BBVA, like its Spanish rival Santander, has weathered the crisis better than most. The bank’s retail bias and counter cyclical provisions shielded it from the worst of the maelstrom. Still, the crisis has not been a paseo in the park: Spain’s worst economic downturn in 60 years, plus Mexico’s slowdown, forced BBVA to increase bad debt provisions, trimming third-quarter profit by 3 per cent to €4.2bn. Never mind. BBVA has prepared itself for the worst in its two main markets, and is well placed to pursue growth while peers lick their wounds.

Enter newly appointed chief executive Ángel Cano, a seasoned BBVA hand charged with boosting growth. To the relief of investors, Mr Cano says he is not about to embark on an acquisition spree. Having watched the bank strengthen its core capital ratio to 8 per cent, from 7.1 per cent at the end of June, they do not want their bank to risk a Santander-style deal frenzy.

Instead, Mr Cano favours organic growth. That is a safer bet: economies in Latin America, including Mexico, where BBVA’s Bancomer is the largest bank, should rebound more quickly than their developed counterparts. Indeed, BBVA’s profits from Latin America could be almost 50 per cent greater than from Spain in two years, Citigroup estimates. That is just as well. Spain’s economy is spluttering and domestic rivals are hurting – Banco Popular this week reported a 32 per cent slump in third-quarter profits after doubling bad debt provisions.

Compared with Santander’s deal-driven growth over the past decade, BBVA has missed the boat. Yet investors cannot fault a return on equity of 21 per cent. Such are the handsome, if unspectacular, rewards for a steady hand on the tiller – which Mr Cano purports to maintain.

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