Complete SWOT Analysis of BBVA – One Of The Largest Banking Institutions Situated In Spain

Updated on: Feb 10, 2022
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Previously, we had covered the in-depth SWOT Analysis of U.S. Bank – the fifth-largest commercial bank by assets in the United States. Let us now do a complete SWOT analysis of BBVA.

BBVA is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao. BBVA is the 39th largest banking institution in the world and one of the largest banks in Spain and the largest in Europe. 

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Before we go into the SWOT Analysis of BBVA, let us know about BBVA as a company.

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About BBVA

SWOT Analysis of BBVA - BBVA Reuters

BBVA does business as BBVA group and is a Spanish transnational fiscal services company that offers all banking and fiscal services. It is known for its European Banking operations but also has operations in Northern and Southern America and lately in Asia substantially through its acquisitions and mergers. It was instituted in 1857 as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, S.A. and further on in 1999 affiliated with Banco Central Hispano. It ranked in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest public companies. 

As of December 31, 2018, BBVA’s assets amounted to approximately €676 billion, making it the second-largest Spanish financial institution by volume of assets. On that same date, it had 7,963 offices, 125,627 employees and 74.5 million customers, and was present in more than 30 countries. On April 2, 2018, it was ranked the 42nd largest bank in the world by total assets.

Quick Stats on BBVA
Founder Carlos Torres Vila
Year Founded 1857
Origin Madrid, Spain
No. of Employees 123,174
Company Type Public
Market Cap $ 40.621 Billion (2021)
Annual Revenue € 24.54 Billion (2020)
Net Income/ Profit € 3.512 Billion (2020)

 

SWOT Analysis of BBVA - BBVA Simple Bank


Products & Services of BBVA

BBVA provides different banking & fiscal services such as:

  • Retail banking 
  • Mortgages
  • Commercial banking
  • Cash operation
  • Credit cards
  • Insurance


Competitors of BBVA

BBVA is a leading financial services company and competes with:-

  • Santander
  • Barclays
  • UBS
  • Bank of China
  • Td Bank
  • Bank of America


Now that we know about the company overall, we can move on to discussing a detailed SWOT Analysis of BBVA.


SWOT Analysis  of  BBVA

SWOT Analysis informs about a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It will help us to compare BBVA’s business and performance with its competitors and the industry in general. It is helpful in establishing where the company excels and where it fails to perform well, and also helps in developing tactics that can lead to the company’s development.

SWOT Analysis of BBVA - SWOT Infographics of BBVA

Below is a step-by-step detailed directory to help you with the SWOT analysis of BBVA.

Strengths of BBVA

Certain qualities of an establishment that prove to be advantageous in seizing market share, attracting more customers, and gaining better profits can be called the strengths of that organization. Following are the strengths of BBVA.

  • Strong Strategic Alliances with Other Leading Organizations: BBVA operates across Europe, North and South America and Asia partly due to its acquisitions. It has also invested in numerous partnerships in various places and rebranded many subsidiaries under the BBVA name.
  • Brand Reputation: BBVA has been in the business of banking for many years. Also, with the variety of products and services it provides, it is considered a forerunner in the industry. This has led to the organization gaining a reputable image and making it recognizable to the public.

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  • Industry Leaders: BBVA is an industry leader in Europe and also has a presence in Latin Spain, South America, North America, Turkey, and Romania. As of 2017 it is ranked as the largest Bank in Europe and is the notable component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
  • Social Media Presence: With changing dynamics of business, BBVA has been able to build a strong presence on social media has successfully reached more than millions of followers across social media platforms. Want to understand how social media worked as a strength for BBVA? Then you must check out the benefits of social media marketing to get the answer to your query. 
  • Robust Operating Performance: BBVA has a workforce of over 120,000 employees. Retail Banking, the main component of its operations, helps it make 74% of its operations.


Weaknesses of BBVA

Certain components of an organization that may prove to be disadvantageous to the organization, its growth rate and results are considered a weakness of the organization. 

  • Limited Success Across the Core Business: Even Though BBVA is one of the leading organizations in its industry it faces difficulties in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
  • Cash Flow Problems: There is a lack of proper monetary planning at BBVA in regards to cash flows, leading to certain situations where there isn’t suitable cash flow as needed leading to unnecessary unplanned borrowing.
  • Need to Invest More in New Technologies: According to the country’s scale of expansion and the geographical areas BBVA needs to invest more funds in technology to coordinate the processes across the board. Currently, the investment in technology is not on par with the vision of the company.


Opportunities for BBVA

Companies have prospective areas of focus for them to better their results, increase sales and ultimately profit. They are called opportunities. Following are BBVA’s opportunities.

  • New Customers From Online Channels: Throughout the past few years the company has invested a lot into the online platform and this has led to the opening of a new sales channel for BBVA. This can help the company in the coming years to utilise this opportunity by knowing its clients better and serving their requirements using big data analytics.
  • Increasing Income: There has been an improvement in the average household income along with an increase in consumer spending power following the recession. This will result in growth in BBVA’s target market area with new customers that can be attracted towards the business.
  • Population: The population has been ever increasing and is anticipated to grow at a positive rate for the following years. This is beneficial for BBVA as there will be a rise in the number of potential clients that it can target.
  • Interest Rate: Lower interest rates compared to previous years provides an opportunity for BBVA to undergo expansion projects that are financed with loans at a lower interest rate.
  • Low Inflation Rate: The low inflation rate can provide more stability in the market and allow credit at a lower interest rate to the customers of BBVA.


Threats to BBVA

Some environmental factors which will be an obstacle to the company’s growth are called threats. Following are the threats of BBVA.

  • Competitor Technical Advancements: New technological advancements by a bunch of competitors within the industry can constitute a threat to BBVA since clients who are drawn to these new technologies may switch to competitors, decreasing BBVA’s overall market share.
  • Currency Rate: The rate of exchange fluctuates, which can have an impact on a corporation like BBVA, which has international sales but local suppliers.
  • Increased Marketing Efforts: Due to the shifting focus towards digital marketing, there is an increasing number of promotional messages which are being sent by competitors. It clutters up the space, which results in losing out on customers. You must also be knowledgeable with a variety of digital marketing skills to keep up with the competition.
  • Political Instability: There are always changing regulations in several nations. It exposes changes in trade regulations and requires compliance by business corporations.
  • Competitor’s Promotional Messages: Competitors aggressive marketing programs have posed a challenge to BBVA. Customers are swamped with many promotional messages and pitching on most platforms, and there is more clutter than ever. BBVA’s promotional communications will be less effective and its essence will get lost as a result of this.


This ends our complete SWOT analysis of BBVA. Let us conclude our learning below.

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To Conclude

As we saw during the entire analysis, BBVA is a global name that doesn’t rely on one particular strength, weakness, opportunity, threat. But, it does get affected by numerous different situations. BBVA has always been a competitive player in the market and will continue to be so.

Also, one point to not miss out on is that BBVA is in line with its marketing effort. It has created a credible customer base for itself by tapping into the digital era and creating a valuable social media presence on several platforms. If you are interested in learning digital marketing, don’t forget to check out IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Digital Marketing Course.

We hope this blog on the SWOT Analysis of BBVA has given you an honest insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You can also read our comprehensive study on the SWOT Analysis of JP Morgan Chase.

If you enjoy in-depth company research just like the SWOT analysis of BBVA, check out our IIDE Knowledge portal for more fascinating case studies.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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