BBVA won the Spanish Company category of the third annual Spanish-Turkish Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry prizes, which recognize achievements in promoting mutual understanding between the two countries. At the event, Jorge Sáenz de Azcúnaga, BBVA’s Director of Country Monitoring, said BBVA’s Turkish subsidiary Garanti Bank is one of the pillars of the group’s transformation.

María José Roa, a researcher at the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA), recently presented the results of her study, “The importance of financial capabilities: an empirical analysis in the Andean region,” which was carried out with the collaboration of CAF (the Development Bank of Latin America).

BBVA Francés is fully immersed in its transformation to digital banking. This year, the bank moved into a modern tower in Buenos Aires, where it is growing as a company, both culturally and in terms of teamwork. Customer experience is setting the pace of change towards a mobile future. For CEO Martín Zarich, the customer experience sets the pace towards a changeable future. In his opinion: "the moment is now, not in five years' time".

Regulators and supervisors are facing an enormous challenge: how to deal with digital innovation in banking. According to BBVA’s Head of Regulation, José Manuel González-Páramo, the three main short-term challenges are establishing a level playing field, creating regulatory sandboxes and guaranteeing cybersecurity.

Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA’s Global Head of Responsible Business, has been chosen to represent European banks on the Global Steering Committee of the UNEP FI Sustainable Finance Forum from 2018-2020. The candidacy led by Ballabriga was the most voted of a total of eight candidates in the running.

BBVA today announced an agreement with a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. (Cerberus) to create a joint venture (JV) for its real estate business in Spain, reducing almost entirely its exposure to non core real estate assets. On the closing of the operation, BBVA will sell an 80% stake in the JV to Cerberus for about €4 billion. The transaction marks a milestone in BBVA Group’s strategy.

BBVA received a binding offer from The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) for its 68.19% stake in BBVA Chile and other related businesses such as the life insurance arm for about $2.2 billion (1.85 billion euros)¹. The offer does not include the automobile financing activity of Grupo Forum, that will continue to be 100% owned by BBVA.

One of the biggest financial stories of 2018 will be the entry into force of the European Union’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). For customers, the measure will mean faster, simpler and more secure digital payments. And for banks and the fintech ecosystem, it presents a great opportunity.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has just published the list of Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) for 2017.  The number of institutions remains the same, but with three significant changes. Systemic banks have a major impact on the economy, but what makes them different from the rest?

Positive market conditions and investor appetite have helped BBVA to get an excellent reception for its sixth issue of CoCos. The Group has issued a $1 billion bond, with the lowest coupon in dollars for an issuer from southern Europe (6.125%), and the longest maturity (perpetual, with a ‘call’ option starting in the tenth year). Registration of a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has prompted a bigger participation from American, European and Asian investors.