Digital Transformation Consulting

BBVA faced the challenge of modernizing its banking operations to deliver a highly customer-centric experience amidst its long, historic presence in the industry. The bank needed to rapidly acquire new customers through digital channels, streamline onboarding processes, and improve overall operational efficiency.

To address these issues, BBVA partnered with Accenture to develop a comprehensive digital sales model leveraging advanced cloud, data, and AI technologies. This included implementing AI-based facial recognition and real-time data analytics within their mobile onboarding process, which reduced account verification time to just minutes—significantly faster than traditional methods that could take days. The approach also involved building a global data platform using Amazon Web Services, enabling a unified view of customer data across all units. This allowed BBVA to personalize customer engagement, prioritize sales initiatives, and effectively cross-sell to existing clients through hyper-personalized marketing automation, search engine optimization, and content strategies.

The results were highly quantifiable: in 2023, BBVA gained 11.1 million new customers, with 65% acquired digitally, and experienced a 100% growth in digital sales over four years. The bank’s digital onboarding process contributed to acquiring nearly 50 million digital interactions, with seven out of ten sales now occurring online. Financially, the bank posted its highest profit ever at €8.02 billion in 2023, and achieved a cost-to-income ratio of 41.7%, one of the best among European banks. Moreover, the tailored digital value proposition helped BBVA expand into new markets such as Italy, where it attracted 130,000 new customers in the first year, ultimately exceeding 450,000 new clients. These initiatives have driven significant customer growth, operational efficiency, and market expansion, embodying BBVA’s ongoing commitment to continuous digital reinvention.