Spanish bank BBVA announced that it is working on its own stablecoin with the support of credit card issuer Visa.

According to Francisco Maroto, head of digital assets and blockchain, the bank is ready to join the stablecoin market, although it is not yet known “if the asset will be backed by deposits, market funds or fiat currencies.”

BBVA is in the testing or sandbox phase, “within a Visa program designed to facilitate the creation of tokenized assets, called Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP).”

The bank plans to move towards the prototype stage to begin live operations in 2025. At the moment, it has not been announced whether the stablecoin will be backed by “bank deposits, money market funds or fiat currencies such as the euro or the US dollar.”

According to Maroto, the goal of BBVA’s stablecoin is to be used in the settlement layer of cryptocurrency exchanges. “We realized that blockchain technology can revolutionize the way we exchange value digitally and, consequently, change the way the financial system works,” the official told Fortune.

Regarding the decision to partner with Visa, he highlighted that they evaluated the company’s prestige and its adherence to European regulations, alluding to the MiCA Law.

Moroto hinted at the possibility of BBVA launching its own euro-based stablecoin, thanks to its extensive presence in Europe, and that it be used in “settlement in markets that offer tokenized assets, with BBVA managing the minting and burning processes to integrate these ecosystems.”

It is important to remember that the Spanish bank already offers custody and marketing services for “bitcoin, ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) in Switzerland for private and institutional banking clients, and is currently seeking to expand into Turkey.”

M.Pino

Source: iProup

(Reference image source: Michael Förtsch in Unsplash)

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La entrada BBVA to join stablecoin market in partnership with Visa apareció primero en Bitfinance.

BME, through Iberclear, BBVA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), completed the first issue in Spain of a bond listed on a regulated market and registered in blockchain technology developed by ioBuilders.

This platform may serve as the basis for future issues both in Spain and in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to BME in a press release.

The four firms (BME, BBVA, IDB and ioBuilders) have been working since last February on this project, which consists of the development of a blockchain platform that allows registration, secondary trading and management of the life cycle of a bond issued on a regulated market.

In the issue, smart contracts were used to carry out the distribution, sale, settlement and corporate events processes, using electronic money tokenized by BBVA for cash management throughout the life of the issue.

The project is part of the LACChain alliance, an IDB initiative to accelerate the use of blockchain technology with an impact on development, and will allow BBVA to export the technology to Latin America. The IDB has been advised by Garrigues.

The banking group chaired by Carlos Torres, in addition to being an electronic money tokenizer, has played other roles such as digital custodian, digital structurer and active bookrunner of the operation. Citi has been the agent entity and the investors of the bond have been Iberdrola and Renta 4.

K. Tovar

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Source: BBVA

La entrada BME launches blockchain-registered bond apareció primero en Bitfinance.

One hundred banks, from around the world, have subscribed to the Swift Go service, which facilitates instant international payments to small businesses and consumers in a predictable, highly secure and competitively priced way from their bank accounts. This was reported by Swift’s Director of Products, Stephen Gilderdale, who stressed that “it has transformed the way in which SMEs and consumers make international payments through the banking system.”

Last July, the Swift Go service was launched on the financial market. That it has seven banks that operate worldwide, among which BBVA stands out, as one of the pioneering financial institutions with the service. PagoFX of the Santander group is also part of the system, and recently joined “Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase and China Minsheng Bank, which represent 41 million low-value cross-border payments”.

Deutsche Bank Global Head of Product, Marc Recker, was pleased to have the Swift Go service, arguing: “We are very pleased to launch Swift Go and offer our customers a personalized service that will radically improve the way they operate. that carry out low value international transactions.”

For his part, the representative of the platform said that the service is leveraged on the high-speed rails of Swift gpi in order to strengthen the capacity of banks to serve their clients of small and medium-sized companies, as well as citizens.

Recker also highlighted the benefits offered by the Swift Ir service by joining the financial channels since it is capable of generating the best experience when sending payments because they are safe, predictable, fast and from the beginning it offers the greatest transparency in commissions. Therefore, he expects the service to continue to strengthen in the world financial market.

M. Rodríguez

Source: bancaynegocios.com

La entrada 100 banks join the Swift Go service apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Google announced new resources for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Spain so that they can promote cybersecurity knowledge, which it will develop in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Institute (Incibe) and through strategic alliances with Cepyme and BBVA.

Incibe data shows that 80 % of cyberattacks that occurred last year were directed against citizens and businesses. The latter face losses that can amount to between 2,000 and 50,000 euros in the case of SMEs, which can even lead to their bankruptcy, as pointed out by Google.

However, and although cybersecurity is now perceived to be more important, today 45 % consider that their level of internal protection is bad or very bad.

