Executive Board Member and Head of Economics and Public Affairs at BBVA, Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo, considers the potential of blockchain as an underlying technology, which will help improve the efficiency of capital markets.
During his speech at the annual meeting of the International Capital Markets
Association (ICMA) sponsored by BBVA, which took place in Madrid, the executive urged that capital markets, including the banking sector, to take advantage of the benefits that technologies like blockchain can bring.
“Innovation and digitalization offer an unprecedented opportunity for capital
markets to increase their efficiency, improve their security and offered greater
value to their customers,”
exclaimed Gonzalez-Paramo. He furthermore explained that blockchain technology can improve the efficiency of the procedures in the Stock Exchange, or in securities operations, where, commonly, a large number of applications and intermediaries intervene. It could also boost the speed of payments and increase the security of these transactions.
Gonzalez-Paramo referred to the benefits of automated advice, through “Robo-Advisors”, which could generate economies of scale and reduce costs in these types of services, as well as trading algorithms, another innovation that has helped to process information in high frequency negotiations.
The BBVA executive has shown optimism about sustainable financial progress in Europe.
“Public and private initiatives have accelerated awareness of the financial risks associated with climate and the need for sustainable financing,”
he said. Likewise, Gonzalez-Paramo has insisted that financing the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy, exploring new ‘green’ alternatives, as well as facing digital disruption, are the major challenges currently faced by capital markets.
by Samuel Paz
