BBVA becomes the first Spanish bank to digitize company guarantees
‘BBVA AvalBox’ is the new BBVA digital tool that allows for the first time in Spain to request, present and consult guarantees online. In doing so, BBVA has simplified a process that up until now could only be carried out in person and on paper.
“BBVA wants to extend the advantages of Digital Transformation to the business world and BBVA AvalBox forms part of this process. It allows clients to perform a task that up until now was time-consuming quickly, easily and simply, thereby making more efficient use of resources”, explains Óscar Vélez de Mendizábal, the head of Transformation for corporate clients at BBVA Spain.
A bank guarantee is a form of collateral whereby a bank (guarantor), undertakes to meet the fulfillment of a customer’s obligation (guaranteed party), before a third party (beneficiary), in the failure of the customer to do so. Normally, guarantees are contractual obligations entered into with the beneficiary and involve covering the payment of a set amount of money, be it of a trade or loan nature.
Until now, this entailed a long process requiring agreeing a model checked by the legal services of the bank, the drawing up of the documentation on the part of administrative departments, a handwritten signature, physical collection of the documentation by the guaranteed party and its delivery to the beneficiary. This involved a drawn-out and in many cases unpredictable process that did not guarantee the authenticity or custody of the documentation.
BBVA estimates that over 10,000 corporate clients can benefit from this new tool
The ‘BBVA AvalBox’ simplifies this whole process. The digital guarantee can be requested, presented and consulted quickly with the maximum security. The Spanish Royal Mint (La Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre) acts as a trusted third party and informs the concerned parties of the issue of the guarantee, is responsible for the custody of the document and offers a verification service. However, the tool also allows the operation to carried out as it currently is on paper. To present a guarantee in this way, all that is required is to request it from BBVA AvalBox and pick it up at a branch office.
The guarantee can also be presented in telematic format at the electronic headquarters of the General Deposit Fund (Public Treasury), with which BBVA has reached an agreement. Likewise, the process can carried out from a website or mobile both by the company as well as the beneficiary whether public or private sector.
BBVA estimates that over 10,000 corporate clients can benefit from this new tool. As Óscar Vélez de Mendizábal says: “Companies can avoid not only having to go from one place to another but also save time and custodial costs and improve the overall handling of the process”.
In order to manage guarantees online, clients need only be registered with BBVA Net cash and the guarantees module to avail themselves of a line of guarantee and have an endorsement line with an available limit.