BBVA Plans to Grow Subprime in 2015

Birmingham, Ala.-based BBVA Compass is continuing to look at moving down the credit spectrum in 2015, said Shayan Khwaja, the bank’s executive vice president of direct consumer finance.

“We have historically been a very prime/super-prime shop, and we’re starting to kind of have a broader scope of the business, so we’re going down all the way into the subprime business,” Khwaja told Auto Finance News. “Just very gradually expanding the spectrum somewhat, given our risk appetite.”

BBVA began a subprime initiative in early 2014, so subprime levels have remained low, Khwaja said, but the bank has just begun to scratch the surface and plans to make it more of a focus in 2015.

“2014 saw some growth there, but it’s less than 5%, and it won’t be much more significant than that in 2015,” Khwaja said. “I’d say we’ll hold to similar levels of percentages, but with a larger origination target.”