BBVA

The story of BBVA isn't about a single startup, but a series of strategic mergers that created a Spanish financial giant. It begins in 1857 in Bilbao, Spain, where a group of 106 merchants and industrialists from the Board of Trade founded Banco de Bilbao to finance the region's industrial growth. Decades later, in 1901, a rival institution, Banco de Vizcaya, was established in the same city to serve local merchants. For much of the 20th century, these two banks grew in parallel, expanding across Spain. A pivotal moment came in 1988 when Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya merged, forming Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV) and creating one of the country's largest financial groups. The final, transformative event that created the BBVA we know today occurred in 1999. BBV announced a merger with Argentaria, a public banking group created by the Spanish government that had been recently privatized. This merger combined BBV's commercial banking strength with Argentaria's diverse portfolio. The new entity, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), was born with significant scale and a diversified geographic footprint, setting the stage for major international expansion, particularly in Latin America with the acquisition of Bancomer in Mexico the following year.