In collaboration with Incibe, the technology company launched two free online courses for SMEs: “Protect your business: Cybersecurity at work” and “Improve your company’s online security”, with which it ensures that they have already trained almost 39,000 people around the world.

He also opened a new portal with five basic tips to improve company cybersecurity: how to protect accounts, how to keep software up-to-date, learn how to manage data access, how to carry out backups and how to train employees to ensure that both customer information and company data are safe from cyber threats.

K. Tovar

Source: BBVA

La entrada Google announces resources to boost cybersecurity insights apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The financial entity Bankinter presented the banking results that reflected the return to the pre Covid-19 business and beat market forecasts, even without taking into account the capital gain obtained by the entity from the breakdown of the insurance direct line business, which amounted to 895.7 million euros, with positive impact on its profit in the first six months of the year, at 1,140 million.

Analysts estimate that the rest of the big banks also show signs of recovery. “We expect Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank to show good results, due to better revenue and cost trends in Europe in the case of Santander. While BBVA and CaixaBank could surprise with better provisions and capital. Sabadell’s results are mixed,” explained Barclays specialists in a recently published report.

Despite the uncertainty that still prevails about the setback that the Delta variant of Covid-19 may entail in the health crisis, improvements are expected in the cost of risk, both in the registered and in the future, of the Spanish entities and “resilience” in capital metrics.

Less provisions and better risk value

According to the opinions of the specialists, the objective will be focused on the evolution of the interest margin, which is pressured by the negative interest rate scenario that has prevailed in the euro zone for years and has lasted longer than expected, as well as in provisions intended to cover credit defaults.

Barclays considers that provisions for “loan defaults will fall 24 % compared to a year earlier in the case of Santander, 18 % in BBVA, 59 % in CaixaBank and 44 % in Sabadell.”

This scenario, with a lower provisioning, impacts on the improvement in the cost of risk observed in recent quarters and will also be reflected in the accounts for the first half of the year, if capital levels remain stable.

According to the analysis by Alvarez & Marsal, the cost of risk for Spanish banks increased threefold last year compared to pre-pandemic levels, to 0.84 %, while in the first quarter of 2021 it fell to 0.56 %.

Specialists also expect good results regarding liquidity. “The general trend will be one of maintenance or some improvement, which in many cases will depend on the regulatory impacts pending to be collected, but which in any case should be offset by the organic generation of capital.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: elespañol.com

La entrada Banking sector in Spain recovers the cost of risk and capital apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The headquarters of the financial entity of BBVA of Switzerland launches today its first service for the purchase, sale and custody of crypto assets, starting with Bitcoin. The purpose is to open to other cryptocurrencies, for all its private banking clients interested in investing in digital assets.

According to the information provided by the bank’s SEO, Alfonso Gómez, the Swiss entity selected a group of clients, with whom it carried out the tests of the new service for six months to reinforce security and, above all, detect that there is a great desire investors for crypto assets or digital assets as a way to diversify their portfolios, despite their volatility and high risk.

One of the benefits of the service offered by the credit institution is that the management system is fully integrated into its app, from where you can see the evolution together with that of the rest of the assets, funds or investments of the clients. Becoming a new service since it allows clients to invest and combine traditional and digital financial assets in the same investment portfolio.

With the personalized digital wallet, bitcoins can be automatically converted to euros or another current currency and vice versa, without delays and avoiding the moments of illiquidity that affect other digital wallets or independent brokers. This integration provides a great advantage in terms of simplicity when it comes to operating, checking account statements, tax returns.

M. Rodríguez

Fuente: portafolio.com

La entrada BBVA in Switzerland will offer bitcoin transactions apareció primero en Bitfinance.

BBVA completed the sale of its subsidiary in the United States to PNC for 11,500 million dollars, after having obtained the necessary regulatory authorizations, as reported to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The results generated by BBVA’s US subsidiary since the transaction was announced in November 2020 and the sale closed this week have had an added positive impact on the BBVA Group’s Common Equity Tier 1 ‘fully loaded’ ratio of approximately 294 basis points, of which 24 basis points have already been recorded in said ratio between the announcement date and the close of the first quarter of 2021.

Likewise, a net tax profit of approximately $ 580 million was generated, of which $ 479 million has already been included in the group’s results between the announcement date and the close of the first quarter of 2021.

BBVA announced that it will continue to develop its institutional and wholesale business in the US through its broker dealer BBVA Securities Inc. and its branch in New York. Likewise, it maintains its investment activity in the fintech sector through its participation in Propel Venture Partners US Fund I.

K. Tovar

Source: The Nation

La entrada BBVA completed the sale of its US subsidiary apareció primero en Bitfinance.