Overall 2023 was a challenging year for Colombia’s economy and most of its large banks would have felt reasonably happy with their static performance. But BBVA managed to outperform the market in most banking segments. The firm ended last year as the leading foreign bank in the country and the fourth largest in the financial sector, with an 11.2% market share in terms of assets. However, it was the growth in the difficult conditions that sealed the award for Colombia’s best bank. BBVA grew total loans by 6.4% in the year and increased its market share by 50 basis points to 11.6%, led by an 8.5% increase in loans to individuals, which took market share of that segment to 14.9%, a 106bp rise.

Nothing shows BBVA’s ability to harness what was once viewed as a disparate set of national banks around Latin America into a cohesive, integrated banking institution better than the success of its transaction services business.

The winds of change are coming to the Mexican banking system. Nubank’s arrival and its 15% interest-paying deposit account are certain to bring new competitive challenges to the established banks. As the biggest and best bank in the country, BBVA theoretically has the most to lose, but its continued excellence across banking segments means that it is the best prepared for any disruption to come.

BBVA achieved impressive momentum in Latin America during 2023, winning individual best bank awards in Colombia and Mexico, and coming close in Peru. Its bank in Argentina also posted respectable growth and is poised to take advantage of a potentially more benign economic outlook. The Spanish firm also capitalized on its market leading position in Mexico to win the award for the country’s best investment bank and is also Latin America’s best bank for transaction services – a landmark win in an sector that has traditionally been dominated by US banks.

Rising confidence in European banks has raised hopes of a surge in domestic M&A, perhaps laying the foundations for the long-sought ideal of genuinely pan-European firms.

Some takeovers take time.

BBVA’s bid for Banco Sabadell didn’t appear to be going well when its share price slumped after the announcement. Then Sabadell rejected the offer despite the substantial premium to its own share price.

BBVA could have bought Banco Sabadell much more cheaply in 2020. Sabadell’s CEO César González-Bueno has since turned his bank around. But BBVA’s return to the negotiating table comes at a time when European banking may be moving to a new and more confident phase.

The decision by the US SEC to drop mandatory Scope 3 reporting weakens global emissions reporting standards. However, many corporate issuers are already using Scope 3 performance targets on sustainability-linked transactions for non-regulatory reasons. Are the debt and equities markets leading companies onto ESG ground upon which regulators fear to tread?

In 2022, BBVA partnered with US venture capital firm Fifth Wall to invest in technologies that address climate change in the real estate and construction industries, which together make up about 40% of global carbon emissions.

BBVA has always prided itself as being an active community participant in the countries in which it operates in Latin America. However, the bank’s recent efforts to deepen the integration of its Latin American banks have increased the value of the combined efforts in this area.

As European banks fight back against neobanks such as N26, Wise, Starling, Monzo and Revolut that are taking more of the incumbents’ market share and competing across every service area, it is the Spanish banks who look best placed to match them.

After the 2020 sale of its US bank, BBVA’s global ambitions in retail are alive and well. It has entered Brazil with digital bank Neon, ploughed more capital into UK app-based lender Atom Bank and launched in Italy in a way that presages branchless growth across the eurozone.

Perhaps it is not such a strange time to bet billions on Turkey’s economy.

Covid has, unsurprisingly, dominated the corporate responsibility agenda at banks across Europe. A key determinant in this category was the effectiveness with which firms addressed the acute challenges that many of their clients have faced, from the initial healthcare emergency to longer-term financial distress. BBVA stepped up to the task promptly and at scale and takes the regional award this year.

BBVA is relying more on its Latin America business. And the countries in that region are relying more and more on the global bank in turn. BBVA’s global head of country monitoring, Jorge Sáenz-Azcúnaga, explains how he expects this symbiosis to evolve.

Selling its US bank to PNC fixes BBVA’s capital problem and allows it to consolidate in Spain. Arch-rival Santander’s similar troubles may be harder to solve.

The chief executive of PNC Financial Services is making good on his plan to deploy the proceeds from this year’s sale of its stake in BlackRock in support of its national strategy.

One intriguing sub-plot of a wild year in bank capital has been the advent of green AT1 and tier-2 deals.

In September 2019 Garanti BBVA signed the world’s first gender loan, a newly designed structure that the bank hopes will encourage its customers to improve their gender equality performance.

BBVA is the big winner in Latin America in this year's Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

Across sustainable finance and microfinance, BBVA is working to support greener and more inclusive economies. It wins the award for best bank in Latin America for sustainable finance.

UniCredit is the region’s best bank in this year’s Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

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.

Banks have been trying to rebuild trust since the global financial crisis. They have touted corporate responsibility and stakeholder capitalism as core tenets of their businesses. Covid-19 and the subsequent economic crisis will be a big test of their commitment.

The country’s biggest firms are doing all they can to bolster their reputation, as the nation faces a human and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19.

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With falling rates in Europe and the US, and Turkey still in trouble, only Latin America – especially Mexico – can keep up BBVA’s spirits.

Spanish bank profitability will sink even further as left-wing populists Podemos enter a coalition with the socialist party, making a private-sector future for Bankia ever more remote.

European bank shares have sunk to levels not seen since 2008, and even some of the region’s bank CEOs admit it is hard to make a compelling investment case for them. Euromoney speaks to the people at the top about their potential to re-emerge as global leaders.