Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is a Spanish multinational financial group that unified its brand globally in 2019, replacing local names such as Bancomer in Mexico, Compass in the United States, Francés in Argentina and Continental in Peru with the single BBVA wordmark. The bank’s current logo is a typographic mark built around the four capital letters B, B, V and A, a format the group has used since the 1988 merger of Banco de Bilbao and Banco Vizcaya. The blue corporate color has been part of the identity since 1969, when the Banco de Bilbao logo was first designed. [1]
Design and History
The 2019 rebrand was announced in April of that year as part of a wider effort to unify BBVA’s name and visual identity across its more than 30 core countries. The bank stated that it had “unified our name and updated the logo to transmit better our new reality, increasingly global and digital.” [2] The new mark was designed by a team of four internal BBVA designers from different country design teams, working with the branding consultancy Landor London, with final design work completed in BBVA’s Madrid studio. [1] The project also involved BBVA Creative, the bank’s in-house agency, and the agency DDB, with Landor providing strategic advice. [3]
Before the 2019 change, the logo had remained essentially unchanged since 1988, when the unique “B” and “V” shapes were first drawn. [1] The redesign was approached as a revolution rather than an evolution, with the team deciding to invest in the wordmark rather than introduce a new symbol. [1] The new logo retained the bank’s familiar blue color palette and capital letters, but was “specifically redesigned for the increasingly digital world.” [4] The design process took about four months of creative exploration, with several models tested with nearly 5,000 customers in seven countries. [3]
In May 2025, BBVA launched a further evolution of its brand identity, replacing its slogan “Creating opportunities” with “Let’s move forward” (in Spanish, “¿Avanzamos?”). The refreshed visual identity includes updated typography, iconography, illustrations and photography, aiming to convey warmth, accessibility and consistency across customer touchpoints. The new identity debuted on May 20, 2025, with an updated app in Spain, and was gradually rolled out across ATMs, branches and other platforms. [5]
Meaning and Symbolism
In the 2019 logo, the “A” is elevated above the baseline, a deliberate design choice. According to BBVA, “the A in upward movement represents opportunity, it is a symbol of prosperity and growth and conveys positive values.” [6] The design team also stated that the identity was intended to symbolize opportunity, noting that “the most common idea of opportunity is prosperity, elevating one’s life to achieve a better, more comfortable level of living.” [1] The V and A shapes together form two arrows, a visual reference to the digital world. [7]
The 2019 design system also introduced two concepts across all design decisions: light, described as “the promise of new opportunity and growth,” and elevation, “the ability to ascend and prosper in life.” [1]
Typography and Design
For the 2019 logo, BBVA chose a custom sans serif typeface with a line width intended to maintain the strength of the brand. Each letter was custom designed so the logo could be adapted globally across all channels. [3] The new typography replaced the previous letterforms, which had featured a distinctive counter shape in the “B” and rounded terminals on the “V” and “A.” [7] The blue was made slightly brighter to give a more modern, fresh feeling while staying within BBVA’s color palette. [3]
In the 2025 refresh, BBVA introduced a new custom typeface called Tiempos BBVA, designed specifically for the bank. According to BBVA Creative, the typeface was designed to be “more legible, more open, more secure.” The 2025 identity also introduced a new icon family, micro-illustrations and a new photography style, along with an evolved color palette that includes an “electric blue” that continues to guide the brand. [8]
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