Carlos Torres Vila

Carlos Torres Vila
Born	Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Banker, business executive
Title	Executive Chairman of BBVA
Known for	Executive Chairman of BBVA

Carlos Torres Vila (born 1966) is a Spanish banker and business executive who serves as the executive chairman of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), one of Europe's largest financial institutions. A long-tenured figure within the BBVA organization, Torres Vila has shaped the bank's strategic direction across multiple continents and led its push into digital transformation and artificial intelligence-driven customer services. His tenure as chairman has been defined in significant part by the bank's ambitious and contentious bid to acquire rival Spanish lender Banco Sabadell, a proposed transaction valued at approximately $16 billion that became one of the most prominent hostile takeover attempts in European banking in recent years. Under his leadership, BBVA has pursued a strategy emphasizing global scale, technological innovation, and sustainable finance, positioning the bank as a significant player in both developed and emerging markets.

Career

Rise within BBVA

Carlos Torres Vila built his career within the BBVA organization over an extended period, ascending through senior leadership roles before reaching the position of executive chairman. As chairman, Torres Vila has served as the public face of BBVA's strategic initiatives, representing the bank at major international forums and overseeing the institution's operations across the markets in which it is active.

Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence

A central element of Torres Vila's strategic vision for BBVA has been the integration of advanced technology, particularly artificial intelligence, into the bank's operations and customer-facing services. In October 2025, Torres Vila participated in the closing ceremony of the BBVA Spark Summit 2025, held in Barcelona, where he unveiled the bank's projects aimed at driving what the institution described as "excellence in customer relations through cutting-edge AI." The BBVA Spark Summit served as a platform for the bank to showcase its technology-driven approach to banking, and Torres Vila's keynote role at the event underscored the priority he placed on innovation as a competitive differentiator for the institution.

Torres Vila's emphasis on digital capabilities has been part of a broader strategic framework at BBVA that has sought to leverage technology to improve operational efficiency, enhance risk management, and deliver personalized financial services to customers across the bank's global footprint.

Energy Finance and Sustainability

Torres Vila has also positioned BBVA as an active participant in discussions surrounding energy transition and sustainable finance. In March 2025, he spoke at CERAWeek, a major international energy conference, where he addressed the expected sharp rise in global energy demand, particularly for electricity, and the substantial investment required to meet that demand.

At CERAWeek, Torres Vila argued that growing demand for energy necessitated that banks achieve greater scale in order to finance the transition adequately. His remarks linked BBVA's corporate strategy—including its pursuit of the Banco Sabadell acquisition—to the broader macroeconomic imperative of financing energy infrastructure, suggesting that a larger combined institution would be better positioned to underwrite the significant capital expenditures associated with global energy needs. This framing reflected Torres Vila's approach of situating BBVA's business decisions within a wider narrative about the role of financial institutions in addressing global challenges.

Banco Sabadell Takeover Bid

The defining episode of Torres Vila's chairmanship has been BBVA's protracted effort to acquire Banco Sabadell, a rival Spanish bank with a significant presence in Spain and the United Kingdom (through its TSB Bank subsidiary). The proposed acquisition emerged as one of the most closely watched corporate transactions in the European banking sector.

Launch and Rationale

BBVA's bid for Banco Sabadell was framed by Torres Vila and the bank's leadership as a strategically compelling transaction that would create a stronger, more competitive institution. At BBVA's Annual General Meeting held in Bilbao in March 2025, Torres Vila took stock of what he characterized as an "excellent year" for BBVA and made the case for the combination. He stated that "both BBVA and Banco Sabadell shareholders will become the owners of a bank better prepared for the future," arguing that the merger would generate significant value for stakeholders of both institutions.

Torres Vila elaborated on the strategic logic of the deal during a speech in Barcelona later that month, emphasizing that "BBVA combines global scale with local roots and proximity." He pointed to the advantages that the potential integration of BBVA and Banco Sabadell would bring, suggesting that the combined entity would benefit from enhanced scale while maintaining strong local market knowledge and customer relationships.

Hostile Nature and Government Conditions

The bid took on a hostile character as Banco Sabadell's board resisted the approach. The transaction also attracted significant scrutiny from the Spanish government, which imposed conditions on the proposed deal. Despite these obstacles, Torres Vila persisted with the bid. By July 2025, Reuters reported that Torres Vila was "sticking with his Sabadell bid despite tough government conditions," even as Banco Sabadell's share price had risen to approximately 7% above BBVA's offer price—a market signal that investors were uncertain whether the deal would be completed at the terms proposed.

The transaction was valued at approximately $16 billion, making it one of the largest hostile banking mergers attempted in Europe. Reuters characterized the situation as a "high-wire act," reflecting the complex interplay of regulatory, political, and market forces that Torres Vila was navigating.

