Significant Event

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA
18 July 2002



                               SIGNIFICANT EVENT

BBVA has submitted to the central magistrate's court (juzgado central de
instruccion) number five of the Spanish Supreme Court (Audiencia Nacional),
pursuant to proceedings 251/2002 that are being followed there, - and which were
subject to significant events on 22 March and 9 April of this year - the results
of the review undertaken to ascertain whether there existed in its subsidiaries
in Jersey other structures belonging to the group that had not been
consolidated, besides those mentioned in the report of the inspection by the
Bank of Spain of 11 March 2002, which gave rise to these proceedings. Following
the completion of the review, the conclusions reached are as follows:


 1. Since 1995 there has been no financially relevant corporate structure whose
    capital has not been integrated within the financial statements of the
    institution. There is currently no institution administered in Jersey that,
    being ultimately the property of BBVA, holds assets or liabilities that are
    not included in the Group's consolidated accounts.


 2. Identification has been made of a corporate structure that remained outside
    the accounting sphere of the Group, initiated with an allocation of 39.6
    million dollars in 1979, whose origin has not been established. It may be
    deduced from the information available that between 1980 and 1995 the
    initial capital and its yields were reintegrated within the Group's
    accounting system by a number of different procedures.


 3. The companies that were involved in this structure were:

     a. Blaye Investments. This company received the initial funds mentioned
        above, and between the years 1980 and 1992 it performed transfers as
        payment of commissions to companies in the Group, who absorbed the
        greater part of the capital and interest accrued. It also provided, in
        1986, the initial funds for the company Catya Investments, which is
        referred to later, and for two trusts that had minimal operational
        significance (GBP 62,000) and were dissolved in 1983 and 1995. Between
        1986 and 1988, it transferred USD 1.9 million to the company ALICO, with
        there being no knowledge of the purpose of said movements. Blaye
        Investments was dissolved in 1994.


     b. Catya Investments. In 1986, this company used funds provided by Blaye to
        purchase a property in Rome for USD 3.5 million, which it later leased
        to, amongst others, Banco de Bilbao. In 1993, it sold the property and
        the proceeds from the sale were integrated within the Group as payment
        of commissions or as reimbursement for failed transactions.


 4. As of 1995 the only structure that remained operational was Catya
    Investments, with a residual activity limited to receiving rebates from the
    Italian Treasury for the sale of the property in Rome, which were integrated
    within the Group's capital. The company Catya is featured in the
    consolidated Group's financial statements at 30 June 2002.



                                                            Madrid, 17 July 2002



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