BBVA - Press Room

• BBVA's chairman and CEO spoke alongside Bill Clinton, filmmaker George Lucas, Kevin Roberts, David Rubenstein, Paul Krugman and Gary Hamel, among others
• Each speaker offered their own recipe for emerging strengthened from the current turmoil
• "We have focused on transforming our bank while others are still trying to come out of the crisis. We believe we are on the way to becoming a leader in the new financial industry that is taking shape"
•  "In running our business, we have been true to our principles and our commitment to people. Constant innovation will continue to underpin our work"

"Technology will play a key role in the transformation of the banking sector. Any bank that bypasses this transformation process will struggle to survive," said Francisco González, President & CEO of BBVA, referring to the changes the commercial banking model will need to go through in coming years. Mr. González's comments came on the second day of the World Business Forum (WBF) held in New York.

Francisco González is Spain's first executive to participate in the WBF, an annual event in New York gathering the world's key leaders in politics, finance and other fields. The WBF focuses on business leadership and is organized by HSM.

Under the heading of "Leadership and success in difficult times: the case of BBVA," Francisco González, speaking to more than 3,000 attendees, laid out the main challenges facing the commercial banking sector in the near future and explained the business strategy BBVA has been pursuing. It is a strategy that has proved a deciding factor in BBVA's successful negotiation of the global financial crisis and has enabled the bank to position itself in a privileged place from which to face the major technological transformation awaiting the banking sector.

Each year, the leading lights in international finance, politics, and culture gather at the WBF. This year, speakers included former US President Bill Clinton, who discussed global leadership ethics; Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman, sharing his expectations of the global economy's future; and film director and producer George Lucas, with a speech on talent and innovation. Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts spoke about the importance of branding for businesses; Gary Hamel, a recognized expert on management issues, delved into innovation management; while David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, analyzed strategies for restoring confidence in the economy.

Francisco González participated in the International Insights Panel discussion where he joined the leaders of other major international companies, including Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser and Roger Agnelli, CEO & President of Vale, the Brazilian mining company.

BBVA's chairman dedicated much of his talk to an analysis of the challenges facing the commercial banking sector in the coming years, a sector that had not evolved at the same pace as others industries and had failed to embrace new technologies and adjust to ever more demanding consumers, he said.

Leveraging opportunities

According to Francisco González, the three key factors that turned BBVA into a major international bank are a strong customer orientation, investment in technology which enabled it to provide better services to the largest possible number of people, and the leveraging of opportunities that arose.

"We are creating an interface platform with our customers that is both physical and virtual. Via this platform, our customers will be able to access BBVA any time they want and how they want, and choose from a wide range of products and services that will be personalized to meet their needs," he explained. "The technology allows us to get to know our customers at every level and to offer solutions to their needs at any stage of their life. This is the banking model for the digital era," he said, adding, "It will be a new banking model that will allow us to grant mortgages in real time over the phone and which will anticipate customer needs, for example. Because this crisis will not prevent us from satisfying our customers' needs," Francisco González said.

Referring to the current economic environment, the BBVA chairman noted that "many banks abandoned fundamental principles, driving the global financial system to the brink of disaster by basing their strategies on short-term profitability which led to high-risk strategies. Our principles are as profitable as they are appropriate," he added, pointing to BBVA's record as one of a handful of international banks not to require a government bailout, having stayed true to its principles. "We have been able to focus on our core business - commercial banking - without the slightest distraction," he concluded.