International trade

On this portal, import export companies can access the wide range of solutions that BBVA offers them, such as the international commerce sections from the different local BBVA websites around the world, which help them to streamline these operations. Global Trade Finance also gives the companies access to specialized information that supports them in their international transactions, such as customs paperwork or tenders, with updated data from more than 170 countries.

Garanti BBVA Factoring has been chosen as the best export factoring company in the world for the fifth consecutive time with 100 points by Factors Chain International (FCI).

The need to streamline commercial supply chains and their inherent financial flows through digital processes has been a constant over the last 15 years. With the Covid-19 pandemic, that need has become even more relevant.

BBVA's Turkish unit renews its syndicated loan in international markets as part of its international debt program.

BBVA's teams in Asia and Colombia secured this cross-border transaction, which will allow Asian client China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) to build, operate and service line 1 of the Bogota subway. The landmark agreement will contribute to financing the largest infrastructure project in Colombia’s history, and is also the most ambitious cooperation project the country’s ever signed with China. The transaction is the first one certified by BBVA in Asia in compliance with its sustainable transactional banking framework.

Garanti BBVA has collaborated with the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) by sponsoring the fifth ‘Understanding & Doing Business with China’ conference, recently held in Istanbul.

Garanti BBVA and the Export-Import Bank of China have agreed to a $300 million, three-year loan to be used by Turkish companies to finance imports from China. A partner and trusted advisor to its clients engaging in international trade, BBVA’s Turkish unit forges international agreements in order to be able to offer customized financing solutions to this commercial segment. The agreement with China’s Exim Bank demonstrates the strength of Garanti BBVA’s long-lasting relationships with Chinese banks.

Garanti BBVA organized a foreign trade seminar in Istanbul as part of its commitment to making a difference for its clients. At the event, the bank shared its experiences in foreign trade financing, and provided customers updated information about foreign trade regulations, payment methods and the latest developments in the field.

The world has recently taken a turn toward trade protectionism. Given this situation, at a forum in Madrid, BBVA Executive Board Member José Manuel González-Páramo proposed committing to multilateralism through the World Trade Organization. He expects “Europe to play a relevant role” in this movement. These efforts are essential, he maintained, because protectionism threatens global growth.

The negotiations between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada have been a recurring topic in the news recently. BBVA Research has used big data techniques to monitor the media coverage and tone used by the national media outlets in each North American country as the slow-going renegotiation of this agreement has been reported.

As the trade war between China and the U.S. continues to escalate, both sides exchanged salvos in early July with the U.S. imposing 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of imports from China, followed by a similar response from China.

Fears of a trade war between the U.S. and China are escalating by the day. Trump announced extra duties on 10% of Chinese imports and the two world powers have entered into a “tit-for-tat” trade retaliation that has unnerved investors and shaken financial markets. Nevertheless, the likelihood that these skirmishes will turn into a full-blown trade war are still low, as explained in a BBVA Research report.

Europe and the U.S. need to promote global trade and services standards. And to do this, they must keep relying on multilateral agreements, which set out a strategic position with respect to third parties from a commercial, economic and political point of view. "The United States and Europe, united, are much stronger," said José Manuel González-Páramo, Executive Member of the Board, Head of Global Economics, Regulation and Public Affairs at BBVA, in Barcelona on Monday.

The regulation of the digital world is a key issue for Latin America and a necessary condition for achieving relevance in this field on a global level.  So far, Latin American regulators have adopted a “wait-and-see” attitude that aims to avoid slowing down innovation. However, a lack of action on the regulatory front could put the brakes on innovation in industries such as finance.

Economic activity in Latin America has been invigorated in recent months, in line with the recovery of confidence among families and businesses and a more favorable external context. In its Latin America Economic Outlook for first quarter 2018, BBVA Research forecasts that the region’s growth will increase from 1.1% in 2017 to 1.7% in 2018 and 2.5% in 2019.

