Spanish bank aims for China and India

BBVA, Spain's second-largest banking, is looking for medium- to long-term opportunities to expand its foothold in markets in China, India and Brazil, the Spanish bank's chairman said in an interview.

The lender has expanded aggressively in recent years to reduce its dependence on Spain, where economic growth is slowing sharply.

Earlier this month, BBVA doubled its stake in mainland China's seventh largest bank CITIC to 10 per cent and took an option to buy another five per cent.

"In India or China, you have to think long-term, not in getting there and making money tomorrow," Francisco Gonzalez told El Pais.

"If China develops properly, and I think it will, we will have an excellent opportunity to do good business in China," he added. Gonzalez said he was keen to expand BBVA's presence in India, where it has only one branch.

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