Last week, the BBVA USA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Forgiveness Series detailed  the PPP lender’s responsibilities, which can be found here. The second part of the bank’s PPP forgiveness webinar provided an overview of the borrower’s responsibilities and this article highlights some of the borrower’s responsibilities.

On May 25, 2020, the General Data Protection Regulation celebrated its second year of entry into application. As envisaged in the standard itself, the European Commission performed an assessment on its application and functioning over this period of time, taking into account the feedback provided by associations, companies, consumers and EU institutions. The commission has finally released the corresponding findings, which concludes that, on top of having a very positive impact, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that the Regulation is prepared for the new digital age

When the PPP launched earlier this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty painted the quickly-changing small business landscape. That uncertainty still lingers now that the program’s narrative has shifted to the forgiveness phase.

Speaking at IIF Digital Interchange meeting, BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila said that the lockdown as a result of the pandemic boosted pre-existing trends toward the adoption of new technologies, towards digital. In his opinion, digital inclusion suppports all types of inclusion: educational, social and economic. That is why society needs to make an effort to ensure that no one’s left behind. “I think what stands out is the need for a more sustainable and a more inclusive economy. For this, we need a policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation," he noted.

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.

The wealth management sector is a unique area of the financial industry. Like two merging streams, it can easily blur the lines of consumer and business banking, and mix it into a quickly moving entity that changes at every curve.

The COVID-19 crisis is pushing vulnerable groups – those bearing the economic brunt of the crisis - to the limit. Leora Klapper, lead economist of the World Bank's Development Research Group and member of the Advisory Board of the BBVA Center for Financial Education and Capability, analyzes the key factors to boosting these groups’ economic resilience and promoting their financial inclusion.

BBVA placed on Thursday a $2-billion issue of senior preferred debt filed with the U.S. SEC. The issue consists of two tranches, with a maturity of three and five years: The three-year tranche accounted for $1.2 billion, while the five-year one reached $800 million. Demand topped a maximum of $5 billion, with 210 orders, and the book closed with orders of $4.5 billion: $2.5 billion for the three-year tranche and $2 billion for the five-year tranche. Investors' appetite allowed for the starting price to be set lower. The interest rate has been set at the U.S. Treasury rate plus 75 basis points spread for the three-year tranche (versus a starting spread of 100 bps) and a 100 bps spread for the five-year tranche (vs. a starting spread of 125 bps).