Training

BBVA has taken a firm step toward the future by expanding its Data University program, which now features new courses on generative artificial intelligence (generative AI). As part of the agreement signed with OpenAI, the bank is calling on its employees, from data scientists to any other member of the team, to apply the latest advances in AI, machine learning and advanced analytics in developing innovative financial products. BBVA’s Data University has already impacted more than 50,000 employees in 6 years, of whom nearly 5,000 have completed specialized courses. BBVA is also looking to strengthen its educational ecosystem through partnerships with prestigious institutions such as the University of Navarra, Telefónica and Coursera.

Once again, BBVA has been busy promoting sustainability training among 418 of its suppliers and SME customers across 13 countries in which it operates. A total of 552 people will soon be taking part in the UN Global Compact Sustainable Suppliers Training Programme, of whom 59% (326) are women.

BBVA has trained 102,000 employees in sustainability between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, in addition to continuing to train new hires, the bank is focusing on the specialization of 15,000 professionals in sustainability, developing training programs adapted to their needs.

BBVA has promoted sustainability training to 252 of its SME suppliers. These are small and medium-sized companies that have contracts with BBVA in the countries where the group is present and will receive this training as part of the United Nations Compact's Sustainable Suppliers training program.

80 percent of BBVA personnel (87,000 employees) in all countries where the bank has a presence have received sustainability training, specifically on climate action and inclusive growth - two pillars of the bank’s sustainability strategy. They have spent an average of 3.5 hours per person in the training.

The bank becomes the first financial institution in the world to share its cybersecurity knowledge with society through Coursera, a learning platform with 97 million registered students. As experts in cybersecurity, BBVA's goal is to train, motivate and empower its customers, and society in general, to acquire secure behaviors to properly manage the risks posed by the digital era.

Carlos Torres Vila attended one of the activities of the Code.org programming course for children of BBVA employees. The BBVA Chair shared a day with 146 boys and girls between 5 and 13 years of age to promote programming training among young people.

The Camp is the new reskilling and upskilling proposal for BBVA employees. Through an innovative training ecosystem, the bank’s workforce will be able to reinforce, update or deepen their knowledge in the skills identified as pivotal to promote the transformation and the future of the bank. All of this using gamification tools, which make it possible to design more familiar and attractive experiences for employees that increase their level of commitment during the learning process.

The Garanti BBVA Partners initiative, which was launched six years ago, continues its activities this year with a series of meetings with renowned experts. Balvinder Singh, who has extensive experience in directing business, social, cultural, media, and technological projects, was this month's guest.

‘Opportunity’ is a new tool that provides employees with the instruments to independently design their training, development and ultimately, their career within the company. Based on advanced analytics, big data and visualization tools, it advises employees on the skills they must acquire to aspire to positions of interest and allows them to create alerts about tailored job opportunities.

This partnership deal will let BBVA employees take an official master’s degree in Big Data, gain recognition as data scientists or achieve an industrial doctorate in data science. In addition, the agreement will enable students at Universidad de Navarra to carry out research alongside BBVA and even join the bank later on.

In its third year, the BBVA global ninja hackathon took place virtually for the first time. Local teams representing the digital talent community from seven of the bank’s operating countries participated in the event. Despite the separation by distance, more than 1,000 BBVA ninjas joined the initiative, helping their teams solve technological challenges created by Amazon Web Services (AWS). At this year’s event, U.S. team SQL Injection emerged as the global winner.

BBVA and Mahou San Miguel, Spain’s leading producer of beer, have begun a collaboration that will roll out the bank’s digital professional development program (‘Ninja’), offering it to the beverage company's employees.

Essential remote working has forced a change to on-site employee training plans. BBVA had already espoused a culture of online learning before the pandemic, offering its staff a comprehensive digital training catalog via the Campus BBVA platform. The platform has been refreshed to adapt to employee needs during the weeks of confinement. Employee response has been positive: traffic to the training portal shot up 96 percent with more than two million sessions during the first month of lockdown. A review of the most consumed topics reveals employees’ growing interest in developing new competencies (data, design, sustainability), which are priority for BBVA and and even more apropos given the new reality that awaits.

BBVA’s ‘Ninja’ initiative is a pioneering program designed to allow any employee to acquire technological knowledge and skills thanks to the use of gamification techniques and training offered by the best tech companies and educational platforms in the market. Following its success in the units more linked to the Group’s technological transformation –where nearly 9,000 employees are currenlty enrolled–, it will expand to new areas of the bank in 2020.

The financial industry has experienced a series of changes that have revolutionized the way banks engage with customers. In this evolving context, the next step is to apply this change to the way banks relate to their employees. Only the companies that manage to put their employees at the heart of their strategy will be able to attract, retain and develop the best talent. Some of our main challenges regarding Talent at BBVA involve empowering employees, diversity, and work-life balance.

