BBVA’s launch of the “Smartshoring México” platform creates a comprehensive financial and operational soft-landing solution designed to accelerate the expansion of Spanish businesses into the Mexican market. The initiative aligns with the federal Plan México strategy, which aims to attract up to US$277 billion in foreign direct investment between 2025 and 2030 across the automotive, energy, technology, and advanced manufacturing sectors. By combining financial services with legal, tax, and business networking support, the platform seeks to facilitate nearshoring projects while fostering more resilient, technology-driven supply chains integrated with the North American market.

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BBVA has launched Smartshoring México, a specialized banking and corporate services platform designed to help Spanish companies expand, establish, and scale operations in Mexico. The financial institution unveiled the initiative during a corporate conference in Madrid that brought together executives from Spain, Latin America, and Turkey to discuss evolving global supply chains and cross-border investment trends.

The service reflects a shift from traditional nearshoring strategies toward a smartshoring model, in which international competitiveness depends on building resilient, technology-driven, and sustainable value chains rather than relying solely on geographic proximity. The transition comes as foreign companies increasingly evaluate local infrastructure, energy availability, access to specialized talent, digital capabilities, and sustainability standards when selecting investment destinations.

Operational Details

Smartshoring México structures its support services into three areas designed to accelerate corporate expansion. First, BBVA offers a tailored welcome package for companies entering or relocating operations to Mexico. The package includes corporate checking accounts, payroll services, collections and payments solutions, global digital banking platforms, and preferential foreign exchange rates. It also provides specialized credit lines, financial guarantees, and advisory services to help foreign companies meet the sustainability requirements increasingly demanded by institutional investors.

Second, the platform offers a non-financial soft-landing ecosystem. BBVA has assembled a network of trusted legal, tax, accounting, and real estate partners to assist Spanish companies with regulatory compliance, administrative procedures, and facility acquisition. Third, the initiative creates direct networking opportunities between incoming companies and established domestic businesses. 

Víctor Rojas, the BBVA executive leading the smartshoring platform, said the service enables new entrants to connect with companies already within BBVA Mexico’s corporate client network. “The service provides an advisory ecosystem that combines financial solutions, operational guidance, and connections with local stakeholders to facilitate an agile and secure implementation,” Rojas said.

The Smartshoring Strategy

The initiative aligns with the Mexican government’s Plan México strategy, which aims to attract up to US$277 billion in investment between 2025 and 2030 to strengthen strategic sectors including automotive, technology, energy, tourism, and advanced manufacturing.

“Mexico is highly integrated into US production chains, has extraordinary industrial capacity, possesses talent, a high level of sophistication, and offers access to the world’s largest market, the United States,” said Jaime Sáenz de Tejada, BBVA’s global head of Enterprise and Institutional Banking. “It is an extraordinary opportunity for Spanish companies.”

The new service builds on BBVA’s leading position in Mexico, where it holds a 25% share of the loan market and serves more than 30 million active customers. During 2025, the bank supported more than 3,400 Spanish companies with local market entry, regulatory compliance, and business expansion.

“We are a privileged partner that fully understands the reality of Mexican companies, their ecosystems, and, of course, their entire regulatory environment,” Sáenz de Tejada said, emphasizing the importance of local financial expertise in supporting cross-border expansion.

BBVA, Spain Deepen Their Presence in Mexico

According to José García Casteleiro, head of Corporate and Institutional Banking,  BBVA in Spain, supporting clients from initial incorporation through international expansion remains a strategic priority for the group.

In 2025, BBVA’s Enterprise and Institutional Banking division in Spain allocated US$22.12 billion to foreign trade finance, a 4.6% increase compared with the previous year. While data from Spain’s Ministry of Economy shows that exports to Mexico account for 2.8% of the country’s shipments outside the European Union, that share rises to 4.6% within BBVA’s corporate banking portfolio.

The expanded banking platform provides streamlined access to a bilateral trade relationship that has grown significantly since the pandemic. Trade in goods and services between Spain and Mexico has increased by more than 44%, reaching nearly US$19.71 billion in 2025 despite ongoing global economic uncertainty.

Spain remains the second-largest foreign direct investor in Mexico, behind only the United States. Approximately 6,000 Spanish-owned companies operate across Mexico’s financial services, energy, infrastructure, tourism, technology, and manufacturing sectors, supporting nearly 500,000 local jobs. In addition, more than 10,300 Spanish companies export goods and services to Mexico, making it Spain’s largest export market in Latin America.

At the same time, Mexico has consolidated its position as the leading Latin American investor in Spain. Around 700 Mexican-owned companies operate in the country, generating approximately 55,000 jobs. Mexico’s accumulated investment stock in Spain has reached nearly US$40.56 billion, representing more than half of the total investment stock originating from Latin America.