BBVA has taken a step forward in its strategy targeted at young people, with the launch of a new mortgage product that offers 100% coverage in situations of unemployment or enforced temporary leave. This launch, which comes under the framework of BBVA’s Corporate Responsibility policy, is an extension of its adaptability campaign which the entity launched last November and which includes a battery of products and services that aim to offer solutions to customer needs arising in the current economic climate.

The new Hipoteca Protegida BlueBBVA, part of the BlueBBVA project which in turn aims to provide the best solutions for the under 30’s, offers unemployment insurance at no additional cost during the first two years of the loan and covers 100% of the monthly instalment up to a ceiling of €900. BBVA aims to grant 10,000 new mortgages in 2009 with this product and to continue raising its market share in this segment.

The new loan, moreover, also has the same attributes as BBVA’s other mortgages, the most flexible on the market, which enable the customer to postpone payment of up to 30% of the mortgage amount until maturity, to choose between a fixed or variable interest rate and to change from one to another according to the customer’s requirements, exemption on principal payments for 60 months, and the possibility of postponing payments or of extending or reducing the loan principal or term.

This mortgage, furthermore, which has a pay back period of up to 40 years, offers a 1% discount on the loan principal of up to €1,500 and gifts for loans transferring from other entities. It aims, in short, to make payment easier for the under 30’s and to offer them solutions to the various situations they may encounter throughout their lives and in the current economic climate.

BlueBBVA’s strategy with young people

The new product comes under BBVA’s new strategy to boost its presence in the young people’s segment through BlueBBVA. At the end of 2006, the Bank launched a new relationship model with young people, offering solutions to their needs, both financial and non-financial, for three differentiated segments – Miniblue, aimed at the under 13’s; Blue, for young people aged from 14 to 20; and Másblue, for 21 to 29 year-olds, and since then the supply has progressively increased. Over this period, BBVA has gained over one million young customers, which has implied a rise in BBVA’s market share of over 2 percentage points.

The young people segment currently accounts for 10.12% of BBVA’s private customer segment margin, and mortgages taken out by the under 30’s represent 24% of the contribution to the margin through investment.

Unlike other entities, BBVA aims to offer a comprehensive approach, which, rather than occasionally launching one-off products, provides solutions to young people and children’s needs, both in the financial and non-financial sphere.

Last November, BBVA launched a campaign with products to combat the crisis whose common denominator is their adaptability, the aim of which is to respond to and satisfy the demands that may arise in today’s economic situation. Hence, the entity has continued to maintain its credit flow with pre-granted loans totalling €30,000m for private customers and €5,500m for the self-employed and retailers.

Within its Corporate Responsibility framework, BBVA has addressed young people’s demands through its Préstamo Nacimiento (Lit. New baby Loan), which has benefited 40,000 mothers in the last five editions, offering a loan of up to €3,000 interest- and commission-free. Likewise, also specifically for young people, BBVA launched a mortgage for the under 30’s at a rate equivalent to the Euribor minus 0.25% for the first year.