Onur Genç: “Our business is adapting to the current climate better than anticipated with particularly strong results in the second quarter”

BBVA’s CEO reiterated the fact that “We are facing a global crisis with a far-reaching impact.” Against this backdrop, he stressed that the bank's “top priority will continue to be the health of our employees, our customers and society as a whole.” He also mentioned that “COVID-19 has caused a negative impact to economic activity in all the countries within the bank's footprint, and, although this impact has been tempered, it still continues.”

Onur Genç also confirmed that in order to reflect the impact in its accounts, “the bank has made some front-loaded provisions, especially in the first quarter, and to a lesser extent in the second quarter.”

Along the same vein, Genç clarified that “Although our net attributable profit reflects these extraordinary provisions, our core business indicators show a strong positive trend. Our business is adapting to the current climate better than anticipated with particularly strong results in the second quarter.”

He thus took the occasion to underscore the main factors that demonstrate this positive trend:

• First, the strength of our operating income, which, despite the current landscape, increased 17.6 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
• Second, solid cost containment metrics with an outstanding efficiency ratio of 45.8 percent, a significantly better figure than our European peer group.
• Third, a significant improvement in our cost of risk which stands at 151 bps compared to 257 bps last quarter.

“All of this together with BBVA's unique digital capabilities has put us in a strong position to address the crisis,” he said.

And finally, BBVA's CEO maintained that “we, BBVA and all of us, will emerge stronger from this crisis. We will grow from the experience as individuals and as a society. Be positive, stand strong, and stay safe.”