BBVA recognized as Europe's leading technology bank

BBVA has received The Banker's award for Best Technology Bank in Western Europe, along with Best Bank-fintech Partnership for its strategic agreement with OpenAI. These accolades from the Financial Times Group publication are a testament to the progress made in our artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, the launch of our new app, and our digital model for entering new markets such as Germany.

BBVA is undergoing a new transformation aimed at being a leader in financial services in the AI era. The Banker Technology Awards have underscored the significant progress the bank has made in its goal of becoming a more dialogue-oriented, proactive and personalized bank for its customers.

"The award for Best Technology Bank in Western Europe showcases the role of technology as a driver for delivering a more resilient, efficient, and personalized service. At BBVA, we are moving toward a more intelligent, data-driven banking model, integrating innovation and security into every solution in order to support our customers in their daily lives,” explains Carlos Casas, Global Head of Engineering.

The launch of our new mobile app in Spain and Mexico was also cited. It offers ultra-fast payments and integrates innovative features such as a financial coach capable of advising clients on investments, as well as Blue, our new AI-powered assistant. Blue can handle more than 150 operational capabilities using natural language and can even carry out certain transactions, such as sending Bizum payments.

To implement our strategy, we rely on a strategic partnership with OpenAI that is unique within the financial industry and also received an award from The Banker. Together we develop AI solutions by working in integrated teams with shared resources.

“Our agreement with OpenAI represents a fundamental shift in how we innovate at BBVA,” says Antonio Bravo, Global Head of Data. "Through deep co-creation and dedicated joint teams, we stay at the forefront of innovation in a fast-moving environment, accelerating our AI-driven transformation strategy, scaling advanced technologies across the organization, empowering our teams and delivering more intuitive, intelligent customer experiences.”

The widespread use of GenAI at BBVA is especially evident in everyday work:

• Company-wide, there are already 5,696 active GPTs in use
• 10,706 active AI projects are used in everyday work
• On average, 2.06 new AI projects are created per user every week

The use of AI is already showing concrete results:

• In Mexico, the time required to process complaints was reduced by 30%.
• The development time for the new payment platform in the mobile app in Spain and Mexico decreased by 50%.
• Around 70% of employees use AI tools every month, and more than half even use them weekly.
• This allows employees to save on average two to three working hours per week.

The Banker also cited BBVA’s digital model, which the bank is using to expand into new European markets. Following its success in Italy - where BBVA already has 900,000 clients - the bank launched its digital bank in Germany last June. During its first 6 months, BBVA Germany surpassed 100,000 clients and captured around 40% of the deposits managed by the Digital Banks unit.

These new digital banks showcase our technological capacity to enter new markets quickly and efficiently and to scale up.