The European Commission has warmly received the Principles for Responsible Banking. The vice president of the European Commission applauded this UN-sponsored initiative, which BBVA has actively championed since its inception. “It is truly encouraging to witness this initiative. Now is the time to implement them and truly scale up in sustainable finance. We need European banks to lead the way,” explained Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, at a European Banking Federation forum held on February 5 in Brussels.

BBVA Compass today announced that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta rated it “Outstanding” for CRA performance for its most recent examination period encompassing 2015 to 2017. The bank achieved “excellent performance” for community development lending and investments, and “high satisfactory” for service, which would translate to an overall “Outstanding” rating.

For the ninth consecutive year, BBVA Compass once again sponsored the AFP Aware community service project, a campaign where the annual AFP Aware conference gives back to the region where the conferences is held.

BBVA Compass announced Thursday that it will provide financial relief for clients directly impacted by the current federal government shutdown.

What do you get when you cross a group of agile-trained bankers with a community food bank project? A record-breaking day.

After half a decade of bringing holiday joy and toys to students across the country, the BBVA Compass Foundation’s Project Blue Elf campaign has shifted its focus to surprise and delight families that participate in the bank’s financial education programs.

BBVA Compass wraps up a four-month pilot program in December designed to provide financial education workshops through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations. Based on the success of the pilot program, the bank plans to execute a full program launch next year.

BBVA Momentum, the social enterprise accelerator program launched in Spain and Mexico in 2011, wrapped up its second year in the U.S. in November with 16 entrepreneur participants.

Under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), Garanti joined 27 other global banks at the presentation of the Principles for Responsible Banking in Paris. BBVA owns a 49.85% stake of Garanti – the only Turkish bank participating in this global initiative.

Social entrepreneur Michelle Corson of Dallas, Texas took home the $75,000 first prize for On the Road Lending, a company which finances fuel-efficient and reliable cars, under warranty, for lower-skilled workers with weak credit at the wrap of BBVA Compass second annual social entrepreneur program BBVA Momentum.

BBVA Compass was the presenting sponsor of last weekend’s Black Tie Dinner, the nation’s largest one night LGBTQ fundraising dinner.

BBVA Compass today launched the Birmingham chapter of its Business Resource Group (BRG) Women in Leadership.

More than 1,800 BBVA Compass employees — plus another 250 friends and family members — joined their BBVA co-workers across the globe to participate in the bank’s Week of Volunteering September 24-30.  Employees across the footprint participated in 189 individual events, including Habitat for Humanity projects, food bank initiatives, community clean up efforts, and financial education workshops for individuals and small businesses.

For the second year in a row, BBVA has been named among the 200 companies in the world most advanced in gender equality, according to the Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking. The ranking is carried out annually by Equileap, an organization created with the goal of promoting progress in gender equality on a corporate level.

After months of anticipation, the BBVA Compass Iron City Showdown tipped off last night at 7 p.m. at Legacy Arena in front of 16,888 fans in attendance, culminating in a 131-115 Houston Rockets win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Financial education specialists are gathering in Buenos Aires to celebrate EduFin Summit 2018, a forum that seeks to foster debate on the industry’s biggest challenges. BBVA’s Center for Financial Education and Capability has organized the second edition of this global event, which this year has a special focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Over the course of two days, representatives of the public sector, the corporate world and educational institutions will share data and insights into their success stories in financial inclusion and education.

Waller Creek Conservancy announced BBVA Compass as its lead corporate partner in the Waller Creek Park Community Program on Tuesday.

BBVA Compass Gainesville City President Robert McDaniel has seen a good amount in his seasoned career in the banking industry.

BBVA Compass has selected 16 social entrepreneurs from across the country to participate in its BBVA Momentum accelerator program, designed to help participants enhance their operations to impact the lives of more people.

