BBVA has joined a new public-private alliance led by the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) aimed at channeling more than €10 billion into European technology companies in their scale-up phase. The initiative, which brings together seven European Union Member States and fourteen institutional investors, aims to mobilize up to €80 billion in total investment to help innovative European companies grow and compete globally.

Antonio Bravo, Global Head of AI Transformation at BBVA, spoke at two events in London organized by Bloomberg and the Financial Times, outlining the key elements of BBVA’s strategy to deploy artificial intelligence across the organization and bring its benefits to customers. After more than a year developing agents, and with AI tools now available across the organization, BBVA is moving toward a new model for scaling the technology safely and with robust governance and controls. “We are already rolling out our first AI solutions, and the pace of launches will accelerate even further next year,” Bravo said.

Garanti BBVA Kripto has reached 500,000 customers, supported by infrastructure built to banking standards, continuous improvements to the user experience, and solutions that simplify the investment process.

BBVA has surpassed one million customers in Italy as it marks five years since entering the country's retail banking market. This milestone confirms the strong reception of its 100% digital banking model, where the key goal is to become the primary bank for Italian customers, as BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila highlighted during his visit to celebrate the anniversary. BBVA is reaffirming its long-term commitment to the Italian market, where it also has a significant Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) business, supporting Italian companies in their growth and international expansion plans.

In the photo: Walter Rizzi, Head of Digital Banking at BBVA Italy; Carlos Torres, Chair of BBVA; Alberto Maroni, Head of BBVA CIB Italy; and Murat Kalkan, Global Head of Digital Banks at BBVA, yesterday during the BBVA Chair’s visit to Italy.

BBVA has become the first European bank to join the Personal Agent Protocol (Poppy) initiative to help develop a common protocol that enables secure interactions between artificial intelligence (AI) agents and businesses. Led by Sierra AI and Meta, the project brings together 35 design partners from the technology, financial services and e-commerce sectors to advance a model of digital services in which AI agents can carry out tasks on behalf of users, with their consent and under their control. BBVA places customers at the heart of its artificial intelligence strategy, with a particular focus on security, privacy and control over the use of this technology.

BBVA is the bank with the most mature artificial intelligence strategy in Spain and the eurozone, according to the international Evident AI Index. The report recognises the bank’s progress in embedding AI across its business to create more personalised and intelligent banking for its customers, while also placing it at the global forefront of developing AI-skilled talent.