Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

History

2024: BBVA buys Sabadell

On May 1, 2024, Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) announced the purchase of a rival credit institution, Banco de Sabadell. The transaction value is estimated at €12.3 billion. Read more here.

2021

Opportunity for BBVA Switzerland customers to invest in Ethereum

Ethereum Swiss bank On December 13, 2021, it became known that BBVA Switzerland provided its clients with the opportunity to invest in. According to the division, none of them previously the European banks provided such a service with altcoin.

For the first time in Europe, the bank offered customers investments in Ethereum
Photo: cloudfront.net

In the bank application, you can automatically convert Ethereum into euros or US dollars. BBVA Switzerland plans to continue developing the cryptocurrency service as it is in demand with customers.

On June 21, 2021, customers of the Swiss division of BBVA also got the opportunity to buy, sell and store bitcoins.

As of December 2021, the assets of the Spanish bank BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) are estimated at $856 billion. BBVA operates in Turkey, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Switzerland and other countries.^[1]

Dismissal of 10% of employees and closure of 480 bank branches

At the beginning of June 2021, the banking company BBVA announced the dismissal of 3,000 employees and the closure of 480 bank branches in its domestic market in Spain. The restructuring will affect 10% of the bank's employees in Spain and entail the loss of 2,935 jobs.

The Spanish bank initially pushed for a bigger target of 3,798 job cuts and 530 branch closures, but was forced to back down after facing political backlash. About 657 employees who fell under the reduction were instead transferred to other positions for other tasks in the bank.

Spanish finance firm BBVA fires 10% of staff and closes 480 bank branches

The cuts will affect 350 people from the corporate centre, 254 from BBVA Spain's Central Services, 154 from the Spanish company's intermediate structures and 2,177 from BBVA's bank branches.

The restructuring plan is valued at €960m before taxes, of which €720m corresponds to collective layoffs and €240m to branch closures.

BBVA expects the restructuring to generate estimated savings of around €250m a year before taxes starting in 2022, of which around €220m will be related to staff costs. In 2021, the savings will be about 65 million euros before taxes.

According to the Spanish bank, adjustments to headcount and branch numbers are needed "to ensure future competitiveness and sustainability of employment, given the current context of the deep transformation in the sector, marked by huge competition pressures, low interest rates, accelerated adoption of digital channels by customers and the emergence of new digital players."

As of the end of March 2021, the bank had 2,366 branches and about 23,300 branches in Spain.^[2]

2020: Sale of US business to PNC

In mid-November 2020, the Spanish financial corporation BBVA announced the sale of its American business to the PNC Financial Services Group. The deal is estimated at $11.6 billion. It is expected that it will be closed in mid-2021. Read more here.

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