BBVA Spain Taps AI to Accelerate Growth and Hyper-Personalize Customer Experience

BBVA is pivoting its Spanish operations toward an AI-driven growth strategy, targeting aggressive expansion in enterprise banking, insurance, and Global Wealth. By leveraging hyper-personalization to deepen existing relationships, the bank aims to capitalize on a surge in customer acquisition that saw nearly one million retail users join the platform in 2025 alone.

What was announced

During a meeting with analysts and investors, BBVA outlined a strategy to accelerate growth in its home market by focusing on customer acquisition and the "primary" banking relationship. In 2025, the bank added 962,000 retail customers and 68,000 business customers in Spain, representing acquisition rates 2 times and 1.3 times higher, respectively, than those recorded in 2019. Crucially, 70% of these new arrivals make BBVA their main bank within the first six months of joining.

The bank is prioritizing three specific levers for this new phase: enterprise segments, insurance, and Global Wealth. In the SME sector, BBVA captured one in four new accounts opened in Spain in 2025. The strategy for larger corporations involves strengthening specialized advisory services and using AI-based tools to expand the capabilities of relationship managers. In the insurance sector, where only 21% of current customers hold a policy with the bank, BBVA reported that its non-life premiums grew by 18% between 2021 and 2025, significantly outperforming the 7% market average.

Artificial Intelligence is positioned as the "key accelerator" for these goals. The bank intends to use AI to move from group-based propositions to individualized relationships, automating administrative tasks in the Global Wealth segment—which currently serves 201,000 private banking clients—and simplifying transactional solutions like tax payments and foreign trade for enterprise users.

"We believe we are on the right path to continue building a new bank. This transformation will have a significant impact on both the way we work and the way we engage with our customers, resulting in a significant improvement in their experience."

Peio Belausteguigoitia, BBVA’s country manager in Spain.

The companies involved

BBVA is a global financial services group and one of the largest financial institutions in Spain. The bank has undergone a multi-year digital transformation, shifting its business model to focus on mobile-first banking and automated services. In the Spanish market, it maintains a dominant position in both retail and SME banking, recently expanding its specialized headcount in the wealth management sector by 46% compared to December 2020 levels.

The institution has established itself as a leader in digital customer acquisition, particularly in the SME segment where it currently leads the Spanish market. Under the leadership of Peio Belausteguigoitia, the Spanish division is increasingly integrating AI across its operations to maintain a competitive edge against both traditional incumbents and agile neobanks. BBVA’s market strategy is heavily predicated on the "primary customer" model, as the bank’s internal data shows that revenue from a primary customer increases 3.7-fold on average over a five-year period compared to less engaged users.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has followed BBVA’s digital expansion across Europe closely, including the BBVA Italy Scores with Inter Milan Partnership and Competitive 4.25% Savings Rate, which highlighted the bank's aggressive push into the Italian market. More recently, the bank has focused on lifestyle and utility integrations, such as when BBVA and eDreams ODIGEO Launch Digital Banking Travel Integration in Europe. Additionally, BBVA’s involvement in the wider financial infrastructure was noted during the Climate Impact X and Carbonplace to Merge announcement, where BBVA was a key participant in the Carbonplace environmental market initiative.

What this means

BBVA’s pivot signals a shift in the banking industry from "digital-first" to "AI-first" as the primary means of differentiation. By focusing on the 21% insurance penetration rate, the bank is identifying a massive cross-selling opportunity that traditional banking models have historically struggled to capture. The emphasis on "primary" banking status is a direct response to the fragmentation of the fintech market; as customers hold multiple accounts, the winner is no longer the bank with the most users, but the one that captures the daily transaction flow. This strategy puts significant pressure on smaller Spanish lenders who may lack the capital to invest in the bespoke AI tools required to match this level of hyper-personalization.