Digital banking
Right: BBVA’s modernist offices in Madrid.
Previous page: From its headquarters in the coastal city of Valencia, CaixaBank has become the third largest financial institution in Spain.
Indeed, the bank has its own technology subsidiary, CaixaBank Tech, and multidisciplinary teams that transfer innovation to all areas across the organisation. As part of its digitisation process, it is running numerous projects underpinning blockchain technology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, among other projects. “Prototyping the digital euro has been an honour for CaixaBank, considering that we were chosen among 54 institutions that sent expressions of interest, and are the only European bank to participate,” summarises Vicens. “It is recognition of our continuous investment and efforts in the digitalisation and innovation arena.”
“The decision to become a data-driven bank was also key to our transformation. We’ve been developing data-based products since 2012, but the creation of an independent unit – the AI factory – to develop algorithms in collaboration with the business areas was game-changing.”
David Puente
That commitment seems to be a theme for Spanish banks, frequently recognised as leaders in the digital space. CaixaBank has won a host of digital innovation awards, from best website to best app – perhaps unsurprising given it has a $800m investment pot to play with. In the Forrester Digital Experience Review of 2021, Spanish bank BBVA was chosen as providing the best overall digital experience for the fifth year in a row, and altogether boasts 48.6 million customers as of March 2023.
$13.9bn
or ¥100bn The value of
transactions using China’s e-CNY, or digital yuan, the most widely adopted CBDC in the world, surpassed as of October 2022.
People’s Bank of China 78% BBVA 16
The percentage of digital sales of total sales in 2022 for BBVA, compared to 40% in 2017.
Iberian innovation Along with CaixaBank, in fact, BBVA typifies the Spanish attitude to digital innovation. For instance, the bank’s app has been consistently honoured in international rankings, not only for its excellent functionality but also its well-designed user experience and easy-to-use solutions. “All of them use state-of-the-art technology and machine learning to forecast account balances and help customers improve their financial well-being via personalised guidance,” says David Puente, global head of client solutions at BBVA. “A clear example is how we’ve added biometric signatures for all transactions in Spain, both with fingerprint and facial recognition during 2022.” At the same time, BBVA has spent more than a decade changing the way it delivers financial services and updating its technological infrastructure to move more processes to the cloud, as well as incorporating more agile methodologies across processes. “Our first target,” Puente explains, “was to set our
client’s cell phone as remote control in their relation with the bank, leading us to a different relationship with
them based on an omnichannel model, managing our relationship with them individually in a remote way. The decision to become a data-driven bank was also key to our transformation. We’ve been developing data-based products since 2012, but the creation of an independent unit – the AI factory – as a centre of excellence for data scientists to develop algorithms in collaboration with the business areas was game-changing.” In 2017, BBVA launched its so-called Single Digital Agenda (SDA), which changed the way budgets are allocated. The SDA dynamically allocates resources to all the group’s projects every quarter, in a manner that is aligned with BBVA’s current priorities. “We are always in close contact with start-ups and the innovation ecosystem, and we engage in open innovation activities to try to develop pilots with disruptive companies,” Puente adds. This includes investing in funds such as Propel or Sinovation Ventures, which invest in technology companies. That’s shadowed by partnerships with Atom Bank, the UK’s first bank built specifically for smartphone and tablet users, and the German embedded finance platform Solaris. The bank’s latest move is to launch BBVA Spark that, in addition to grouping these investment initiatives, acts as a banking unit specifically for high-growth, innovative companies. Its aim is to adapt the financial services it offers to suit companies at different stages of growth. To put it differently, digital transformation is a way of life for BBVA – as it is at CaixaBank. If nothing else, that’s clear in terms of ‘imagin’, a unique mobile app to target Gen Z users with financial services, as well as offering music, video games and event opportunities from third-party partners. Across the Mediterranean Sea, banks continue to play catch-up with the digital revolution in banking, with only 40% of Italian customers using open banking capability. In Spain, however, there is a strong sense that innovation is vital to the sector’s future prosperity, with CBDCs merely one change among many. ●
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
UniCredit
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