• Destacame.cl to also participate in September's Open Talent finals
  • Full list of Open Talent finalists published

Destacame.cl, a Chilean start-up that allows users to build a credit score based on their history of paying utility bills, has won the BBVA Open Talent 2015 Special Financial Inclusion Award. As part of their award, Destacame.cl will present their product at September's Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum, held in September in Maputo, Mozambique. The company will also participate in September's BBVA Open Talent 2015 finals, whose full list of finalists was also unveiled.

Launched in July 2015 by MIT graduates Jorge Camus and Sebastian Ugarte, Destacame.cl was created to help individuals who have no credit history and so are excluded from mainstream financial institutions. Destacame.cl is an online tool that uses a customer's payment record for everyday bills such as electricity and gas to build up a credit profile that will help them successfully apply for services such as loans and mortgages. Data from the service is already being used by 3 major Chilean financial institutions.

BBVA's Head of Easy Banking & Financial Inclusion, Carlos López-Moctezuma said: "Destacame.cl's service is an innovative answer to the question of how to widen access to financial services, and was a clear and worthy winner of the Special Financial Inclusion Award"

BBVA Open Talent announces finalists

The full list of finalists - including Destacame.cl - for September's Open Talent 2015 finals can be found here. Now in its' 7th year, the BBVA Open Talent competition seeks to support the brightest and best among fintech start-ups and is part of BBVA's efforts to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation and competition in digital financial services for the benefit of the customer.

There are three regional finals - in Mexico, New York and Barcelona, each with two winners. Winners receive a €30,000 cash prize, and will take part in separate immersion programmes in London and Mexico in October. They will also enjoy one day of innovation in the kitchen of El Celler de Can Roca, named The World's Best Restaurant 2015.

Contact details:
BBVA Corporate Communications
Damian Peachey
Tel. +44 (0)207 648 7592
damian.peachey@bbva.com

For more financial information about BBVA visit:

http://shareholdersandinvestors.bbva.co

For more BBVA news visit:

http://press.bbva.com/

About Destacame.cl

Destacame is the first self-reported behavior-based credit score in Latin America. It solves the asymmetry of information between those who want a consumer loan and financial institutions. By providing information about how people pay their utility bills, Destacame makes visible those without enough information to be credit worthy and helps loan-givers to improve their risk assessment models.

By owning their information and using it for their own benefit, users freely demonstrate that they are good payers, increasing their chances to get credit at better conditions, while also receiving offers for products that financial institutions and other companies post to each specific customer segment. Banks, on the other hand, by having more relevant and objective information of payment behavior of their prospect clients, reduce their default rate and increase their customer base by being able to "see" people that was invisible to the financial system. Destacame´s proprietary score algorithm is based on co-founders´ research done in MIT and Santiago

About BBVA

BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a solid position in Spain, it is the largest financial institution in Mexico and it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best practices. The Group is present in the main sustainability indexes.

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