BBVA eyes up US expansion but shuns UK
BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank, is eyeing the US for expansion as it strengthens its capital base ahead of expected tougher regulation, its chief executive said yesterday.
“Our expansion strategy has not changed. We are clearly focusing on the US,” Angel Cano said alongside the bank’s nine-month results.
Europe’s sixth-largest bank, a relative winner from the financial crisis which has needed no state aid, recently swooped on Texan Guaranty Financial in a deal arranged and underwritten by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
“We are looking at the FDIC for any opportunities which could arise,” Cano said.
However, the bank has no immediate merger plans on the table and is not looking at the British market, he said, following the results, which left the share price little moved.
Nine-month net profit totalled €4.18bn (£2.8bn), in line with analysts’ forecasts for €4.11bn but down 3.3 per cent from the same period last year due to lower loan volumes and squeezed margins in the economic slowdown.