Miriam Gidrón

In the presentation of its results to the media, BBVA’s CEO Carlos Torres Vila emphasized the bank’s “strong push to business digitization not only drives sales but is fundamental to cost control.” This “digital push” is driving total revenues while keeping costs down. As a whole, this allows efficiency to continue to improve. In fact, the efficiency ratio stood at 49.2 percent as of June, 82 basis points below the figure for 2017 at constant exchange rates.

“I love food and I am mad about sports." Hearing him talk about his hobbies, Jaime Sáenz de Tejada (Madrid, 1968) comes across as someone who enjoys life. As a kid he was into basketball and track and field. Later, he got interested in paddle tennis and golf. About a year and a half ago he fractured his thigh bone forcing him to focus a bit more on swimming and cycling. He defines himself as a lover of Peruvian cuisine, because it offers “the best fusion of sensitivities from many places, with ingredients of unparalleled quality.” He’s even given cooking chifa (a fusion of Peruvian ingredients and traditions with Cantonese elements) a go, but “being surrounded by so much talent, I would never dare to compete in culinary skills.” Married and with five children – “one of them is on his way to becoming a chef, just like his mom,”- he’s been a part of BBVA for more than 25 years. In 2014 he became the Group’s Chief Financial Officer. He devotes most of his scant free time to “living his children’s education intensely and sharing activities with them.” He’s been lucky to live in New York – at two different periods - , London, Uruguay and Peru.

Emerging economies were amongst the topics addressed at the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) spring meeting, held in Brussels last week. This BBVA-sponsored event convened financial institutions, regulators and public bodies to debate some of the industry’s most pressing issues, including the economic and political outlook, regulation and fintech.

In the future, artificial intelligence will, among many other things, allow to develop helpful customer products for unbanked segments of the population. “Artificial intelligence and financial technologies create opportunities for the democratization of finance,” said Álvaro Martín, Head Economist of Digital Regulation and Trends at BBVA Research, during the meeting of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), held in Brussels. In his opinion, “artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing will boost financial inclusion”.

Imagine a Spanish SME asking for a loan in Germany; an Italian easily transferring money to Portugal or a French person taking on a mortgage in the Netherlands.   All of this forms part of the fledgling European capital markets and banking union. What remains to be done? BBVA is one of the few European banks to address these issues at the joint conference of the European Commission and the European Central bank held today in Frankfurt.

Ten years after the crisis broke, has financial stability improved? In the opinion of  Ricardo Gómez Barredo, Head of Accounting & Supervisors at BBVA, “clearly, we have come a long way,” but adds “regulation will have to continue to adapt itself to the new demands to ensure a level playing field for everyone”.

We are reaching the point when the financial system regulation principally dedicated to correcting the shortcomings of the crisis is reaching its end. The approval of Basel III is “good news” and now is the time to implement reforms and make way for economic growth. This is one of the observations of María Abascal, BBVA's Director of Institutional Relations, in the 'Women in Finance' forum.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is radically transforming the job market. And it’s raising the same doubts that the three previous revolutions did. One of the most broadly debated questions is: what will the job market of the future be like?

This year, the World Economic Forum at Davos is attracting plenty of attention. From the long-awaited speech by U.S. President Donald Trump to the criticisms of American protectionism and support for global cooperation expressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, no leader misses their moment in the spotlight to send messages to the world community.

As of today, EU banks are required to comply with the new relevant regulatory framework on markets and financial institutions, based on the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, (MiFID II), and its corresponding regulation, MiFIR.

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.

Every quarter, BBVA rolls out new products and functionalities, delivering new amazing experiences for its mobile and online customers to enjoy. By year end, the bank expects that about 92% of its current product portfolio will be available on its digital channels in Spain, as well as to be able to continue making progress in its other franchises. BBVA CEO Carlos Torres Vila explained how this effort is having an “impressive impact”, as evidenced by the exponential rate at which digital sales are growing. Digital sales account for about one fourth of the bank’s total, with more than 3.5 million units sold between July and September.

Non-performing assets, monetary policy and digitization are the three most pressing challenges that EU banks are facing, according to José Manuel González-Páramo. BBVA’s Executive Board Director participated in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) that took place in Washington D.C. last week, which he attended together with a large delegation of BBVA executives.

For months, European authorities have been mulling over a crucial issue for the health of the financial sector: reducing the stock of non-performing assets that have been piling up in banks’ balance sheets during the years of financial crisis.  The creation of a bad European bank is one of the alternatives that are being considered to solve the problem.

Ricardo Gómez Barredo was there for the birth of BBVA (through the merger of BBV and Argentaria), a Group he has been associated with for more than two decades.Now he is in charge of functions that are so critical to a bank like liaising with supervisors, working out financial information and reporting.Professionally, he describes himself as very demanding of himself. He thinks that the best part of his professional experience has always been “the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with”.

The agreement reached with Metrovacesa Suelo y Promoción (hereinafter Metrovacesa S.A), in which BBVA holds a stake, represents a significant step forward in the bank’s real estate strategy.  BBVA participated in a non-monetary capital increase, together with the other shareholders, through which the bank will transfer high-potential land holdings intended for housing developments valued at €431 million.

Where will the future seat of the EBA, the European Banking Authority be located? As of today, the only thing clear is that, as a result of the brexit, the institution will have to pass the torch to another EU city. The city chosen to host this European institution, responsible for ensuring the effective and consistent oversight and regulation of the European banking sector, will be announced soon.

As the markets expected, at its June meeting the European Central Bank (ECB) closed the door on further interest-rate cuts and adopted a more neutral stance on risks, although maintaining caution. Despite the fact that the institution has not yet given signs of taking a step to exit the current monetary policy, the ECB Watch report published by BBVA Research suggests that in September it may announce a slowdown in asset purchases starting in 2018.

In 2018, Argentine will preside over the G20, the forum representing the 20 largest economies in the world.  In the lead-up to its presidency, Argentina’s priorities are very much present this week at the Euroamerica Foundation in Buenos Aires.  BBVA Executive Director José Manuel González-Páramo will participate in the meeting.

BBVA’s has issued perpetual debt eventually convertible into shares at the cheapest price of all operations launched by Spanish issuers for this type of product. The issuing of €500 million of contingent convertible bonds, or 'CoCos' (also known as AT1) took place at a very attractive price, with a coupon of 5.875%.

BBVA has a notable presence at the B20 summit being held in Berlin. “Digital finances are making the financial inclusion of SMEs possible,” said BBVA’s Executive Director José Manuel González-Páramo during his presentation on Tuesday. Joining him in the discussion was German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.

Just like in past editions, the 47th World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos drew worldwide attention. Hard brexit, Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, employment, the future of Europe, the transformation of the banking industry and the challenges for 2017 after a somewhat turbulent year, were the themes that dominated the debate.

Last week, the European Commission announced a new package of regulatory measures: An in-depth regulatory overhaul at all levels -  capital, capital adequacy, leverage ratio and loss-absorbing capacity -  aimed at “completing the post-crisis regulatory agenda by making sure that the regulatory framework addresses any outstanding challenges to financial stability, while ensuring that banks can continue to support the real economy.”

The fall of Lehman Brothers made it clear that the size of a bank can be important. Its collapse demonstrated the impact that an institution’s bankruptcy could have on the whole financial system and its repercussions for a country’s entire real economy. As a result, the G20 authorities sought to protect financial stability. Their first step was to identify other systemic banks.

Banks play a critical role as providers of funds to the real economy. In this regard, the active management of the balance sheet has become more and more important, and is now a strategic area for financial institutions. Some of its key goals are guaranteeing liquidity, strengthening solvency and reducing exposure to credit risk.

EU citizens have had a project underway for a banking union since 2012. Since then, we have taken giant leaps toward a borderless European banking system. However, a few relevant issues still need to be addressed.

Javier Malagón, CFO of BBVA Bancomer, the most profitable bank in Mexico and the leader of the country’s financial sector, presented the bank’s strategy and main financial data at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference today.

One of the consequences of the latest financial crisis for banks has been the so-called non-performing loans or NPLs. Loans regarding which the borrower has either already failed to meet his payment obligations or is showing signs of having difficulties meeting them. Some financial systems, such as Spain’s, have already done their homework clearing their balance sheets. However, for other systems credit quality is still a matter that needs to be addressed. A recent case are Italian banks, which still bear a burden of over €300 billion in this type of assets.

BBVA has demonstrated its solid resilience in the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) stress tests of European banks, published today. In the adverse scenario, the bank would attain a fully-loaded CET1 ratio of 8.2% in 2018.

BBVA’s Head of Global Supervisors Relations, Eduardo Avila, took part in a Conference organized by the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA), in a panel that discussed the financial risks generated by the new Basel III Framework and its implications for financial institutions and businesses.

In this interview with The Financial Times published in the Banking Weekly podcast, BBVA Executive Director José Manuel González-Páramo explains the main challenges European banks currently face.

Over the last few years, Europe has lived through a perfect storm. Recession has strained its economic and political institutions to the limit. The situation was enough to keep anyone from being able to sleep: banking crisis, sovereign debt crisis, risk that the euro would disintegrate and risk of deflation. However, Europe has survived this perfect storm "thanks to the role played by the European Central Bank during the crisis and the institutional encouragement of European authorities toward building a genuine banking union," says José Manuel González-Páramo in an article in "Cuardenos de Información Económica" by Funcas under the title The ECB and banking union: working toward a more integrated and resilient Europe.

Today the European Banking Authority (EBA) released the final methodology and macroeconomic scenario for upcoming stress tests of the 53 main European banks, including BBVA.

What can we expect from 2016 in terms of new banking regulations? The report entitled Financial Regulation Outlook from BBVA Research looks at 10 new regulatory developments that will impact the banks.

We are moving closer to the 2016 EU-wide stress testing process, an assessment that seeks to test the resilience of financial institutions under extreme situations. Can banks cope with a new economic crisis? Stress tests provide the answer. Here are the keys to understand what they will be like.

Don’t miss Carlos López-Moctezuma’s interview featured in CNN en Español's GloboEconomia, From CNN's studios in Wall Street (New York), BBVA’s Head of Financial Inclusion and Easy Banking of BBVA explained why there are still over 2 billion people across the world (38% of the total adult population) that still don’t have access to financial services, not even a bank account, and what a bank like BBVA is doing to include them in the system. New mobile payments and online banking technologies are key.