BBVA Compass is teaming up with nonprofits to build a comprehensive network of financial education offerings, with the goal of giving 20,000 low- to moderate-income individuals and families the knowledge they need to take better control of their financial lives.

The 2018 BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup will benefit the KIPP Opportunity Campus, BBVA Compass and the Dynamo announced this afternoon.

The BBVA Compass Foundation has announced that it will donate $2,500 to the Santa Fe Texas Education Foundation, Inc. to aid in recovery efforts in the wake of the recent tragedy at Santa Fe High School.

BBVA is one of 26 international banks that will work jointly on the development of Banking Principles that will align the banking industry’s business model to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The United Nations is driving the initiative. BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman stressed that “these banking principles will define the standards and accountability model for the future of banking.”

BBVA opened its headquarters in Madrid to welcome investors, business leaders, public and private institutions and the media, to an event aimed at promoting sustainable development and the fight against climate change. During the first edition of the ‘BBVA Sustainable Finance Forum,’ Group Executive Chairman Francisco González explained the reason for the meeting: “Banks need to help customers drive sustainable development and transition towards a low-carbon economy. At BBVA, we want to be the catalysts of this change.” Francisco González opened the event alongside Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Vice-President of the Government of Spain.

This Wednesday BBVA will hold the BBVA Sustainable Finance Forum, bringing together investors, businesspeople, institutional representatives, and sustainable finance experts with the aim to boost the finance industry’s role in sustainable development and the fight against climate change. Taking place at BBVA’s headquarters in Madrid, the forum will be inaugurated by the Francisco González, Group Executive Chairman of BBVA, and Spain’s Vice President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría.

Sixteen international banks convened by the United Nations jointly published a first version of the methodology to provide banking greater transparency and advance a better understanding of the management of risks and opportunities related to climate change. BBVA is one of the institutions participating in the project.

BBVA Compass is expanding its BBVA Momentum accelerator program this year and inviting social entrepreneurs from across its seven-state Sunbelt footprint to apply. The bank will select up to 35 entrepreneurs to participate in the intensive five-month training program for entrepreneurs who want to change the world through their work.

HOUSTON — BBVA Compass and Opportunity Finance Network today announced the names of the 27 dedicated leaders at community development financial institutions who were selected for the 2018 Opportunity Fellows Program, their joint initiative to boost the CDFI industry’s leadership ranks and spur greater access to capital in under-resourced communities.

Garanti Bank has taken the opportunity before the United Nations to present its ongoing efforts in the global engagement against gender-based violence. Garanti’s campaign against this societal anathema is coordinated by the Turkish bank’s Talent & Culture Department, with the bank’s “Good Practice” report presented on March 19 of this year before the 62nd Session of United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (62nd CSW) within the scope of the Business against Domestic Violence (BADV) project.

BBVA allocated 103 million euros in 2017 to social initiatives on a global level. BBVA continued to reinforce the main pillars of action of its Community Investment Plan for the period 2016-2018: financial education, social entrepreneurship and knowledge. The graphic shows the main actions undertaken in these areas:

The European Commission has published its Action Plan to boost the contribution of the financial industry to the aim of achieving a more sustainable global economy. The Plan is in line with BBVA’s 2025 Commitment, the Bank’s strategy on climate change and sustainability, which involves the mobilization of €100 billion over the next eight years to promote the transition toward a low-carbon economy and the sustainable development.

BBVA Compass assembled Albuquerque leaders Thursday to celebrate the bank’s $2.8 million in equity equivalent investments in Homewise and the New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, two organizations dedicated to creating opportunities for low- to moderate-income families in the city.

BBVA has marked a new milestone in the sustainable finance business with the closing of the first global transaction in the insurance sector. MAPFRE has transformed its syndicated credit facility for 1 billion euros into sustainable finance with the cooperation of BBVA, which acted as Sustainable Agent in the transaction.

