BBVA Promotes U.S. CIO Fidalgo; Iniesta to Take His Place

BBVA Compass CIO Sergio Fidalgo has been promoted to head of applications and architecture for the bank's parent company, Madrid-based BBVA Group.

Fidalgo, who was in charge of BBVA Compass' Technology and Support Services unit for five years, led a transformation of the bank's legacy technology into a core banking platform that enables real-time transactions. American Banker called it an "epic" project and "one of the largest bank core overhauls in the U.S.," while one analyst told the Houston Business Journal it had the makings of a "game changer" for the banking industry.

Sanchez Iniesta, who until now served as BBVA Group's multichannel technologies director, will take Fidalgo's place at the Birmingham-based U.S. subsidiary. A native of Madrid, he was responsible for developing the multichannel architecture BBVA developed in many countries across its global footprint and the core banking platform it currently uses in Spain. He came to BBVA Group in 1997 following several years with Accenture.

The placement of a channel technology executive at the top of the U.S. technology organization is deliberate - the next phase of the bank's technology growth will focus on multichannel banking, according to BBVA Compass president and CEO Manolo Sanchez.