Carlos Torres Vila pointed to the solid performance of typical banking revenues “amid a very complex environmment.” He also stressed “the excellent results from emerging markets, which are very important for BBVA, the improvement in risk indicators and the strong capital position.”

In this environment, Carlos Torres Vila indicated that “the Group’s results will continue to grow gradually throughout the year and that the first quarter was affected by exchange rates fluctuations and the seasonal effect of the banking business, which is normal in the industry.”

The BBVA CEO also said that the Group continues to press ahead with its transformation “to become a better bank for our customers.”

Carlos Torres said that clients are clearly indicating us the path to follow, “which is the way we are taking at the Bank” because clients are increasingly using digital channels. “We already have 15.5 million digital clients, of these almost 9.5 million are mobile clients, with growth rates close to 60% compared to a year ago.”

The BBVA CEO also said that the bank is aiming to grow digital sales. “This type of sales in Spain accounted for more than 12% of total sales in Spain in the first quarter, an importante increase, which is 40% more compared to last year.