BBVA: Trading and risk services

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is a diversified financial group that offers retail banking, asset management, private banking and wholesale banking services to 35 million customers in 37 countries.

Despite its emergence as a leading Spanish financial institution, BBVA faced several challenges. BBVA found it increasingly difficult to efficiently manage resources and costs across its network. In addition, management structures and business models for the different banks were independent and often divergent. To maintain its leadership position in investment banking, BBVA recognized the need to create a single business, operating, management and systems model for its far-flung group. For help, BBVA turned to its longtime consulting partner, Accenture.

Accenture worked with BBVA to integrate four trading rooms—from facilities to hardware infrastructure to services to business and operating models—into a single unit. To do so, the Accenture/BBVA team defined, built and implemented an integrated architecture that would enable order introductions, electronic order reception and automatic order routing to domestic and international markets.

The most important asset Accenture and BBVA developed during the ambitious program was STAR, an integrated front- and middle-office platform that covers 200-plus trading room functions and products and enables the fast integration of the businesses, operations and workforces of the banks' capital markets areas. The team has integrated the flexible, open STAR system in BBVA's operations in Madrid, London, Paris, Milan and New York. The New York implementation, completed in a record five months, represents the first time that an application designed and developed in Spain has been implemented successfully in the US market and fully adapted to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's requirements. Accenture signed a three-year contract to continue providing maintenance and support for BBVA's worldwide STAR system.

With Accenture's help, BBVA can now offer its customers an integrated, global portfolio of products and services. Further, it can do so with full online access via a centralized IT infrastructure that improves service and reduces costs. The STAR system enables BBVA to:

• Process more than 6,000 deals a day
• Integrate all instruments, trades and risk controls into a global management model
• Improve efficiencies
• Develop new products
• Improve straight-through processing capabilities
• Reduce costs

In short, Accenture has helped BBVA become a high-performance global player in investment banking and has helped set the stage for future growth and continued success in this highly competitive arena.