BBVA reorganizes its global Client Solutions area by segments: Commercial and Retail

“With this reorganization centered on different segments of clients, we are taking a great step to offer them an unparalleled experience,” said Onur Genç. “With the creation of the Digital Banks area, we will be able to share the best knowledge from our various initiatives and help accelerate the group's growth.”

The current area of Client Solutions is divided into two new global areas: Commercial Client Solutions and Retail Client Solutions, which will be responsible for transforming BBVA’s service and value proposition for these two segments of clients.

The Commercial area will be led by Jaime Sáenz de Tejada, current head of Global Risk Management, and will be responsible for business development for companies throughout the Group. It will bring together specialized teams for these clients that until now were part of Client Solutions as well as the BBVA Spark unit. In the geographies, the Client Solutions units and the networks devoted to Commercial Banking will be integrated under a head of Commercial Banking, who will be part of the top management level of the local organization.

The Retail area will have at the helm David Puente, currently head of Client Solutions. This unit will lead business development for retail clients throughout the Group and integrate all teams devoted to this segment in the current Client Solutions. In the geographies, the Client Solutions units and the networks devoted to retail clients will be integrated under a head of Retail Banking, who will be at the top level of the local organization.

The Commercial and Retail units in different geographies will be responsible for the business end to end, including customer experience and financial results in their segments, as well as the local implementation of global initiatives. These units will report to the global heads of Commercial Client Solutions and Retail Client Solutions, respectively, as well as to their corresponding country manager. The latter will continue to be responsible for the management of the balance sheet and the P&L in each of the franchises. Local organizational structures and the heads for Commercial and Retail Banking will be defined in the coming weeks.

Furthermore, Murat Kalkan, currently director of BBVA Global Wealth Advisors, will take on the new Digital Banks area, which will manage BBVA’s 100% digital banks (such as Italy or the planned launch in Germany in 2025) and the Group’s stakes in various neobanks, such as Atom in the UK and Neon in Brazil. This unit will maximize synergies and learnings between the different digital initiatives.

Additionally, BBVA announces the following changes at the top executive level:

• Global Risk Management: José Luis Elechiguerra, currently head of Engineering, will replace Jaime Sáenz de Tejada as head of Global Risk Management.
• Engineering: Carlos Casas, currently head of Talent & Culture, will take on the Engineering area of BBVA, replacing José Luis Elechiguerra.
• Talent & Culture: Paul G. Tobin, currently head of the Communications area, will replace Carlos Casas in the Talent & Culture area.
• Communications: Paula Puyoles, current director of Corporate Communication, will be at the helm of the area, replacing Paul G. Tobin.

Following these new appointments, which are subject to the corresponding regulatory procedures, the new organization chart will be as follows:

Bios

Jaime Sáenz de Tejada has been BBVA's Head of Global Risk Management since July 2021. He has spent most of his professional career with the BBVA Group. Among other responsibilities, he has been CFO of the Group, responsible for the business area of Spain & Portugal, CEO of BBVA Banco Continental in Peru and Director of Corporate and Investment Banking in the Americas.

David Puente joined the BBVA Group in 2004, where he has held various positions of responsibility, including: Director of New Business Models, Director of Retail Banking Planning and Development in Spain and Portugal, Chief of Staff to the CEO, Director of Business Development and Transformation in Spain & Portugal, Global Head of Data and, from April 2019 to the present, Global Head of Client Solutions.

Murat Kalkan started his career at McKinsey in its Istanbul Office and continued his career later on at its New York Office, where he has been one of the core leaders in McKinsey's Leap (Digital Business Building) practice in the banking sector. In 2019, he joined BBVA USA as the Head of Mortgage Banking. After the sale of BBVA USA to PNC in 2021, Kalkan has been the Head of New Digital Initiatives, and most recently CEO of BBVA Group's Wealth Management service based in Miami.

José Luis Elechiguerra began his professional career at Procter & Gamble and, after a few years at McKinsey, joined the BBVA Group in 2008 as Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning for BBVA's Mortgage Business in Mexico. After holding other positions of responsibility in the subsidiary in Mexico, in 2015 he became Global Director of Organization and Business Process Engineering at BBVA, later Global Director of Data Governance and Head of Client Solutions at BBVA USA until his appointment in 2020 as Global Head of Engineering.

Carlos Casas. After starting his career at British Telecom (BT) in London, Carlos developed a career as a strategic consultant at McKinsey. He joined BBVA in 2010, where he led the process reengineering unit within the Innovation and Technology area (now Engineering) for several years. Subsequently, and after holding various positions of responsibility in the fields of Talent and Culture, Carlos was appointed Global Head of the area in December 2018.

Paul G. Tobin. He began his professional career at Bloomberg in 1997, where he became Chief Correspondent for Spain and Portugal. In 2011 he joined the BBVA Group as Director of Corporate Communications and in 2015 he was appointed Global Head of Communications.

Paula Puyoles. She began her professional career at PwC and in 2003 she joined the Internal Audit area of the BBVA Group. Subsequently, she held various positions of responsibility in the areas of Strategy & M&A and Investor Relations, until her appointment as Director of Corporate Communications in 2018.