The recent report, The Business of Financial Inclusion: Insights from Banks in Emerging Markets represents a new endeavor for the Institute of International Finance (IIF). It is based on the insights of 24 executives in charge of financial inclusion, a topic of growing interest.

We tend to plan our trips based on the destination, budget or what we’re going to do during our vacation.

There is a sea of acronyms to measure profitability. Some are more widely known in the industry, such as ROE, ROTE or ROA. However, the more r’s they have, the more complicated things get (RORWA, RAROC, RORAC, RARORAC). But, which ratio is the most reliable to measure a bank’s profitability?  Let’s go over each one of them to understand their meaning and apply the most appropriate one in each case.

He has worked at BBVA for 17 years and has spent a decade abroad, living out of a suitcase. Even though he has participated in numerous projects in various regions, and even continents, he says his job is to “be transparent.”

After a turbulent end of 2015 for Latin American emerging markets, fuelled by the collapse of commodity prices, the first half of 2016 has been quite different. Since January, investment funds operating in Latin America have reported solid profitability ratios, in many cases above 10%.

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.

Wind has garnered a reputation for being not only an environmentally-friendly, but also a wallet-friendly alternative to produce electricity at a utility-scale level. This is in sharp contrast to the U.S. debut of large wind farms in 1980, which were primarily in response to environmental concerns and emissions reductions standards. Moreover, estimates on the cost of producing electricity with wind energy have been trending downward, making wind energy competitive with conventional energy sources, even after taking into account both government incentives and the historically low prices of natural gas and  coal.

• BBVA customers planning to buy or rent a home now have a completely free digital tool that will help them with the decision to buy a home.
• BBVA is offering its customers the possibility of knowing about how much they can afford to pay, and informing them of financing options to purchase a home.
• By entering the name of the city or address of the property in the search tool, the app opens a report on the area or neighborhood where it is located, the number of properties for sale and the average estimated price of the home.
• This represents a step forward in BBVA’s strategy to support customers with their most important concerns, helping them make an informed decision regarding financing options for the home.

BBVA has launched a new solution for all of its customers on the BBVA website free of charge. The digital tool provided by Madiva Soluciones, S.L. gives customers who are considering purchasing a home access to information on the area where it is located, as well as the estimated price and size of the home, in addition to other data. Furthermore, with the information provided in the tool, BBVA offers its customers the option of seeing approximately how much they could afford to pay and provides information on financing options to purchase the home, as well as suggestions to take into account before finalizing the purchase. With this new service, BBVA is expanding the solutions it offers to support and assist customers with their transactions, and in the decision making process regarding options to finance their home.

Productivity means doing things better, doing more with the same resources, combining them more efficiently to produce better results. And greater productivity – as well as more investment and jobs - is exactly what we need in Chile to return to the growth rates that improved millions of people’s quality of life over the past 25 years.

After a period of steady decline, the prices of copper -Chile's main export product- now stand at levels close the average cost of production of the mining companies that operate in the country. This has prompted a drop, not only in the industry’s investment and employment rates, but also in Chile’s economic activity level as a whole.