BBVA, in collaboration with Wave, conducted the first pilot that uses blockchain to automate the electronic submission of documents in an import-export transaction between Europe and Latin America.  Thanks to Wave’s solution, which uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and blockchain, BBVA was able to reduce the time required to send, verify and authorize an international trade transaction, which normally takes from seven to ten days, to just 2.5 hours.

After seven years of negotiations, the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement, CETA, has entered into force provisionally.  Under this bilateral agreement, the most ambitious signed to date by Brussels, most custom duties levied on trade flows between both countries will be scrapped.

The R3 consortium is working with 12 financial institutions –including BBVA– and TradeIX in an initiative that aims to re-design the trade finance infrastructure through the use of distributed ledger technology, or DLT.

BBVA has recently joined the Singapore-based Capital and Credit Risk Manager (CCRM) platform as a full member bank. CCRM is a Digital Market Place providing a secondary market for trade and working capital risks, owned by Tin Hill Capital and supported with a grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Financial Sector Development Fund.

The Pacific Alliance, made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, is a regional economic and comercial powerhouse.  This area grows more than the average in Latin America. BBVA Research expects GDP growth of 1.6% and 2.3% in 2017 and 2018, respectively.  "The Pacific Alliance is a success story in integration.  And not by chance.  It shares an ambition and a set of values behind this policy, on how prosperity should be reached," said Jose Manuel González-Páramo, executive director of BBVA in Santander.

All eyes are already set on Hamburg, where, under Germany’s presidency, the G20 leaders will be meeting today and tomorrow to agree on a program to deliver on the goal set in this year’s slogan: “Shaping the interconnected world.”

We have experienced the deepest global crisis since the Great Depression. Among the things that have changed - perhaps for good - is the way the financial sector now acts at  a global level to manage both credit and reputational risk. This has coincided with what amounts to a genuine explosion in technology, which has undoubtedly only just begun.

BBVA Compass participated in the first annual “World Trade Day Atlanta” in early May, organized by the World Trade Center Atlanta.

In a meeting organized by the Rafael del Pino Foundation to discuss the future of Europe, José Manuel González-Páramo said that the “European Union is more necessary today than ever” to rise up to find a solution to the Old Continent’s most pressing issues. According to BBVA’s Executive Board Director, the EU now faces the challenge, but also the opportunity, to plot its future without the UK, one of its traditional and more important, partners.

On the financial plane, BBVA’s Executive Board Director highlighted the EU’s achievements in its path towards building a banking union. However, he warned about the need to keep moving ahead with the reforms and completing the following stage in the process: the rollout of the EDIS, the European Deposit Insurance Scheme.

South America’s GDP will recover in 2017 after four years of economic slowdown, while Mexico will bear the impact of the uncertainty surrounding US policies, which is likely to hinder its growth prospects. These are the key conclusions of BBVA Research's Latin America Outlook Q1 2017 report.

The day after Thanksgiving, or the last Friday of November, is celebrated nearly all over the world as Black Friday, the day that marks the first day of Christmas shopping. Over the years, with the arrival of new technologies, sales have been extended to Monday, known as Cyber Monday when discounts are offered for online shoppers.

The U.K. unexpectedly voting to leave the EU in the referendum (Brexit) increases uncertainty in the global economy, according to a BBVA Research report published on July 5th. The negative bias could subtract approximately -0.2% from global GDP growth, previously expected to be 3.4% in 2017 until now.

The trade finance or foreign trade activity accompanies people and businesses in their activity importing/exporting goods and services, mitigating the risks that exist in international commercial relations and simplifying the settlement of operations. The same commercial transaction can require different solutions over time, depending on the moment at which it takes place and the role of the parties involved (importer or exporter).

The world is undoubtedly changing. One of the sectors that is changing quickly is foreign trade. Staying up to date isn’t easy, but Jazmín Valdez and Montserrat Aponte [BBVA Paraguay] are determined to do it.

The Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which came into force last January 13, entails fundamental changes in the payment industry and aims to promote competition, innovation and security. A two-year phase began on that date that will culminate in its transposition into national law in 2018, when third-party payment providers (TPP) will be given access to client accounts.