In 2012, the Eurasia area focused on:
- In terms of business in Europe, managing prices and liquidity tensions appropriately by prioritizing both the relationship with customers and cross-selling over volumes.
- In Turkey, managing the relationship with Garanti has continued to be essential to BBVA. In addition, Garanti has focused on selective activity growth and prioritized profitability over volume. In terms of the loan book, the Turkish bank has concentrated on boosting more profitable products, mainly within the retail segment and in local currency, such as mortgages, in so-called “general purpose loans” (personal loans) and auto-finance. On the liabilities side, the focus was on more stable and lower-cost sources of funding. In other words, lira deposit growth was boosted throughout most of the year, thus avoiding the price competition existing in deposits in other currencies. However, this trend shifted towards the end of the year due to greater pressure for customer fund raising in Turkish lira.
Management priorities in 2013 will focus on:
- In Europe the focus in terms of lending will continue to be on selective growth in specific portfolios and customers. On the liability side, customer fund raising will continue to be boosted. The aim is to properly manage the area’s liquidity. Price management will also be important, just as promoting cross-selling and controlling costs. They will be used to maintain the value of the franchise. In addition, BBVA will exploit the opportunities developed by its business model in an environment that will remain difficult and with low growth.
- In Turkey, managing the BBVA-Garanti relationship will continue to be critical in boosting the synergies between the two banks, particularly in those fields where they have an extensive knowledge base. On the technological front, the aim is to take advantage of Garanti’s technological platform in different areas within BBVA. Likewise, collaboration will be encouraged between working teams from different units, such as insurance, payment channels, trading floor, asset management or investment banking. Garanti’s strategic lines for 2013 include the steady development of new products, such as gold deposits, and boosting business among young people, especially college students. Regarding credit cards, new forms of collaboration will be sought, linking their use to day-to-day payments such as transportation as well as growing in the corporate credit card market. Two new investment centers have been planned in the investment banking segment, which will begin operating in new markets to attract more foreign institutional investors. While doing so, the Bank will continue to stand behind its commitment to being at the cutting edge of new technologies.