Spanish bank CEO Carlos Torres Vila of BBVA spoke at the IESE 12th Banking Industry Meeting yesterday and explained how banks will need to adapt to stay competitive; BBVA has acquired cloud computing, invested in digital banks, built out artificial intelligence and improved their mobile banking experience in recent years; these changes are meant to address customer needs and position the bank for the future; he also believes banks need to adapt management structures to be more modular, which will also bring more innovative talent and facilitate better communication. Source
Spanish bank BBVA has reported $90 million in goodwill impairment charges related to its acquisition of digital bank Simple; the acquisition has caused many analysts to question the valuation metrics for digital banks; BBVA acquired Simple in 2014 for $117 million which was $1,100 per customer; a similar digital bank sale of BankMobile is currently being priced at approximately $50 per customer; despite the impairment charges for BBVA, the bank has reported success from its acquisition with continued investment in Simple helping to increase its workforce to 350 employees. Source
The MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) has provided a research briefing on digital banking with Spanish bank BBVA as the focus of the study; the study, "Is Your Company a Digital Leader or Laggard" examines the success of BBVA's digital banking model, and reports on factors that are differentiating leaders and laggards in the digital banking business. Source
Continuing with its fintech acquisition strategy, BBVA has acquired Openpay; Openpay is a Mexican B2B payments platform with more than one million transactions per month; with the new support, Openpay will seek to triple its transaction volume. Source
During a panel discussion at LendIt Europe in London representatives from leading incumbent lenders Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), ING, BBVA, HSBC, and Barclays discussed the challenges faces in the new digital world; topics discussed include cultural transformation, more power in the customers hands and trying to stay on top of the latest tech trends. Source.
Spanish bank BBVA has acquired Openpay; fintech startup Openpay is a payment service provider that will help to facilitate real-time payments and transfers for BBVA; according to Openpay Co-Founder Roberto Bargagli: "This acquisition shows BBVA's commitment to digital transformation and it is an example of how fintech firms and banks are going to revolutionize the global ecosystem together. We will work with tremendous enthusiasm to take advantage of this huge potential." Source
Atom Bank has raised $102 million in new capital from Spanish bank BBVA who also led a previous funding round in 2015; the company plans to use the funding for business and product development including lending services; the digital bank's current products include: Fixed Saver accounts, mortgages, and secured loans for small and medium-sized businesses; the company is also reportedly working on another funding round and is currently valued at approximately $320 million. Source
Through the partnership BBVA Compass Insurance Agency will offer a new online insurance portal powered by Covr; BBVA Compass Insurance Agency is an affiliate of banking provider BBVA Compass which is supported by the Spanish bank BBVA; the new insurance offering will provide customers with a range of options and quote comparisons for life, disability, home, auto and pet insurance with access through desktop and mobile connections. Source
BBVA launched the "fintech games" in the search for the most innovative startups; the finalists for the Open Talent FinTech For Companies Challenge include Bitbond, Cardlife, RedCapital, B2Bpay, Akoni, PayBlocks, Asteria, Invoice Capture and MyFinB Holdings; the companies hail from countries all over the world and the competition closed on July 17; according to BBVA, "After eight years of focusing purely on seeking out the fintech firms that are transforming the Financial world, this year at BBVA Open Talent we are broadening the competition as we continue searching for talent and collaboration." Source
Lend Academy interviews the CEO of BBVA’s new SME online lending initiative called Trustu; Vinacua discusses their innovation centers, how they interact with startups, why they decided to launch a platform, the social underwriting component of the underwriting and more. Source