The New York startup –involving participation by some 30 banks– is testing blockchain technology in its interbank transactions.

PayPal's membership of the National Entrepreneurs' Institute network has provided them with ongoing insights into what new companies need and allowed them to innovate to meet these requirements. René Salazar of PayPal is one of the 33 Mexican innovators interviewed for the eBook Hablan los protagonistas (The key players speak).

Little is known about the advance in this technology, as with Bitcoin –its strongest virtual currency– which after a few months immersed in scams and irregularities, is now recovering consumer conference.

The virtual currency is making a comeback after a turbulent year. The International Monetary Fund is giving it a vote of confidence and the banking sector is focusing on its development.

Bitcoin and the blockchain protocol have achieved a system that enables the exchange of value between two parties unknown to each other in a swift and effective way, without the need for intermediaries. Despite its immaturity and the many challenges it involves, the financial industry has set its sights on this technology, that can offer a great opportunity for generating new banking services that are more agile, less expensive and more favorable for its customers.

Macarena Peña, Business Development manager of BBVA's New Digital Businesses area, is responsible for seeking the opportunities related to blockchain. Peña explains in this interview how this technology works and the challenges it poses for the banking sector. In her opinion, there are only two things preventing banks from beginning to offer Bitcoin services: regulation and real customer demand.

The classic stories about small ideas born in garages that soon become technology giants have led companies of all sizes to think about the best way to innovate and develop new working methods. A startup is a young company that develops in an ecosystem of uncertainty and therefore needs to be able to make changes in its projects swiftly.

The bank is launching the La Revolución de las Pequeñas Cosas (The Revolution of Small Things) campaign, where it will present some of the innovations that are changing the way in which customers interact with the bank, such as remote signature, activation and deactivation of cards, mobile payments or calls identified through the app. Carlos Torres, BBVA's chief operating officer, said that “these new tools will managers and customers to have a much richer communication. With these small things, customers will have a much better experience based on comfort and convenience.” It is a further step in a different model of banking, where managers provide advice to customers through face-to-face, remote or digital channels, according to their demands, with the aim of generating the best possible customer experience.

Recently, APIs have become heart and soul some of the most ambitious projects and one of the most topical themes among technology experts. Most of these experts agree that APIs will revolutionize the Internet, but for the layman these three letters form yet another one of the many acronyms we stumble upon on a daily basis. Jose Manuel de la Chica, from New Digital Business- Engineering at BBVA, explains the four keys to understand what APIs are all about.

Tablets, mobiles, the cloud….all the technologies we assiduously use today have improved our lives enormously. So much so, that some people are starting to question whether this is affecting our mental abilities, as we now rely on our devices to take care of things that 20 years ago depended exclusively on our brain power.

Mobile banking apps tend to top the rankings on the two largest application store platforms. However, there is always the occasional surprise.