BBVA receives Euromoney's global award for Best Bank Transformation

MADRID, July 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BBVA's digital project to lead the financial industry in the 21st century was the best transformation over the past 12 months by a financial institution at a global level, according to British magazine Euromoney. The jury singled out BBVA in this new global category of the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2014 for the achievements of its senior management in transforming the business, following a comprehensive strategic review of the bank in order to tackle the new challenges facing the industry. 

"Banks are fully aware of the challenge faced by the new digital era. But few, if any, have put being a digital bank at the heart of everything they do. The winner of this award is the exception. We think BBVA is well placed to become the world's leading digital bank," Euromoney said.

This year BBVA has taken a decisive step in its transformation toward a digital business model adapted to the new customer demands. The new environment is marked by an increasing use of mobile devices for internet access and by the disruption caused by new entrants. In March BBVA announced the creation of Digital Banking, a new area whose prime goals are to accelerate the Group's transformation and boost development of new digital businesses.

The new unit is responsible for commercial offerings, the multi-channel strategy, the distribution model and the design of the Group's commercial and operational processes. It also combines in-house developments such as BBVA Wallet and Wizzo, with the bank's startup investments involving BBVA Ventures and the acquisition of innovative companies like Simple.

The creation of Digital Banking marks the start of the second phase of BBVA's transformation. It follows the first phase, which was centered on the development of a new technology platform. Such platforms are essential to provide the new services customers demand, to enable the bank to compete with new entrants in the financial sector and to handle with the exponential growth in transactions triggered by the expansion of digital banking. In 2006 BBVA processed 90 million transactions a day. Today this has grown to 250 million a day and the figure is estimated to reach 1.2-1.4 billion a day in 2020. 

BBVA Chairman Francisco Gonzalez believes that banks have a crucial competitive edge: a huge volume of information about their customers. The challenge is to convert this information into actionable knowledge, using it to offer customers what they want, in a responsible manner. "BBVA is reinventing itself; converting an efficient and profitable analog bank into a digital house based on knowledge. As it travels this road BBVA is leading the way for 21st-century banking at a global level."

Regional awards

Euromoney also chose BBVA as Best Bank in Latin America for the fourth time in the last six years. For the eighth consecutive year it selected BBVA as Best Bank in Venezuela and, for the second year in a row, as Best Bank in Peru.

In investment banking BBVA retained its title as Best Debt House in Spain. Furthermore it won Best M&A House in Spain, where BBVA is the leader among the members of Spain's IBEX35 index. Lastly, BBVA Bancomer was Best Investment Bank in Mexico. The award recognizes the work done by the leading bank in that market, where it excels in all investment banking activities, such as Equity Capital Markets, Debt Capital Markets, M&A, Project Finance, Global Market and Cash Management.

Every year the Euromoney Awards for Excellence conducts an exhaustive selection of those banks that stand apart from their competitors, worldwide and in each market. The jury combines quantitative data with informed and important subjective judgments to determine which banks offer the highest levels of service, innovation and expertise to their customers.

About BBVA 

BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a solid position in Spain, it is the largest financial institution in Mexico and it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best practices. The Group is present in the main sustainability indexes.

SOURCE BBVA