Onur Genç

Onur Genç
Birthplace	Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Occupation	Banking executive
Title	Chief Executive Officer
Employer	Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA)
Known for	CEO of BBVA

Onur Genç is a Turkish banking executive who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), one of Europe's largest financial institutions. He is the first non-Spanish national to lead the bank, a distinction that has drawn attention both in Spain and in his native Turkey. Before ascending to the top leadership of the Spanish banking group, Genç held several senior positions within the BBVA organization, including serving as CEO of BBVA USA (formerly BBVA Compass), the bank's United States subsidiary headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. His career within BBVA has spanned multiple geographies and business lines, including leadership at Garanti Bank in Turkey. As CEO of BBVA, Genç has led the bank through a period of significant strategic activity, including the high-profile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell and advocacy for large-scale European bank consolidation to finance decarbonization and clean technology.

Early Life

Onur Genç was born in Turkey. Details regarding his exact date of birth and early upbringing have not been widely documented in public sources. He is of Turkish nationality, and his rise to lead one of the largest banks in Spain and Europe has been noted as a significant milestone, with the Daily Sabah describing him as a "Turk at the helm of Spain's banking giant BBVA." His appointment as BBVA's chief executive made him the first foreign national to serve in that role at the bank, a fact that has attracted considerable attention in both Turkish and Spanish media.

Career

Garanti Bank

Prior to joining BBVA's operations in the United States, Onur Genç held a senior position at Garanti Bank, one of Turkey's largest private banks and an institution in which BBVA held a significant ownership stake. BBVA Compass's announcement of his appointment as CEO specifically noted that Genç came from Garanti Bank, indicating that his experience in Turkish banking was a factor in his selection for the U.S. leadership role.

CEO of BBVA Compass (BBVA USA)

In late 2016, BBVA Compass announced the appointment of Onur Genç as its new CEO. BBVA Compass, later rebranded as BBVA USA, was the American banking subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, headquartered in the Daniel Building in Birmingham, Alabama. The bank operated primarily across the Sun Belt states, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas.

Genç's tenure as CEO of BBVA Compass placed him at the head of a bank with a significant retail and commercial banking presence in the United States. During this period, the bank underwent a major rebranding initiative as part of BBVA's global brand strategy. In June 2019, the bank's name was changed from BBVA Compass to BBVA USA, aligning it with the parent company's unified global branding approach.

Genç's leadership of the U.S. operations was part of a broader trajectory within the BBVA group. In 2018, BBVA announced that Javier Rodríguez Soler would succeed Genç as BBVA Compass CEO and country manager for the United States, as Genç moved on to a more senior role within the global BBVA organization. This transition signaled Genç's rising prominence within the BBVA hierarchy and his preparation for the group's top executive positions.

CEO of BBVA

Onur Genç was appointed as CEO of BBVA, succeeding Carlos Torres Vila, who had served in the role since May 2015. Torres Vila moved to the position of executive chairman, while Genç assumed the chief executive responsibilities. As CEO of BBVA, Genç became the first non-Spanish chief executive in the bank's history, a development that received widespread media coverage.

At the BBVA Annual General Meeting held on March 21, 2025, shareholders voted to re-elect both Carlos Torres Vila and Onur Genç, demonstrating broad support for the bank's leadership and strategic direction.

Banco Sabadell takeover bid

One of the most prominent strategic initiatives during Genç's tenure as CEO has been BBVA's takeover bid for Banco Sabadell, another major Spanish bank. The proposed acquisition, which would create one of the largest banking groups in Europe, has been a central focus of Genç's public engagements and investor communications.

In March 2025, speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference in London, Genç made the case that Sabadell shareholders would benefit from the transaction, stating that "Sabadell shareholders will find a better 'home' at BBVA." He explained that BBVA's long-term strategic positioning offered advantages to shareholders of the target bank.

Genç continued to promote the transaction to international investors throughout 2025. In September 2025, he spoke at the Barclays Annual Global Financials Conference in New York City, where he underscored the appeal of the Banco Sabadell transaction to the global investment community.