Paloma Tejada, Director of Talent and Culture and Communications in BBVA’s Client Solutions, participated in a round table discussion entitled “Is your hiring strategy appropriate? Predict performance and feed company diversity”. The goal was to share the path BBVA is pursuing in terms of attracting and retaining talent. Some of the conclusions from the discussions were that humility is the starting point, training is the foundation of the process and diversity will guarantee success.

Agile methodologies are increasingly sparking interest among those companies that are strongly committed to transformation. Learning about the newest trends and sharing experiences are the focus of meetings BBVA has organized with companies representing a wide array of domains. These organizations, if not already “agilely” structured, aim to be in the near future. Recently, Amadeus, a technology solution provider for the travel industry, visited BBVA’s headquarters to collaborate with the bank's Agile Discipline in order to tackle the challenges of the new model both companies follow.

The Global Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA, Carlos Casas, stressed that in a rapidly changing environment like the one we are facing, where technology and demand patterns transform quickly, “talent management has to focus on training and guiding our employees so they can take advantage of the professional opportunities they are going to find at BBVA.” In this regard, he believes that “banks’ role is to become a key actor in the development and creation of opportunities.”

The interactive game ‘Heroes’ has received the award for the Best Internal Communication Strategy for Change Management and Digital Transformation from Observatorio de Comunicación Interna (OCI), the Spanish association for internal communications. According to the award jury, "The BBVA Microfinance Foundation (MFBBVA) has backed a unique, innovative and educational tool instead of following along with a traditional approach based on emails, documentation, testing, and face-to-face classes."

Thirty years ago this month the internet came online giving consumers the ability to educate themselves on various products and services long before they ever spoke to an expert. For financial services, it signaled a shift in how bankers worked with customers.

Training employees in analytical techniques has become a top priority for companies seeking to make the most out of their data.

Hardly three months ago, Carlos Casas, Global Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA, agreed to the challenge of heading up the department with the bank’s most strategic asset: the people that comprise its workforce. A task he assumes with enthusiasm and commitment, and for which he comes prepared. Since 2015 he has taken on roles related to employee recruitment, training, professional development, and compensation.

BBVA’s new ‘agile coaches’ gathered to celebrate the first ‘Global Agile Coach Space’ (GACS), an event which offered them the chance to share their experiences and insights into how to support the bank’s teams in this global transformation process.

There are unsung heroes who travel miles, undaunted by distance or the obstacles they face on the road to reach their entrepreneurs: entrepreneurs who, whether standing behind a shop counter, sitting behind a sewing machine, or surrounded by their crops, make decisions everyday that impact their lives and the lives of their relatives and neighbors. If these entrepreneurs – more than two million today – are the heart of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, then the more than 4,000 loan officers who accompany them on the road toward prosperity are its soul. There are many types of heroes in the world. Some, like these, were not born heroes. The were made into heroes.

The work of BBVA’s Corporate Learning team has been recognized in LinkedIn’s Talent Awards 2018. Thus, the professional networking service recognizes BBVA’s effort in the field of learning.

BBVA is a leader in digital transformation yet again. On this occasion, The Financial Times, Google and European regulatory authorities have included the bank in the group of digital pioneers in Europe. The presentation of the list took place at an event in Brussels that also analyzed the latest trends and different companies’ success stories. Paloma Tejada, Head of Talent & Culture, Client Solutions at BBVA, participated in one of the panels, explaining BBVA’s experience in the digital transformation. She focused on the cultural change underway at the bank, and the evolution of work methods.

After five years of existence, the Leonardo Grants have become a distinguished hallmark in Spain’s research and cultural communities with more than 300 grants awarded, totaling €10.5 million. For the first time, the BBVA Foundation has brought together many of its grant-winning researchers and cultural creators to announce Red Leonardo, an initiative to provide continuity and follow-up to the projects that were made possible by the BBVA grants. The grant program was created to give a boost to a community that had previously not been adequately addressed. Francisco González, president of the BBVA Foundation stressed the importance of innovation in science and culture as “the most powerful tool for addressing the substantial challenges of our time, on both an individual and community level.”

Salvador Valle is head of user experience at BBVA Next Technologies, where he researches on new interaction models. In this article, he explains some basic concepts to get started in the world of visual thinking, and making the most of these sketching techniques to explain and disseminate ideas.

Mugaritz celebrates its 20th anniversary, welcoming a special guest. For five weeks, Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz hosted the winner of the 50 Best BBVA Scholarship in his kitchen. The Taiwanese native, Jessie Liu, used her time in this gastronomic spot to soak up all she could from the team at Muguritz. Now, she will complete her training at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco for the second part of the scholarship.