Now that the fourth consecutive presidential election in Peru (a milestone in the country's republican history) has finished, the message to the world is one of democracy and political and macroeconomic stability. From this foundation of respect for the rule of law, Peru becomes an obvious investment opportunity for national and international private sectors. In addition, it makes it possible to strengthen the role of institutions such as BBVA Continental – from its robust position in the financial system it helps Peru's sustainable development.

"Improving productivity is the biggest challenge that companies face today”, said BBVA Executive Chairman Francisco González at BBVA Bancomer’s National Directors Meeting today. During the event, which took place in Mexico City, Francisco González said that increasing productivity is “a process that is neither smooth nor homogeneous, but one that is essential for every company, and also for the banking sector."

European regulators want to create a fertile framework for the growth of the fintech sector. The rise in financing requires regulation and there are three routes to choose from: active, passive and restrictive approach. Specifically, the European Union, especially the UK, has opted for a proactive approach in order to promote growth, as highlighted in this report Business Insider "The fintech regulation report".

BBVA Executive Chairman Francisco González, CEO Carlos Torres Vila and other Group executives reviewed the Bank’s strategy in an event followed live by close to 40,000 employees across the different countries in which BBVA operates. The BBVA members that took the stage spoke from four different countries at the event, titled ‘Live @BBVA: Our Strategy,” while the audience was able to interact and discuss a number of topics through an app.

The typical job for recent graduates as they land for the first time in a top investment bank usually includes 90 hour long weeks working with spreadsheets and presentations. However, many junior bankers see Wall Street and its exhausting work rate as a necessary step to a more gratifying and less stressful position. Young professionals feel increasingly attracted by other sectors, such as technology or private equity firms and banks, and banks are being required to double their efforts to retain talent.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, also referred to as alternative lending, came into being a decade ago in order to make traditional financial industry services more available to the ordinary citizen.

Since then, the sector has entered a phase of permanent transformation, and the initial idea to “steal” lending business from banks has given way to another concept: partnerships. The sector has now partnered with banks to reach persons with few possibilities to obtain loans due to lack of a credit history or other limitations.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and BBVA today announced they will expand their partnership to collaborate in various fields related to banking in Latin America.

Slow recovery of commodity prices and weak economic activity have affected tax revenue. This has lead to adjustments in government spending in many Latin American economies. Therefore, despite some recovery in commodity prices over recent months, BBVA Research has lowered its growth outlook for the region to an expected contraction of -1.1% in 2016. In its Latin America Economic Outlook report on the second quarter, BBVA Research affirms that it does expect to see 1.7% growth in 2017.

BBVA Executive Director recognized the value of the progress made toward European integration at the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) Spring Meeting, hosted in Madrid.  “The banking union is a great leap forward, but we need to move forward furthering European integration,” said José Manuel González-Páramo in a panel focusing on the future of Europe.

In his address during the Institute of International Finance’s Spring Meeting in Madrid, BBVA Executive Chairman Francisco González stressed that opening the technological platforms to collaboration with startups and a progressive cloud migration will be critical to the future of the banking sector.