BBVA Compass and Opportunity Finance Network are putting out the call to dedicated leaders at community development financial institutions and inviting them to apply to the Opportunity Fellows Program, their joint initiative to boost the CDFI industry’s leadership ranks and spur greater access to capital in under-resourced communities.

BBVA took part in the first seminar organized by the Institute of Compliance Officers (IOC).  Executives of Spanish multinationals addressed the main challenges facing the profession in applying current regulations within a company. They underscored the fundamental role of the compliance officer in companies committed to transparency and good corporate governance.

BBVA Compass is honoring promising Latino students Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where it is sponsoring the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s 19th National Youth Awards Ceremony and creating opportunities for the high school seniors to pursue their college dreams or hone their leadership skills.

Garanti Bank has won an award recognizing its commitment to the principles of corporate governance and its compliance with the directives of Turkey´s Capital Markets Board (CMB).

Goodwill Central Texas will open a new hub for financial education as part of the future Goodwill Career and Technical Academy, with funding generously provided by the BBVA Compass Foundation. The BBVA Compass Center for Financial Education will break ground in late 2018.

Acting on its brand message and promise of “creating opportunities,” BBVA Compass continues to pave the way for people and communities throughout its footprint. Most recently, the bank dedicated time to two community service projects in San Diego as a sponsor of AFP Aware, an initiative where the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), as part of its annual conference, partners with organizations committed to corporate and social responsibility.

A bright new year dawned for BBVA Compass in 2017 with the January installation of a new President and CEO and the debut of a new global tagline – Creating Opportunities – that would become the theme for the bank’s activities throughout the year.

Chad Houser of Dallas-based Café Momentum, a restaurant training platform for juvenile offenders, won the top prize of $50,000 last week as the BBVA Momentum program for social entrepreneurs closed out its inaugural season in the U.S.

In October, BBVA Compass joined officials from The Salvation Army at a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the non-profit’s new Center of Hope in Birmingham, Alabama.

For half a decade, the BBVA Compass Foundation’s Project Blue Elf campaign has created opportunities for a total of more than 20,000 students across the country during its existence, filling them with holiday joy and handing out toys during a time of giving.

Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain presided over the presentation of the 2017 Teacher Action Awards, held at BBVA City in Madrid. The prizes are aimed at raising awareness about the importance of the role of Spanish education centers in promoting social values. The event was organized by the Foundation for Aid Against Drug Addiction (FAD), the Spanish National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, and BBVA. The Queen was accompanied by BBVA Group Executive Chairman Francisco González; the president of the Foundation for Action Against Drug Addiction, Ignacio Bayón and the Secretary of State for Education, Marcial Marín.

If the No. 1 fear in the U.S. is public speaking — and it actually is, according to a number of surveys, even above the fear of death itself — then the seminar for BBVA Momentum participants this fall at the University of Texas at Austin was a security blanket.

BBVA Compass and KIPP Houston Public Schools cut the ribbon Monday on the charter school system’s newest campus: the BBVA Compass Opportunity Campus, home of KIPP NEXUS Primary School and KIPP NEXUS Middle School in Northwest Houston. The campus, which welcomed its inaugural classes in the fall, is the first KIPP campus nationwide to share its name with a corporate investor.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and BBVA have joined forces to help provide Spanish SMEs the funding they need to implement their digitization and innovation strategies. EIB Vice President Román Escolano, and the Head of BBVA Spain, Cristina de Parias, signed an agreement today in Madrid through which the EIB will provide BBVA €150 million to finance SME investment projects related to innovation and digitization. BBVA will provide an additional €150 million of its own resources to fund this new line of credit.

Creating Opportunities is BBVA Compass’ mission and brand promise. The person tasked with leading the team that brings that brand to life through multiple channels was honored this past week by the marketing leadership community organization, The CMO Club.

The Conference on the United Nations Convention on Climate Change is currently taking place in Bonn, from Nov. 6-17. At a side event hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), BBVA was invited to share its approach to green finance.