Corporate finance

Luisa Gómez Bravo has been CFO of the Group since September 2023. She recognizes that the first few months in her new role have been very intense. After all, the Finance unit is responsible for the Group’s financial planning and monitoring, for capital, for managing liquidity and structural balance sheet risks, for relations with the Group’s investors and shareholders, and many other functions. After a historic 2023 in financial terms, Gómez Bravo predicts that 2024 will be another great year for BBVA. This will be possible, she maintains, thanks to the Group’s structural strengths:  leading franchises in high growth markets and a strategic focus based on the opportunities provided by innovation, digitization and sustainability. And these focal points have been the main drivers of the bank’s growth. “BBVA’s ability to combine profitability and growth is unique in the European banking sector and it sets us apart from our competitors,” she stressed.

The funding will be used to acquire the Tehachapi integrated cement plant in California (U.S.) through its U.S. subsidiary Skanon Investments Inc. BBVA was the sole lead arranger and global coordinator in the operation, along with five other financial institutions.

BBVA Mexico announced the placement of its first sustainable bond for 10 billion pesos (approximately €470 million). It is the first sustainable bond issued by a privately-owned bank in Mexico, using the TIIE  (Interbank Equilibrium Interest Rate) as a benchmark rate.

Remote commerce has grown exponentially in recent years, a trend that has been driven by the pandemic. During lockdowns, ecommerce skyrocketed and payments via apps and cell phones grew at a dizzying rate. On top of this, new technologies were already favoring the emergence of new, more convenient payment methods and boosting e-commerce.

BBVA has arranged a sustainability linked revolving credit facility with PageGroup, the first sustainable financing for the global recruitment leader. The transaction consisted of amending an existing £30m revolving credit facility to incorporate new Risk Free Rate clauses, extend its tenor and link its pricing to two core sustainability KPIs.

BBVA has developed Global Commercial Cards, a solution which allows companies to have greater control of employees’ use of commercial cards simplifying the processes of expense submission and approval.

BBVA Mexico reports that it successfully concluded the issuing of $500 million of unsecured senior notes in international markets, with a five year maturity and an interest rate of 1.875 percent.

Garanti BBVA Leasing and Smart Energy, one Turkey’s largest solar power project developers, sign a strategic alliance to offer financing to investors interested in this sector.

BBVA USA has appointed Luis Ramirez to Corporate Banking Manager in the Denver area, adding to a growing operation in the bank’s Colorado commercial team.

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.

Doğan Holding's subsidiary Suzuki Motor Vehicles Marketing Inc. became the first Turkish company to use Garanti BBVA's Global Payments product featuring SWIFT FileAct.

BBVA Compass has named banking industry veteran James Ligman as its Orange County City President, bolstering the bank’s California presence by promoting from within.

Going public is an option that many businesses start considering after reaching a certain stage in their development, whether to access funding from capital markets and drive their growth strategy, or to offer the opportunity to its private shareholders to obtain liquidity, crystalize the value of their shares and diversify their asset portfolio. But, what factors determine the success of an IPO?

There are virtually no BBVA Compass branches in the Los Angeles area. When Stephen Flynn accepted his position as the bank’s Los Angeles Market President in December, the client list was significantly smaller than it is today.

Merger and Acquisition activity (M&A) has taken on significant relevance in the current economic and financial climate in Spain. In other markets, like in the United States, where there are numerous financial entities that give their customers guidance on such matters, the role of the financial advisor already forms part of the business ecosystem.

The two companies have just used the blockchain technology to renew a credit line worth €325 million, the first initiative of this collaboration.

A private company goes public when it lists its stock for the very first time in a stock exchange, where it can be bought and sold by the general public. This type of transaction is known as an Initial Public Offering, or IPO.

The headlines about the U.S. dollar this year have underscored how complicated it is to predict the movement of any one currency in a global economy. They’ve gone from grim (“Dollar set for worst January in 30 years”) to triumphant (“Dollar claws back”) to deflated (“Dollar’s rebound fizzles”) in a matter of weeks.

A year ago BBVA launched a project that reflects its commitment to financial education: the Center for Financial Education and Capability, whose goal is to foster knowledge in the area of financial education and inclusion.

BBVA Compass assembled a worldly-wise panel in Houston last week to help its Global Markets clients, all of whom maintain assets outside the U.S., sort through the barrage of global economic news to better understand the risks.

In the month since Harvey hit Houston, BBVA Compass has published a series of articles to help its customers and the public at large understand the city's new reality, how to move forward, and how the bank will be there to provide support.

BBVA has joined a group of 14 banks that have made a commitment to the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) to implement the recommendations on financing and climate change published by the Financial Stability Board in July in the framework of the G20.

Entrepreneurs seeking to launch or expand their enterprise may experience big success for their small business when it’s built with a set of prime financial tools. According to BBVA Compass Director of Small Business Product Solutions Lance Gibson, while needs differ from business to business, there are some financial tools that are essential when it comes to starting or growing a small business.

The future of mobile banking will come down to user experience, personalization and how, in the future, banks will create new sources of value for customers through digital partnerships, according to Forrester Research analyst Aurélie L’Hostis.

A bevy of recent awards and recognitions for BBVA Compass has shined the spotlight on the bank’s Corporate, Commercial and Small Business operations, highlighting the bank’s elite solutions for its wide range of clients.

BBVA Executive Director José Manuel González-Páramo today closed the EduFin Summit in Mexico, which the bank organized. In his opinion, “we are at a key moment in the development of financial education”, due to the socioeconomic changes taking place, the growing complexity of financial products and the digital transformation of banking.

The Corporate Finance business at BBVA started 2017 in as good as shape as it ended last year. In 2016, BBVA closed 18 deals in Spain, 10 in Mexico and six in Latin America. The start of 2017 was very busy, and the Bank "hopes to once again be the bank with the most closed deals in its core markets, especially in Spain and Mexico."

It is the concept in vogue among startups. All of them are trying, with greater or less success, to get money from investors, and a funding round is precisely one of the ways to do this.

Collaborative Competition - ‘coopetition’ for short - is a term that has been floating around the Fintech and financial services scene for a few years now.

When the U.K. voted to leave the EU vote on June 24th, a series of unknowns started to emerge that have Europe in suspense to this day. Among the many questions to be resolved, the referendum has called into question London’s status as the financial center of Europe.