By October 2025, Genç expressed confidence that the acceptance period for the takeover bid was progressing well. He stated publicly that take-up would "easily exceed 50 percent" and indicated that he considered a second bid at the same price to be "highly unlikely," suggesting that BBVA's offer represented fair value for Sabadell shareholders.

Advocacy for European banking consolidation and cleantech financing

Under Genç's leadership, BBVA has positioned itself as an advocate for large-scale European banking consolidation, particularly in the context of financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. In April 2025, Genç articulated the view that decarbonization requires "massive" capital investments and that Europe needs larger banks to finance clean technologies, or "cleantech," on a greater scale. This argument served a dual purpose: it provided a strategic rationale for the Sabadell acquisition and positioned BBVA within broader policy debates about the structure and competitiveness of the European banking sector.

Genç's emphasis on sustainability and green finance reflected a broader trend among major European banks to align their strategic narratives with the goals of the European Green Deal and international climate agreements. By framing bank consolidation as a mechanism for channeling capital into clean technology, Genç sought to present the expansion of BBVA not merely as a commercial endeavor but as a contribution to European economic and environmental policy objectives.

BBVA USA and U.S. Operations

BBVA USA, the subsidiary that Genç led before becoming group CEO, had a long and complex history in American banking. Originally founded as the Central Bank and Trust Company, the institution underwent several name changes and ownership transitions over the decades. It was known successively as Central Bank, Central Bancshares of the South, and Compass Bancshares before being acquired by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in 2007 and renamed BBVA Compass.

The bank was founded by Harry B. Brock Jr. and grew to become a significant regional banking institution across the American Sun Belt. Its headquarters were located in the Daniel Building in Birmingham, Alabama. The acquisition by BBVA in 2007 made it one of the largest foreign-owned banking operations in the United States at the time.

Following Genç's departure from the CEO role at BBVA Compass and his move to a more senior position within the BBVA group, the U.S. subsidiary continued to operate until 2021, when it was acquired by PNC Financial Services. This sale marked BBVA's exit from the American retail banking market and represented a significant strategic shift for the group, allowing it to redeploy capital into other priorities.

During the period when Genç led BBVA Compass, the bank was involved in several community development initiatives. These included the hiring of community relations officers to coordinate the bank's outreach efforts and the appointment of a new executive to oversee its Community Reinvestment Act program. The bank also made a substantial pledge of $11 billion toward a community development program.

Personal Life

Onur Genç is a Turkish national who has built his career across multiple countries, including Turkey, the United States, and Spain. His trajectory from Turkish banking through the American subsidiary of BBVA to the global leadership of the entire group has been characterized by the Daily Sabah as placing him "at the helm of one of Europe's largest banks at a moment of profound change in global finance." Further details regarding his personal life have not been extensively documented in publicly available sources.

Recognition

Genç's appointment as the first non-Spanish CEO of BBVA has itself been a subject of considerable media attention, both in Turkey and internationally. The Daily Sabah and PressReader have profiled him as a notable figure in global banking, emphasizing the significance of a Turkish executive reaching the highest levels of European financial leadership.

His re-election as CEO at the 2025 BBVA Annual General Meeting, with what the bank described as "overwhelming" shareholder support, was noted as an endorsement of both his leadership and BBVA's strategic direction under his stewardship. His appearances at major international financial conferences, including those organized by Morgan Stanley and Barclays, have placed him among the most prominent banking executives in Europe, particularly during the period of the Banco Sabadell takeover bid.

Legacy

As of 2026, Onur Genç's legacy is still being shaped by ongoing developments, most notably the outcome of BBVA's bid for Banco Sabadell. If completed, the transaction would create one of Europe's largest banking groups and would represent one of the most significant consolidation moves in the Spanish banking sector in recent years.

Genç's tenure has also been defined by his advocacy for the role of large banks in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. His argument that European banking consolidation is necessary to provide the scale of capital required for clean technology investment has contributed to broader policy discussions about the future structure of the European financial system.

His status as the first non-Spanish CEO of BBVA has been noted as reflecting the increasing internationalization of leadership at major European financial institutions. His career path — from Garanti Bank in Turkey, through the leadership of BBVA's U.S. subsidiary, to the chief executive role of the entire group — illustrates the increasingly global nature of talent development and executive succession within multinational banking organizations.