BBVA Hits One Million Customer Milestone in Italy with 100% Digital Banking Model

BBVA has reached one million customers in Italy, five years after entering the country’s retail banking market. This milestone validates the group's 100% digital strategy in a major European economy, proving that established incumbents can successfully scale digital-first propositions cross-border to challenge both local legacy players and independent neobanks for primary banking relationships.

What was announced

BBVA has officially surpassed the one-million-customer mark in Italy, a milestone that coincides with the fifth anniversary of its retail entry into the market. Launched in October 2021, the Italian venture was designed as a test case for a fully digital banking model that operates without a physical branch network. The bank is now entering a new strategic phase focused on becoming the primary financial institution for its Italian user base, deepening relationships through a broader range of services.

The Italian value proposition currently includes a mix of daily banking tools and long-term financial products. This includes deposit remuneration and cashback promotions on card purchases, alongside personal loans, mortgages, and credit cards. For savers and investors, the platform offers mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This comprehensive suite is intended to move the bank beyond a secondary account provider to a full-service hub for day-to-day finances.

While the digital retail arm is a recent development, BBVA has maintained a Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) presence in Italy for more than 40 years. This division continues to support Italian companies with financing, capital markets services, and advisory expertise, specifically helping them connect with strategic markets in the United States and Latin America. The success of the Italian retail experiment has already influenced the group’s broader European strategy, serving as the blueprint for BBVA’s expansion into Germany in June 2025, where it acquired 100,000 customers in its first year.

"We have reached one million customers in Italy, reflecting the success of our 100% digital banking model. We are now entering a new phase in Italy, focused on becoming our customers' primary bank and deepening our relationships with them. Our commitment to Italy is long-term, and we want to continue growing in the country,"

Carlos Torres Vila, Chair of BBVA

The companies involved

BBVA is a global financial powerhouse with nearly 170 years of history and a customer base of approximately 80 million people worldwide. Headquartered in Spain, the group has become a prominent advocate for digital transformation within the Tier 1 banking sector. Rather than pursuing traditional, capital-intensive acquisitions to enter new European markets, BBVA has opted for a "greenfield" approach, building lean, technology-driven entities like BBVA Italy that leverage the parent group’s existing infrastructure and balance sheet strength.

BBVA Italy represents the group’s dual-track approach in the region. It combines a decades-old corporate banking business with a modern, agile retail platform. This structure allows the bank to offer the security and product depth of an international banking group while maintaining the user experience and low overheads of a neobank. The Italian operations are led by Walter Rizzi, Head of Digital Banking at BBVA Italy, while the group’s wider digital expansion strategy is overseen by Murat Kalkan, Global Head of Digital Banks at BBVA. This model emphasizes sustainable, profitable growth by targeting high-value customer segments through digital-only channels.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has documented BBVA’s consistent focus on integrating advanced technology into its banking ecosystem. In October 2026, the publication reported that BBVA Partners with NVIDIA to Secure Autonomous AI Agents in Banking, a move aimed at bolstering the security of its next-generation digital services. This followed reports that BBVA Spain Taps AI to Accelerate Growth and Hyper-Personalize Customer Experience, reflecting a group-wide effort to use data for deeper customer engagement.

The bank’s technical leadership has also extended into the capital markets and consumer ecosystems. FF News previously covered how Iberdrola, BBVA, and Santander Launch World’s First End-to-End Blockchain Syndicated Loan. Furthermore, the group’s push into embedded finance was highlighted when BBVA and eDreams ODIGEO Launch Digital Banking Travel Integration in Europe, showcasing how the bank is connecting financial services with broader lifestyle platforms.

What this means

The success of BBVA in Italy marks a significant shift in how international banks approach market entry. By reaching one million customers without a branch network, BBVA has demonstrated that the "neobank-within-an-incumbent" model is a credible threat to domestic legacy banks. This puts immense pressure on local Italian institutions to modernize their digital offerings or risk losing their most profitable "primary bank" relationships to a competitor with a much lower cost base. The rapid replication of this model in Germany suggests that the industry is moving toward a borderless retail banking landscape where technological agility, rather than physical presence, determines market share. The open question for the sector is whether other global giants will now abandon M&A in favor of similar greenfield digital launches.