Taking technology a step further
THE MARKET SEEMS to have fallen out of love with BBVA. Despite its continued strong performance and growth across the board, the bank’s stock no longer commands the premium it once did. Worse still, one or two analysts have even started to speculate that the bank could become a takeover target or even become a break-up candidate like ABN Amro.
Such speculation is hardly fair on Spain’s second-largest bank, which has more than doubled its shareholders’ money over the past five years and achieved the kind of efficiency ratios that most banks cannot even imagine. BBVA has a bold vision in retail banking, in which it is already among the most sophisticated players and it has forged an excellent position in Mexico, one of the world’s most promising banking markets. Having formed an alliance with and acquired a stake in China Citic Bank, the seventh-largest bank in China and its Hong Kong-based international business, in November 2006, BBVA is entering a new phase of international expansion.
BBVA’s share price has been languishing since it surprised the market with two capital increases in 2006, and in February 2007 announced its plan to acquire Compass, a Texan bank, at 20 times forward earnings and 3.4