BBVA and Banco Santander are the big names in the Spanish banking sector. In some aspects there is no doubt that they are following the same path, especially in the digitalisation race. That is why we analyse the technological investments made by these corporations that indicate the direction of their strategies.
BBVA and Banco Santander are the big names in the Spanish banking sector. In some aspects there is no doubt that they are following the same path, especially in the digitalisation race. That is why we analyse the technological investments made by these corporations that indicate the direction of their strategies.
First of all, both banks opted for internationalisation, but not in the same way, they established themselves in different countries. Santander has grown in markets such as Brazil and the United Kingdom, which are very well positioned vis-à-vis Europe. However, BBVA has focused only on the United States and it has been expensive.
Secondly, this geographic diversification means that revenues come from different places. Thus, 32.61 pct of BBVA's revenues come from Spain and Portugal. By contrast, only 21.81 pct1T of Banco Santander's revenues come from the domestic economy. Therefore, BBVA has more exposure to Spain than Santander, making Santander more international in terms of the nationality of its revenues. Santander has a more balanced presence between emerging and developed markets. Also with the recent acquisition of Banco Popular, the Cantabrian bank values the momentum of Popular.
Another notable difference is their business model. Both banks are very focused on retail banking. However, 14.71 BTP1T of Santander's revenues come from wholesale banking and 85.31 BTP1T from commercial banking. BBVA has 8.51 BTP1T from wholesale banking.
BBVA has made 9 investments, three of them in the same company, Atom Bank. Atom Bank is an English mobile banking company that provides both personal and professional banking services via telephone. Thanks to the three investments made by BBVA, Atom Bank has obtained investments of 314M$ in three years.
Similarly, BBVA has also invested in other companies in more modest amounts:
Banco Santander has made one more investment than BBVA, 10 for the Cantabrian bank compared to 9 for the Basque bank. BBVA has made 9 investments compared to Banco Santander, which has made 10, 1 more. Of these investments, it is worth highlighting the one made in 2016 to Seaborn Networks, a company made up of telecommunications executives with a successful track record in development, financing, construction and operation. It received 500M$ from Banco Santander, an investment in the form of debt financing.
In the same way as BBVA, Banco Santander has also made various investments in different companies such as:
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