This figure represents 33.3 percent of total new customers achieved throughout the group via individual channels (offices, app, web, ATMs …) and represents a 56 percent jump with respect to new users captured digitally in 2019.

Despite the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, BBVA achieved a record number of new customer growth in 2020. The bank added a total of 7.3 million new customers worldwide, of which 2.4 million became BBVA customers through the app or the web. This figure represents a 56 percent jump compared to 2019, and proof of the consolidation of digital capabilities as an increasingly relevant element to boost BBVA’s business.

Out of all of BBVA’s customers in Spain, 67% are digital and 61% use their cell phones to engage with the bank. This means that the vast majority of BBVA customers in the country opt for the website or the app to connect with the entity. The pandemic has driven the digitization of customers who, until now, were not familiar with the use of these channels. All this, together with the fact that BBVA’s app is the most used in Spain among all banking applications according to a report by Smartme Analytics, places BBVA as a leader in digital banking in Spain, with a market share of 22.2%.

“Customer growth is one of BBVA’s strategic priorities and these figures validate the group’s efforts to create global programs to develop new digital functionalities aimed at contracting financial products and services,” says David Puente, BBVA´s global head of Client Solutions.

Currently, BBVA attracts more digital customers in a single day than it did in a full quarter in 2015. The confinement in various countries has undoubtedly had an accelerating effect on customer digitization in all geographies in which BBVA is present.

But without a doubt, these results would not have been possible without the efforts made by BBVA in recent years to improve commercial capabilities in its digital channels. For example, the group has achieved that all countries have at least two of the main products (accounts, credit cards, loans or installment payments for online purchases) available digitally and has optimized biometric systems for the identification of users or documents.

“We have worked with all areas of the bank, from risk to engineering to legal services, to create a customer experience that facilitates the conversion of non-customer users to customers in the simplest and most frictionless way. We have also been able to reuse the software and share lessons learned from one country to another, which has allowed us to be faster and more efficient when it comes to attracting new customers in digital environments around the world,” says Carlos Roldán, head of BBVA´s Open Market.

Third party alliances

Although BBVA is going to continue with its commitment to expansion through new client acquisitions via digital channels, which are essential to maintaining and increasing this growth rate, they will not be the only ones. In addition, BBVA is making a great commitment to its integration into third-party platforms or channels to reach new users through them as well.

Both strategies will be a part of BBVA’s strategic axes this year. To achieve these goals, BBVA is preparing to have greater digital product availability (in Spain, practically everything can already be contracted online), while improving its product acquisition processes, the registration system and streamlining credit approval models. BBVA will also focus closely on enhancing customer loyalty with more proactive systems that encourage greater use of all the app’s functionalities.

As to its integration into other platforms, BBVA looks to third party agreements as a great opportunity to continue driving organic client growth. Their plans include continuing to promote alliances, such as Uber in Mexico, Xiaomi in Spain and Telefónica in Colombia.