA and Cleantech for Iberia, a coalition set up to drive the potential of Spain and Portugal as a clean energy hub in the European Union.

BBVA has chosen Telefónica Tech to boost the cybersecurity of its operations on a global scale with the incorporation of the most advanced technologies in artificial intelligence and process automation for the prevention of cyber threats. In addition, this alliance involves the creation of a new specialised centre in Mexico, which will function as a mirror of BBVA's existing Global Cybersecurity Centre in Spain. The combination of the two will provide comprehensive and uninterrupted coverage for the entire Group.

Online courses promoted by universities, business school training and even materials offered by technology giants are some of the ways to learn to master artificial intelligence. Beyond programming, AI professionals can receive training in other areas, such as computational linguistics and ethics. Thanks to this trend, Europe currently has over 120,000 professionals who are highly qualified to work in AI.

The British publication also recognized BBVA as the best bank in Mexico—one of the Group's main markets— the best bank in Colombia, and the best bank for corporate clients in Spain.

BBVA AI Factory, BBVA's artificial intelligence hub, has been honored for the third time by Global Finance magazine as one of the leading innovation labs in the financial world. BBVA is the only Spanish bank featured in this ranking, which highlights "excellence" in creating solutions that address current challenges in the financial sector.