Alvaro Vaqueiro of BBVA: Learning from crises

“In crises, the human being becomes more human.”

Alvaro Vaqueiro

In 1995, Álvaro Vaqueiro completed his master’s degree at Stanford University and returned to his home country of Mexico to find himself in one of the worst economic crises in the country’s history.

Nevertheless, he started looking for work and managed to land a job at Citibank, the only foreign bank operating in Mexico at that time. “And so I entered the banking side of finance,” says Vaqueiro, now the Managing Director of Corporate and Investment Banking for BBVA Mexico.

Amid a crisis, Vaqueiro sought and found an opportunity, which taught him that opportunities exist even during the most difficult times.

“When something happens, however bad it may be, you should always look at the bright side. Each crisis leads to change, because we try to understand not only what went wrong and why, but also how to fix it. During a crisis, human beings become more human.”

Finance is always impacted by a crisis

Indeed, Vaqueiro has lived through many crises throughout his career, including the 9/11 attacks.

“In March, I started working at Merrill Lynch, headquartered in the World Financial Center, very close to the World Trade Center. On the morning of the attacks months later, I was just getting into work — [I was] only about 15 blocks away when the towers collapsed; it was very shocking and my first concern was for my family, who also lived in the city,” he remembers.

The confusion experienced during those hours lasted over the next eight or nine weeks. Since treasury and market operations couldn’t just stop, Merrill Lynch moved to an office in New Jersey.

The financial market took a huge hit during that time and his employer was forced to lay off six members of his team, leaving three people to do the work of nine.

“Times were hard. I also had friends who lost their jobs. The most important lesson was that things happen, we should always be mentally prepared and your immediate reaction is what will help you,” he says.

So, Vaqueiro was in the financial trenches during the 2008 crisis, as well as during the current and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “No matter how a crisis originates, the finance industry will always end up being involved,” he says.

That’s why this executive offers a single word to define both his work and finance: adaptation.

A willingness to change plans

Vaqueiro believes you must be willing to change your life plans. For example, when younger, he had been convinced that he wanted to study industrial engineering. Then, in his last few semesters in college, he started working for an investment fund and decided to shift his focus (he had been planning to work in manufacturing).

“It’s always good to have a plan, but the world moves so fast that you should be open to changing it and never be too attached to it,” he states.

Today, as an employer, he doesn’t expect young people to enter finance with prior knowledge or experience, but he does advise them not to be afraid of the unknown.

“If you are part of a good team, a good company and have a good leader, your leader will help you learn and understand that you can do your job,” he says.

When he started working in finance, he admits he wasn’t sure what to do. One of his first managers made a comment that ended up being very relevant to him: “Don’t worry; you’re here to learn.”

His advice to new generations is to be very proactive: ”Being proactive is something that always stands out and attracts your leaders’ attention, regardless of your experience.”

He stresses that finance industry’s main asset continues to be human resources, although the way that resource is managed has changed in recent years.

While previous generations were interested in financing a new car or house, that is not the motivation of today’s talent.

“Young people coming into the workforce don’t think like my generation, don’t have the same values or motivations. As leaders, we have to understand and take advantage of that,” he reaffirms.

Do what you enjoy; it shows up

Although Vaqueiro enjoys mountain biking, motocross and golf, his greatest satisfaction is having a customer thank him for his team’s service and dedication — to be seen as a partner rather than just a vendor.

“If you don’t get up every day and say, ‘I’m going to do what I enjoy,’ it’s not going to go well, it’s going to be very difficult to do things right, and your clients will notice,” he states.

He also recommends ensuring that the values promoted by the company you work for are in line with your own beliefs. “That makes for a successful career.”

In order to make the right choices in his position, he must keep abreast of changes in all areas, something that allows him to see things that others may not.

“Sometimes you go out to eat with your coworkers after the markets close, and you have a huge problem on your mind, with exchange rates devaluing and stock markets falling, but when you look at the people around you, it seems like they are living on another planet. They’re not seeing the same mess I’m seeing,” he observes.

“For the past 15 or 20 years, I’ve always had a Bloomberg Terminal screen in front of me. Now, with my home office, I’ve brought it into my dining room, not to mention that I always have it on my iPad and phone,” he says.

An admirer of Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett, Vaqueiro believes that simplicity at work is vital to success.

“I have come to realize that we love to complicate our lives at work. We love enacting processes and, generally speaking, we can solve problems if we think about keeping the solutions simple.”

He also recommends being more courageous and daring to have and to talk about your ideas, even if they may seem absurd at that particular moment; they may end up being part of the solution.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg invited the GETTERS of the financial market in Latin America to share their insightful stories about their careers, their success stories and the challenges they had to face while not only witnessing the development of this fast-paced environment, but actively contributing to its evolution by creating new tools, sharing best practices and inspiring change.