Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.

Global Banking and Financial ServicesFounded 1857- Updated June 2026

Last reviewed: June 2026

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.

Global Banking and Financial ServicesFounded 1857- Updated June 2026

Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya

Last reviewed: June 2026

Founders

Who Founded Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?

Banco de Bilbao Founders · Founded 1857 · Madrid, Spain

Last reviewed: June 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya

Quick Answer

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded by Banco de Bilbao Founders in 1857 in Madrid, Spain. The company is currently led by Carlos Torres Vila.

Founding Story

The corporate lineage traces back to 1857, when a consortium of Basque industrialists and merchants founded Banco de Bilbao to finance the burgeoning steel and shipping industries of northern Spain, establishing a foundational commitment to corporate lending and risk management that would define the institution's culture for the next century. The corporate lineage of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. Is not a single straight line but a complex web of Basque industrial entrepreneurship, state-led consolidation, and aggressive geographic diversification that traces back to 1857, when a consortium of Basque industrialists and merchants founded Banco de Bilbao in the bustling port city of Bilbao, Spain, establishing a foundational commitment to corporate lending and risk management that would eventually evolve into one of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Banco de Bilbao Founders

Co-founder 1857

Background

A consortium of Basque industrialists and merchants founded Banco de Bilbao in 1857 to finance the burgeoning steel and shipping industries of northern Spain, establishing a foundational commitment to corporate lending and risk management that would define the institution's culture for the next century.

Role at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.

The founders of Banco de Bilbao were a group of visionary Basque industrialists and merchants who recognized the strategic importance of domestic commercial lending for Spain’s economic development during the mid-19th century industrial revolution. Operating during a period of rapid industrial expansion in the Basque Country, these founders invested heavily in the establishment of a conservative, community-focused banking model that prioritized long-term relationships with the local steel, shipping, and manufacturing industries. Their decision to adhere to strict risk management principles, which mandated a conservative approach to leverage and a deep understanding of the local industrial cycles, was a pivotal moment in Spanish banking history, as it mobilized the deposit base of Spain’s emerging industrial middle class and established a reputation for reliability that would define the BBVA brand for the next 167 years. The signing of the original partnership deed in 1857 represented a fundamental shift in the Basque economic policy, from one of reliance on foreign capital to one of local, community-led financial development. Their legacy is the creation of a powerful, domestically focused financial institution that would become the engine of Spain’s industrialization and the source of the country’s largest corporate lending portfolio, a legacy that continues to shape the company’s strategic direction and its relationship with European regulators today.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline â†’

Carlos Torres Vila

Chief Executive Officer

2019–present

Carlos Torres Vila assumed the role of CEO in 2019 and executed a ruthless geographic optimization strategy, exiting the US retail market and divesting non-core South American assets to focus on high-return emerging markets and digital transformation. His leadership has been marked by the initiation of a $16 billion ($16.2 billion) hostile takeover bid for Sabadell and the distribution of $9 billion ($8.64 billion) through dividends and buybacks, while achieving a record 17.5 percent ROE.

Francisco González

Executive Chairman

2001–2019

Francisco González served as CEO and later Executive Chairman from 2001 to 2019, during which time he orchestrated the transformative international acquisitions of Bancomer in Mexico and Garanti in Turkey, establishing BBVA as a transnational financial powerhouse. His leadership oversaw the bank’s refusal of state bailout funds during the 2012 Spanish banking crisis, a strategic decision that allowed the bank to emerge from the crisis stronger than its domestic peers.

José Sevilla

Chief Financial Officer

2015–present

José Sevilla has served as CFO since 2015, during which time he has managed the bank’s complex capital allocation strategy, executing the $9 billion ($8.64 billion) share buyback program and maintaining the bank’s 12.7 percent CET1 capital ratio. His financial discipline has allowed the bank to distribute massive capital returns to shareholders while funding the $1.6 billion ($1.62 billion) technology investment program and the Sabadell acquisition.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Banco de Bilbao's 1857 founding reflect Basque industrialisation?

Banco de Bilbao was founded on May 28, 1857 in Bilbao — Spain's industrial heartland and the centre of Basque steel, iron, and shipbuilding industries — specifically to finance the region's rapidly expanding industrial enterprises and the Basque-led capitalist class that was transforming Spain's economy. The bank's founding coincided with Spain's first railway boom and Bilbao's emergence as Spain's most modern industrial city, with the Basque bourgeoisie founding a bank to capture financial returns from industrial growth rather than relying on Madrid-controlled banks historically focused on agricultural Spain. This industrial-financing DNA shaped Banco de Bilbao's subsequent development as a commercially aggressive institution that pursued growth through technology and geographic expansion, unlike more conservative Spanish savings banks.

How did the 1988 merger of Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya create BBV?

The 1988 merger of Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya — two Basque rivals competing in the same geography with overlapping corporate customers — created BBV (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya) through a union of Spain's 2nd and 3rd largest banks, creating a competitive challenge to Banco Santander's ambitions. The merger was driven by Spanish banking deregulation and European integration preparing for the 1992 single market, requiring Spanish banks to achieve international scale. Both banks' Basque origins created cultural compatibility, and the merger generated significant cost savings through branch rationalisation in Bilbao and the Basque Country where both banks had excessive overlap, establishing the efficiency-focused management culture that would characterise BBV and later BBVA.

How did Emilio Ybarra lead BBVA's founding merger?

Emilio Ybarra served as chairman of BBV and co-architect of the 1999 BBVA merger, bringing together BBV with Argentaria in a deal that created Spain's second-largest bank by assets. Ybarra had led BBV's Latin American expansion strategy in the 1990s, acquiring Bancomer (Mexico) and multiple South American banks, establishing the geographic diversification that would prove crucial during Spain's 2008-2013 economic collapse. His merger with Argentaria, a former state bank led by Francisco González, united BBV's private banking tradition with Argentaria's infrastructure and public-sector relationships, though the post-merger leadership transition created tensions that eventually resolved with González becoming sole executive chairman.

What role did Francisco González play in shaping modern BBVA?

Francisco González served as BBVA's executive chairman from 1999-2018, arguably having greater influence on the modern institution than any other individual by pursuing the digital transformation strategy that defined BBVA's 21st-century identity. González made the controversial prediction in 2014 that BBVA would be a 'software company' and invested heavily in technology when European banking peers were cutting IT budgets, launching the Garanti investment in Turkey (2010), completing the Bancomer full acquisition, and founding BBVA Ventures (later BBVA PropTech) to invest in fintech. His 19-year tenure created the digitally-focused, emerging-market-weighted bank that current management inherited, and his early recognition of digital disruption provided the competitive advantage BBVA holds over slower-adopting European peers.