BBVA's unit in Turkey, national leader in innovative loan structuring, has agreed a ‘gender loan’ with four tourism businesses within the Limak Grubu consortium. The loan's interest rates are indexed to criteria evaluating equal opportunities across the group's entire workforce.

Olga Gouveia, lead economist for Financial Systems at BBVA Research, wrote an op ed piece for the Spanish daily paper, Expansión, where she gave a positive appraisal of the European Central Bank liquidity auctions. The ECB auctions aim to increase lending in order to address the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

BBVA's executive chairman joined CEO Onur Genç at the bank’s headquarters in Madrid to participate in an employee meeting where they reviewed lessons learned from the crisis and how the bank's strategic priorities have proven their resilience in the face of the recent challenge. Carlos Torres Vila believes that, in the current context, BBVA’s purpose, strategy and values “are more relevant than ever.” Together with Ricardo Forcano, global head of Engineering and Organization, and Carlos Casas, head of Talent & Culture shared further details about the bank’s plans for Spain and Turkey where the pandemic statistics favor a return to the workplace.

BBVA’s Group executive chairman underscored the urgency of reactivating the economy to prevent damage that could be irreversible - something we should do standing “united and with consensus.” At an event organized by the Spanish Federation of Businesses (CEOE), Carlos Torres Vila indicated that “private investment is crucial to a digital, data-based, social and sustainable future.”

The BBVA USA Houston market, in line with its emphasis on employee development, has promoted Estefanía Gallardo from Relationship Support Specialist to Commercial Relationship Associate.

The COVID-19 pandemic's effects on the financial industry and consumers have been well-chronicled in traditional and social media alike. Banking may never be the same moving forward, in many different ways. That could also include an expedited disappearance of cash, a mode of payment that was already on the decline. 

During the coronavirus crisis, digital functionality has been critical for keeping the financial system up-and-running and facilitating quality customer care under extraordinary circumstances, even while the pandemic dictated minimal physical contact. This represents a sign of success for the sector’s digitization efforts and should also serve to make further regulatory progress.  So concluded a virtual meeting dedicated to Europe's future digital finance strategy, ‘Digital Finance Outreach,’ organized by the European Commission in collaboration with Spain’s Treasury Department.

In an interview with the Financial Times, BBVA Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila stressed that: “If we want to avoid a deeper economic impact that may be irreversible, measures should be compatible with controlling infection rates, [keeping] contagion at bay [while] reactivating the economy. The best way to reconstruct is not to destroy.”