Rainmaker from Spain stays mainly in his lane
Javier Rodriguez Soler moved to Houston in January to become president and chief executive of BBVA USA. So far, he likes the city’s warm weather, welcoming attitude, museums and resiliency to national recessions.
Rodriguez Soler previously worked in Madrid at the bank’s Spanish parent company, BBVA Group. An 11-year employee, he was most recently the global head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
The recent transplant met with Texas Inc., coincidentally the same day he closed on his new home, to discuss the U.S. bank and how it fits with BBVA’s global initiatives.
Q: What are your first priorities for the bank?
A: The idea is to continue what we’ve been doing and to keep improving those businesses. I would say that we’ve gone through two waves of transforming and improving the bank. No. 1, we diversified it. Compass Bancshares was a mostly commercial real estate bank when we bought it in 2007. So we diversified our presence into many more sectors, including health care, energy, technology, food and beverage and agriculture.
Q: And the second wave? A: We’ve been developing and improving our products for consumers. Now, we have a diversified business interaction with our customers: mortgages, home equity lines of credit, credit cards, checking accounts, insurance and, very importantly, we’ve developed over the last two years what we call the Express Personal Loan, which is an uncollateralized, personal loan. We’ve done all this with the heavy use of technology. Basic transactions like depositing a check or looking for the account balance, that’s very easily done in a mobile app. We want our employees in the branches to help customers with value-added activity.
Q: BBVA has a global presence. What’s occurring in other countries that could benefit banks in the U.S.?
A: Traditionally, U.S. banks have been product oriented. Meaning there are very good banks for credit cards, there are some especially for mortgages and there are banks specializing in insurance. What we’ve learned in other markets is that having a client focus is much better than having a product focus. You try to interact with customers in all their financial needs. Not only helping them with a checking account and a credit card, but also when they need a mortgage or a certificate of deposit. So it’s having a holistic view of the customer versus a product specialization. And of course we’re not the only ones who have realized that customers could be in the center rather than products, but it’s less advanced in the U.S. than other