Loans and Allowance for Loan Losses - Classified as troubled debt restructurings (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($) Contract	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) Contract
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of contracts, covered \| Contract	2	0
Post modification outstanding recorded investment, covered \| $	$ 103	$ 0
Number of subsequent default contracts, covered \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default, covered \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Commercial, Financial and Agricultural
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	10	3
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 80,790	$ 262
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Commercial Real Estate \| Real estate – construction
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	0	1
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 0	$ 3,392
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Commercial Real Estate \| Commercial real estate – mortgage
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	0	3
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 0	$ 1,275
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Residential Real Estate \| Residential real estate – mortgage
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	13	17
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 2,772	$ 2,338
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	1	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 505	$ 0
Residential Real Estate \| Equity lines of credit
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	17	8
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 546	$ 977
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Residential Real Estate \| Equity loans
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	10	3
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 408	$ 103
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Consumer \| Credit card
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	0	0
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Consumer \| Consumer direct
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	0	0
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	0	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 0	$ 0
Consumer \| Consumer indirect
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Contracts \| Contract	10	30
Post-Modification Outstanding Recorded Investment \| $	$ 168	$ 515
Number of subsequent default contracts \| Contract	1	0
Recorded investment at subsequent default \| $	$ 22	$ 0

Financing Receivable, Covered, Modifications, Number of Contracts

No definition available.

Name:	bbva_FinancingReceivableCoveredModificationsNumberofContracts
Namespace Prefix:	bbva_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Financing Receivable, Covered, Modifications, Post-Modification Recorded Investment

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bbva_FinancingReceivableCoveredModificationsPostModificationRecordedInvestment
Namespace Prefix:	bbva_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Financing Receivable, Covered, Modifications, Subsequent Default, Number of Contracts

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bbva_FinancingReceivableCoveredModificationsSubsequentDefaultNumberofContracts
Namespace Prefix:	bbva_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Financing Receivable, Covered, Modifications, Subsequent Default, Recorded Investment

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bbva_FinancingReceivableCoveredModificationsSubsequentDefaultRecordedInvestment
Namespace Prefix:	bbva_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 33
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=SL6953676-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsNumberOfContracts2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Post-modification amount of investment in financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsPostModificationRecordedInvestment2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months and for which there was a payment default.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=SL6953682-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultNumberOfContracts1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of investment related to financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings within the previous 12 months, for which there was a payment default.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultRecordedInvestment1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialRealEstatePortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_ConstructionLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_CommercialRealEstateMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialRealEstateMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_HomeEquityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_HomeEquityLoanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=us-gaap_ConsumerPortfolioSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_CreditCardReceivablesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=bbva_ConsumerDirectLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=bbva_ConsumerIndirectLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: