BBVA reaches global digital tipping point
BBVA has reached an important milestone in its continued drive towards technologically powered banking, with 50% of its customers now using its digital channels.
The BBVA Group reached in November 2018 26.4 million digital customers interacting with it through mobile devices, PCs and tablets, up from 22.2 million a year earlier. It means the number of people using digital channels as a way to understand their finances and secure new products and services has leapt by around 19 percent y-o-y.
In October 2017 the bank in Spain passed the 50 percent digital tipping point and in fact, across its wider business, six of BBVA’s 10 core countries have also now passed this tipping point, with the USA, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela also over the threshold.
Commenting, BBVA's Global Head of Client Solutions, Derek White, said: “Despite having known this milestone was coming for a while, it is a tremendous validation of our transformation strategy and for our colleagues to have reached it.
“Our focus on digital engagement is led by our customers and clients - it's about putting their financial data into their hands where, when and how they want it.
“So passing this 50% tipping point is a testament to the fact that the power of connected technology is bringing real benefits to those who bank with us, and we will continue to accelerate the amazing products and services will offer in 2019 and beyond.”
For BBVA the news is a clear justification of the Group’s focus on building the best digital banking services on the market. That drive was recognized again earlier this autumn after consultancy firm Forrester named BBVA as having the world's best banking app for the second year in a row.
The report from Forrester stated that the BBVA app had “a superb balance between useful functionality and excellent user experience.” BBVA “customers can complete a wide range of tasks through the app, which also offers a range of next-generation features such as [BBVA] Valora”.
In this analysis, BBVA bank in Turkey, Garanti Bank, ranked second in the Forrester report. The report says the Turkish bank “combines excellent functionality and best-in-class UX [user experience].”