Sectorial analysis

Car sharing and driverless cars are shaking the very foundations of the automobile industry. Will technology make car ownership obsolete?

Big Data Spain brought together more than 1,200 specialists in data analysis and science in Madrid for two days, during which it was made clear how this technology can bring a new dimension to any area: from marketing to user experience to economic and geopolitical analysis.

Moody´s ratings agency has confirmed its stable outlook for the Spanish banking sector. This reflects the agency´s view regarding the evolution of the sector over the next two years. Moody´s believes that GDP growth will allow financial institutions to continue improving their asset quality metrics, although at a slower pace than last year. Likewise, Moody´s expects that the profitability of the banks will be maintained throughout 2017-2018, since lower provisions will compensate for the pressure on margins due to low interest rates.

April 2017 Update. Tensions continued between North Korea and US over the nuclear test programme and the US increased its missile defence system in the area. The Chinese will continue to maintain the statuo quo while the tone of the US escalated but softened thereafter. In the Middle East, the advances of the coalition forces continue and the the ISIS situation deteriorates. The US decided to advance in Raqqa (the ISIS capital) supporting the YPG forces in the combats. Turkey has already protested the decision. Social unrest increased in some Latin American countries, while Asia remained calm. Uncertainties about the future of Europe decreased after Macron’s victory in French elections.

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Recently, the European Commission (EC) presented a White Paper on the Future of Europe. This document comes at a crucial time for the European Union and represents the Commission’s contributions to the Rome Summit On March 25, 2017, the EC explains.

46 years ago, in 1971, a group of business leaders reunited under the patronage of the European Comission and some industrial associations. The economist Klaus Schwab chaired the first meeting, with 440 attendants from more than 30 countries in Davos, Switzerland. In this reunion, the European Economic Forum was founded as a non-profit organization with its headquarters in Geneva.

Ever since then, thousands of political and business leaders, artists and enterpreneurs have met in the anual Davos-Kloster meeting. The following 15 milestones are only some of the main events that have marked the history of the World Economic Forum.

Javier M. Flores, CEO of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, renewed the foundation's commitment with the Sustainable Development Goals Fund until 2019. During the session held at the headquarters of United Nations, the SDG Fund also presented the report “Universality and the SDGs: A Business Perspective”. This publication examines some of the key issues facing companies when incorporating and implementing the SDGs within their core strategy.

The digital ecosystem in Mexico is changing and growing beyond expectations. New players are emerging with whom the banking industry can co-exist. Meanwhile, changes in technology are improving customer experience since the services add value to both personal and business activities.

The auto industry is one of the industries with the greatest growth in the Mexican economy because everything from autoparts production to car assembly and its connection to the international market have performed well.

In previous years, we observed growth in this industry and estimated that vehicle production would increase 1,5% in 2016 compared to the previous year, despite a tough start to the year with 3,1% declines in the first half of the year. This represents an increase of approximately 51.000 units. Next year, production could increase to just over 4 million units, which would mean a 17,4% jump in 2017. This would once again put the industry at the forefront of the Mexican economy.

Mexico is one of the largest recipients of remittances in the world. In 2015 it received nearly $25 billion in remittances, the fourth highest in the world after India ($72 billion), China ($62 billion) and the Philippines ($30 billion).

Over the past three decades, an economic model has gained a foothold in Chile that has proven successful at a number of levels, such as enabling high GDP growth rates (yearly average of 5.3%), helping the country to significantly bridge the income gap with developed countries such as the U.S. and Germany and improving  in the living standards of the population.

GDP expected to grow at about 2% in a scenario marked by lower oil prices and a complex international context for the country’s investments and exports. Growth in 2016 will be driven by expansions in the petrochemical industry, imports and the services and construction sectors.

Falling oil prices are pushing Colombia into a new reality. It is a reality that implies cuts in private and public spending and therefore also in short and medium term growth. This new reality can be seen through two different perspectives: the pessimistic view that relives the glory days of the past with oil prices around $100 per barrel and the optimistic view that shows us the opportunity to strengthen, find and build sources of growth for the near future. As I tend to be more of an optimist, I think that we stand before an opportunity.

Mexico’s energy reform was back in the headlines when President Enrique Peña Nieto’s announced that gas imports will be liberalized starting in April this year. Since the reform was enacted in 2013, Mexico’s energy sector has had to confront the economy progressively moving to reduce its oil dependence, sharp declines in oil prices and 2016 starting off with major budget cuts in the state-run Pemex.

Market analysts have offered a very positive view about BBVA 2015 results released yesterday.Overall, analysts believe it is a good set of results which confirm BBVA’s  resilience. BBVA’s performance was significantly better than expected, in particular Mexico figures.

What happens if a German citizen wants to take out a mortgage from an Italian bank that does not operate in his country? What barriers will he face beyond the language? This is what is intended to be found out by the European Commission, which has presented the much-awaited Green Paper on Retail Financial Services.

BBVA Research maintains its growth forecast for Spain at 3.2% in 2015 and 2.7% in 2016, according to the latest report Spain Economic Outlook presented this Tuesday by Jorge Sicilia, the chief economist of the BBVA Group, and Rafael Doménech, BBVA Research's chief economist for Developed Economies.