Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a major Spanish multinational banking group, has signed a new blockchain-based corporate loan of $117 million with the Spanish construction and civil engineering company ACS Group. The loan is a long-term bilateral one that will be used for ACS's general financial needs. BBVA claims the use of blockchain technology for this type of loan contract will increase efficiency in financial processes for both parties by guaranteeing transparency and traceability of contractual processes. Both parties will have the ability to independently consult the processes and conditions at any time, and the system also streamlines the negotiating process by digitizing it. BBVA expects this streamlining to reduce time spent on management management from days to mere hours. This ACS loan is BBVA's second blockchain-based loan. In April 2018, BBVA successfully piloted the world's first blockchain-powered corporate loan transaction in a loan to Spanish consulting and information technology firm Indra.
Additionally, BBVA announced last month that it signed an agreement with Spanish oil and gas company Repsol to develop a blockchain-based financial solution to renew a $377 million credit line. This credit line for Repsol will reportedly be the world's first application of blockchain technology to corporate finance. Other Spanish banks have also been willing to embrace blockchain technology despite the general reluctance of most of the banking world. Banco Santander, for example, has developed multiple applications for the emerging technology. For instance, Banco Santander was one of the first to use blockchain technology for instant money transfers. It also launched a blockchain-based forex system and adapted blockchain technology for use in test counting investor votes. For all that Spanish banks seem to be adapting to blockchain technology and BBVA seems to be touting its blockchain-based financial services as innovative financial solutions to enhance the experience of its corporate clients and increase the agility of its products, BBVA's CEO Carlos Torres still warns that blockchain technology is not fully mature and still faces major issues. Torres says that BBVA is an early adapter so that it will have the tools necessary for use when the technology does fully mature.