BARCELONA: BBVA SA will continue to seek growth in US investment banking regardless of current market turmoil, chief financial officer (CFO) Maria Luisa Gomez-Bravo says.
Spain’s second-biggest bank increased the number of US-based employees by almost a third last year and made also a big push in the United Kingdom, part of a plan to double revenue in the next five years, Bloomberg has reported.
The hiring spree, at a time when concerns about job cuts are growing on Wall Street, is part of a “long-term vision,” Gomez-Bravo said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“We are not growing in a volatile way,” she said on Bloomberg Chief Future Officer.
“We don’t hire 1,000 people and fire 500.
“It’s not like Wall Street banks.”
The comments highlight how the lender, along with its bigger competitor Banco Santander SA, is turning to investment banking to balance income from retail lending as the lift from higher interest rate fades.
The share of revenue coming from the corporate and investment bank currently stands around 15%, while its twice that at rivals, according to chief executive officer Onur Genc.
“We have to grow the share” within the bank, whose full name is Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Genc said in an interview on the same programme.
Revenue in the corporate and investment bank rose to a record €5.83bil (US$6.62bil) last year, slightly outpacing growth at the bank as a whole. — Bloomberg
