Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria : BBVA, ready to negotiate and contract syndicated loans over blockchain

Regarding blockchain, Carlos Torres Vila commented on the technology's highly disruptive potential despite the fact that it has not matured and faces considerable challenges.

BBVA's CEO recognized that blockchain's advantages are so important that the bank is spearheading a number of proof of concepts and pilots so that when the technology has matured, and the market and the regulators are ready, 'we will be the first ones to fully take advantage of blockchain so that our customers have better, cheaper, more transparent and faster solutions.'

Along these lines, BBVA was the first global bank to conduct an end-to-end corporate loan, in collaboration with Indra, using blockchain technology, which allowed the process to be reduced from days to a matter of hours. It also added better transparency to the process. The next challenge for BBVA, according to Carlos Torres Vila, 'is to make the negotiation and contracting of syndicated loans more flexible using blockchain.' It entails a cutting-edge project for the industry, and BBVA is already ready to move into the testing phase. There is a significant level of complexity given that it involves the rollout of a network to be used by various participants sharing information transparently and reliably.

But, beyond speed improvements, efficiency, and transparency of transactions, BBVA's CEO stated that blockchain's true potential lies in its ability to lead to a decentralized and tokenized economy.

Decentralized because it doesn't need an intermediary to oversee transactions, understood in the wider sense as any exchange of goods or services. For example, if the travelers looking for a ride and the taxi drivers providing the service could communicate and transact directly through a blockchain network, there'd be no need for the intermediary, i.e. the platform rendering the service today.

Regarding the tokenization, Carlos Torres Vila explained that this term refers to the possibility of creating digital units representing ownership over a physical item. These tokens can also be divisible to facilitate their exchange in blockchain markets, thus increasing the liquidity of traditionally illiquid items thanks to the improved dissemination of information, the ease and efficiency of the contracting process, log generation and traceability, the possibility of fractioning ownership, etc.