Confidence in the Offer

Throughout the process, Torres Vila publicly expressed confidence that the bid would succeed. In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE in September 2025, Torres Vila stated: "We will surpass 50 percent because it's an exceptional offer." He described BBVA's proposal for Banco Sabadell as exceptional, while also acknowledging uncertainty about the path forward, noting that "a second takeover bid is uncertain" and that "BBVA would never proceed unless the price remained the same."

This statement was significant in that it set a public threshold for Torres Vila's ambitions—securing more than 50 percent of Banco Sabadell's shares—while simultaneously signaling discipline on pricing. The comment that BBVA would not proceed with a second bid unless the price remained unchanged indicated a willingness to walk away from the transaction rather than enter a bidding war that could erode value for BBVA shareholders.

Outcome and Aftermath

Ultimately, BBVA's bid for Banco Sabadell did not achieve the desired result. By October 2025, reports indicated that the bank had failed to convince sufficient Sabadell shareholders to tender their shares. Following the unsuccessful outcome, questions arose about Torres Vila's position at the helm of BBVA. In response, Torres Vila stated publicly on October 17, 2025, that he would not resign despite the failure of the bid. Reuters reported that "the chairman of Spain's BBVA, Carlos Torres, said on Friday he would not resign despite the bank's failure to convince" Sabadell shareholders to accept the offer.

Torres Vila's decision to remain in his role despite the high-profile setback reflected his view that the bid had been strategically sound even if it had not succeeded, and signaled his intention to continue leading BBVA through its next phase of development.

Strategic Vision and Capital Position

Despite the outcome of the Sabadell bid, Torres Vila continued to articulate an ambitious strategic vision for BBVA. In a statement reported in mid-2025, Torres Vila emphasized the bank's strong financial position, declaring that "BBVA will have €49 billion in top-quality capital in the new strategic cycle." He noted that 2025 had been "a year marked by excellent performance in all markets where it operates, despite a complex" operating environment.

The reference to €49 billion in "top-quality capital" pointed to BBVA's strong capitalization levels and suggested that the bank would have significant financial resources to deploy in its next strategic cycle, whether through organic growth, further acquisition attempts, or investment in technology and sustainable finance initiatives. Torres Vila's public emphasis on the capital figure served to reassure investors and analysts that BBVA remained in a robust financial position despite the costs and distractions associated with the failed Sabadell bid.

Torres Vila's characterization of 2025 as a year of "excellent performance" across all of BBVA's markets—which span Spain, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and other regions—highlighted his focus on the bank's diversified geographic footprint as a source of resilience and growth, even in periods of macroeconomic and geopolitical complexity.

Recognition

As executive chairman of one of Europe's largest banking groups, Torres Vila has occupied a prominent position within the global financial industry. His participation as a speaker at major international forums, including CERAWeek in 2025, reflects his standing as a figure in discussions about energy finance, banking consolidation, and digital transformation. His role in spearheading BBVA's bid for Banco Sabadell—one of the largest hostile banking takeover attempts in European history—placed him at the center of a major corporate and regulatory event that drew extensive media coverage and commentary from financial analysts across the globe.

Torres Vila's leadership of BBVA's AI and digital innovation agenda, showcased at events such as the BBVA Spark Summit 2025, has further contributed to his profile as a banking executive engaged with the technological transformation of the financial services industry.

Legacy

Carlos Torres Vila's legacy as executive chairman of BBVA will be assessed in large part through the lens of the bank's attempted acquisition of Banco Sabadell. The bid represented one of the most ambitious consolidation efforts in European banking and tested the boundaries of hostile takeover strategy in a sector heavily regulated by national governments and supranational authorities. While the bid ultimately did not succeed, the process itself influenced broader discussions about the future of banking consolidation in Europe and the conditions under which cross-institutional mergers can proceed in the face of political and regulatory resistance.

Beyond the Sabadell episode, Torres Vila's stewardship of BBVA has been marked by a sustained focus on digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence to banking operations, an agenda that he has championed publicly and which has influenced the bank's strategic investments and organizational culture. His emphasis on the role of banks in financing energy transition and sustainable development, articulated at forums such as CERAWeek, has contributed to the positioning of BBVA within the evolving landscape of sustainable finance.

Torres Vila's statement following the failure of the Sabadell bid—that he would not resign—and his articulation of a forward-looking strategic vision centered on €49 billion in capital for a new strategic cycle indicated his intention to continue shaping BBVA's trajectory beyond any single transaction. His chairmanship remains an ongoing chapter in the history of one of Europe's major banking groups.