Analysis-Spain’s battle of the banks as BBVA narrows gap to Santander

BBVA's share price has more than trebled since late 2020, narrowing its valuation gap to Santander and highlighting a divergence in fortunes between the Spanish banks that may be short-lived. Both trace their roots to 1857 and neighbouring northern Spanish cities, but Santander emerged as the dominant bank in Spain with more than twice the assets of BBVA and, until very recently, a far larger market capitalisation. But the gap has narrowed from 20 billion euros ($22 billion) three years ago to around 5.5 billion euros, raising questions about which has got their strategy right.