Awards for Excellence 2020
Latin America’s best bank this year is BBVA. The Spanish-headquartered bank has long been vulnerable to competitors’ claims that it was more a federation than an integrated network of subsidiaries, but the bank’s most recent performance shows that the management – overseen by Jorge Sáenz-Azcúnaga, head of country monitoring at BBVA – has addressed this weakness.
The net attributable profit of its operations in south America increased to €721 million in 2019, representing growth of 64% (excluding the bank’s Chilean operations that were sold last year from the annual comparison).
BBVA sits its Mexican bank outside its south American organizational chart, but here too growth was solid if less spectacular at 8.2%, but it is already the standout performer in this market.
Of course, Euromoney includes Mexico in its Latin America analysis, and BBVA has had a breakthrough year in terms of the region’s importance for the bank. Not only is its gross income up to 47.3% of the bank’s total, the region generated more than half of its operating income (54.9%)