BBVA Compass names Celie Niehaus as its Chief Compliance Officer

HOUSTON, June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BBVA Compass, the U.S. subsidiary of global financial services group BBVA, announced today that Celie Niehaus has been named the bank's Chief Compliance Officer and a member of its Management Committee.

As Chief Compliance Officer, Niehaus has oversight of all compliance activities for the whole of BBVA Compass, including the bank's Retail, Commercial and Wealth units. Niehaus is directly responsible for the bank's adherence with laws and regulations that govern anti-money laundering, consumer, investment and corporate practices, among others. Her expertise will be important in early identification of operational risks, assessment and mitigation.

"Establishing a risk and compliance culture that is business-minded, driven to meet customer needs and collaborative is imperative for BBVA Compass as it seeks to continue its digital transformation," said BBVA Compass President and CEO Onur Genç. "Celie's years of experience doing this in complex regulatory environments across financial services channels - both physical and digital - will be key as BBVA Compass increasingly looks to digital channels for organic growth."

Niehaus has more than 30 years' experience in risk management, all in the financial services industry. Most recently, Niehaus served as the Chief Compliance Officer for Capital One Retail and Direct Bank and Enterprise Services, and was also the company's Chief Privacy Officer. Prior to her time at Capital One, she held executive level positions in Compliance at E*TRADE Financial, Jefferson Wells and Bank One.

A passionate leader and volunteer, Niehaus has served on many boards, some of which include OutLeadership, Operation HOPE, Inc., National History Day, Washington D.C.'s Signature Theatre and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. She presented, moderated, and served as a panelist on the first enterprise-wide LGBTQ+ Executive Panel at Capital One and championed and moderated the first enterprise-wide transgender panel, featuring non-executive associates. She personally promotes community involvement, and has taught financial literacy and entrepreneurship to over 1,000 youth and mentored youth in nearly 100 at-risk and low-income communities.

Niehaus is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and the American Bankers Association National and Graduate Compliance Schools. She is further accredited as a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager.

To learn more about Niehaus, click here.

To learn more about BBVA Compass, visit: www.bbvacompass.com

For more news visit: www.bbva.com and newsroom.bbvacompass.com

About BBVA Group
BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a strong leadership position in the Spanish market, is the largest financial institution in Mexico, it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States; and it is also the leading shareholder in Garanti, Turkey's biggest bank for market capitalization. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best practices. More information about BBVA Group can be found at bbva.com.

About BBVA Compass
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates 649 branches, including 336 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 37 in Colorado and 18 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (6th). BBVA Compass has been recognized as one of the leading small business lenders by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and ranked 6th nationally in the total number of SBA loans originated in fiscal year 2017. Additional information about BBVA Compass can be found at www.bbvacompass.com. For more BBVA Compass news, follow @BBVACompassNews on Twitter or visit newsroom.bbvacompass.com.

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SOURCE BBVA Compass