Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA's new CEO will be someone who already works for the bank, El Economista quoted current CEO Carlos Torres as saying on Oct. 9.

Torres will replace Francisco González as group executive chairman when he steps down by the end of 2018 as part of the bank's succession plan. González is retiring after 18 years at the helm of the Spanish lender.

"It will be someone in-house. We have a team with enormous talent and the CEO will come from there," the paper quoted him as saying.

He also said the bank's strategy would remain the same.