BBVA

Universal bank · Bilbao, Spain

BBVA is Spain's second-largest bank by assets with 81.2 million customers and its largest earnings engine in Mexico, where it holds over 25% of lending and 24% of deposits. It also owns Garanti BBVA in Turkey and banks in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. In Spain it offers a fee-free business account and, since July 2025, bitcoin and ether trading with custody for retail customers under MiCA. Its takeover bid for Banco Sabadell lapsed on 16 October 2025 with 25.5% acceptance.

Legal name: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.
Regulated by: ECB (SSM), Banco de Espana, CNMV (Spain), CNBV (Mexico), BDDK (Turkey, Garanti BBVA)
Licence confirmed: yes, on a regulator's own list
Established: 1857
Website: www.bbva.com

Scores, 0 to 10

9.0Latin America, Africa & South Asia

Largest bank in Mexico with over 25% of lending and 24% of deposits, plus Garanti BBVA in Turkey and banks in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay; Mexico earned EUR 2.98 billion in H1 2026. · source

7.5Europe (EU, EEA, Switzerland)

Second-largest Spanish bank by assets (EUR 859.57 billion at end-2025) with 5,642 offices, plus digital banks in Italy and Germany; the Sabadell bid failed in October 2025. · source

7.5Financial strength & stability

CET1 12.90% at June 2026, ratings A+ (S&P), A2 (Moody's), A (Fitch); not on the FSB G-SIB list of November 2025. · source

7.0Lowest fees

Bienvenida Negocios account has no maintenance fee or conditions, free online SEPA standard and instant transfers and a free business debit card. · source

7.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS

Openpay, BBVA's payment gateway, processed 360 million transactions a year in Latin America and distributes through the BBVA Mexico network; Spain has POS and online terminal loans. BBVA API Market offers treasury, business payments, identity and reconciliation APIs in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Turkey with a free sandbox that does not require being a BBVA customer. · source

6.5Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts

Named Mexico's best FX bank for corporates 2025 by Euromoney with just under a fifth of the national FX market; free SEPA transfers in Spain, but SME FX margins are not published. BBVA CIB reported record revenues in H1 2025 with Global Banking and Markets across Spain, Mexico, Turkey and South America, and BBVA API Market offers corporate APIs, but pooling coverage is regional rather than global. · source

6.5Trade, manufacturing & import-export

Corporate lending share of 21.8% in Mexico and trade finance through BBVA CIB in Spain, Mexico and Turkey, but no top-tier global trade league table position was found. · source

6.0Fast digital onboarding

Business accounts can be opened online via the Become a BBVA customer flow; a 2026 guide notes BBVA is stricter on documentation than Sabadell or CaixaBank. · source

5.5Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)

BBVA's Tarjeta Negocios Crédito is a Mastercard with no fee in year one and EUR 48 from year two (waived above EUR 1,500 annual spend), and the Cuenta Empresas includes a debit or credit Negocios card at EUR 0. · source

5.0Crypto-friendly bank

Offers bitcoin and ether trading and custody to retail customers in Spain since 4 July 2025 under MiCA and to private banking clients in Switzerland since 2021, but no stated policy of onboarding crypto businesses. · source

5.0On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat

Individuals buy bitcoin and ether in the BBVA app at 1.49% per trade, and since August 2025 BBVA holds Treasuries as off-exchange collateral for Binance traders, which shows it works with a large exchange, but companies cannot buy crypto at BBVA. · source

4.5Fintech companies that need a partner bank

BBVA Merchant Solutions EP (Wipop) is a registered Spanish payment institution and BBVA API Market exposes open-banking APIs, but no safeguarding or BaaS programme for third-party EMIs was found. · source

4.5Startups & VC-backed companies

Fee-free Bienvenida Negocios account and a specialised SME network in Mexico that added 530,000 SME customers since 2019, but no venture debt or dedicated startup banking unit was found. · source

4.5Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account

Retail customers can sell bitcoin and ether back to euros in the app and withdraw coins for a 4% transfer fee, but no published process for companies receiving exchange proceeds was found, checked September 2026. · source

4.5Bitcoin

Bitcoin trading and custody are live for all retail customers in Spain since 4 July 2025 and for private banking clients in Switzerland since 2021, with no business account access. · source

4.5Ethereum

Ether is offered on the same retail terms in Spain and to Swiss private banking clients, with no staking and no company access, checked September 2026. · source

4.0Best interest on business balances

The Bienvenida Negocios account is presented as fee-free with no stated interest; deposits are covered by the Spanish Deposit Guarantee Fund up to EUR 100,000. · source

4.0Foreign-owned & non-resident companies

The Cuenta Empresas Bienvenida is a Spanish euro account sold through bbva.es for Spanish companies and self-employed; the page sets no residency rule and publishes no remote path for owners abroad. · source

4.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business

BBVA holds bitcoin and ether in its own custody for customers in Spain under a MiCA notification to the CNMV, but the product sits on its personal banking pages and no crypto account for companies was found, checked September 2026. · source

3.5High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)

No published policy on gambling, adult, cannabis or forex clients was found on the BBVA pages opened today. · source

3.5Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)

BBVA Switzerland added USDC for private banking clients in September 2024, and BBVA is a founding member of the unlicensed Qivalis euro coin and one of 21 institutions planning a USD stablecoin for the first half of 2027, but no stablecoin service exists for business clients today. · source

2.5Customer satisfaction

Trustpilot 1.3 out of 5 from 2,389 reviews for bbva.es; the German digital brand bbva.de scores 4 stars from 2,416 reviews. · source

1.0Accept crypto payments

BBVA's business TPV page covers card terminals and a virtual card gateway with no mention of crypto or stablecoin acceptance, checked September 2026. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.