The Spanish bank received the “Best Single Dealer Platform” accolade at SRP Americas Awards 2024 for its ePricer digital platform and its contribution to connectivity and structured products trading in the region.
The award comes after a period of five years that has seen BBVA Investment Solutions fully automating the way clients manage their structured products activity, allowing them to price, trade, and monitor assets across equities, foreign exchange, interest rates, and credit, "all within a single web-based platform".
By aggregating the platform's quote data, clients can receive benchmarking information - Daniel Hernandez
According to Daniel Hernández (pictured), head of the global markets e-connectivity solutions team, the award reflects not only the bank's ability to offer "robust and flexible solutions in an increasingly competitive digital environment, but as well our commitment to adapting to client’s particular suggestions and needs.”
“BBVA's ePricer is the result of the bank's commitment to digital innovation and continuous adaptation to market changes," said Hernández. "The platform provides value at all stages of the business, not just pricing. We work closely with our clients to develop a platform that not only meets their current needs but also anticipates future demands."
Hernandez noted that as ePricer continues to roll out new products and functionalities the goal continues to be adding value, productivity, and usability with clients.
"We want to offer a one-stop shop for price discovery and beyond, offering features like watch lists across asset classes - equity, FX, credit and rates," he said.
BBVA's five-year Digital roadmap has gone through three phases covering catch up, expand & improve, and lead – this includes the launch of the ePricer platform and the addition of products and services that the Spanish bank was not doing previously, the expansion into the US and Apac as well as the implementation of FX, credit & rates capabilities and the addition of new features and functionalities such as a 'watch list' feature.
"We have entered now Phase 4 Innovate which will focus on new features and tools such as valuations, click and trade, and expanding into the secondary market," said Hernandez.
"The platform is now handling over 100,000 quotes weekly from more than 250 different clients in Asia, Europe, and the US. We want to leverage our data infrastructure to provide clients with comprehensive views of the structured performance market."
Aside of the main functionalities offered by the platform such as pricing multiple requests, scheduling, and watch lists, BBVA's clients can create their own portfolios and regularly schedule them for pricing, with alerts for specific watch list levels.
"The platform's ability to provide prices without slippage is highlighted as a significant advantage," added Hernández.
Market intelligence
The use of data going through platform to analyse regional trends and patterns is on BBVA's priority list for the short-term.
"By analysing this data, our clients can identify regional differences in product preferences as well as market sentiment and trading behaviours that could provide valuable insights for clients," said Hernandez. "The platform's data can help identify emerging trends and provide clients with timely information to capitalise on new market opportunities."
The data can also be used to benchmark client activity as by aggregating the platform's quote data, clients can receive benchmarking information to understand how their trading activity and product preferences compare to the broader market.
"This could help clients make more informed decisions and personalise product recommendations," added Hernandez. "The platform can leverage data on client interests and trading patterns to suggest relevant products and ideas tailored to each client's needs and risk profile."
According to Hernandez, the bank is also seeking to produce new market reports and analysis to give clients a deeper understanding of the overall industry trends and dynamics by enhancing market intelligence and providing a comprehensive view of the performance of the structured products market.
"The key is to transform the platform's extensive data into actionable insights that help clients make more informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve in their respective markets," he said.
In terms of product activity, BBVVA saw fixed income and credit taking the spotlight in 2023, with equities re-emerging in 2024.
"We have also seen significant activity in emerging markets with FX becoming more established," said Hernandez. "We expect the equity market to remain bullish, while fixed income and credit will retain some ground."
Looking forward
The platform aims to grow its market share by maintaining a top three status among the market's single issuer platforms and improving its offering as well as by increasing the number of clients, trades, and revenues, with a focus on digitalisation and expanding into new markets.
"The platform's expansion into Asia and the US has been a key strategic move, with dedicated resources being allocated to these markets," said Hernandez. "The bank's commitment to innovation and human capital growth are visible on the platform's development. We are now looking at enhancing its post-trade capabilities."
Hernandez believes that the platform's ability to provide value in all stages of the business is seen as a key differentiator.
Regulatory developments across jurisdictions have also allowed BBVA to tackle new markets and grow the activity going through ePricer.
"We feel there is scope to move into the asset management world and highlight the role structured products can take in investors' portfolios.
Over the past three years, the firm has strengthened its teams in New York and Hong Kong, setting dedicated units to meet local needs and regional distribution centres specialised in each geography under the leadership of Sancho Narváez Vega de Seoane, head of investment solutions sales.
BBVA has also invested in the expansion of its multi-asset digital offering and strengthened its the leadership of the eConnectivity team in Europe - Blanca González Anguita (above) will lead the eConnectivity business in Asia with the aim to bolster BBVA’s presence in the region, while the European team has been reinforced with the addition of industry veterans such as David Requena and Jean Paul Glarey.