BBVA is embarking on a new phase in the US following the sale of BBVA USA to PNC. The bank, which has been present in the United States for more than 45 years through its New York branch, is working on a long-term growth plan focused on the wholesale banking business. Víctor Martínez, recently appointed Head of BBVA CIB in the United States, will be heading the business in the country.

The supply chain is the set of elements that allows companies to deliver a product or service in order to satisfy the needs of the end customer. The COVID-19 crisis has put the resilience and adaptability of these essential business systems to the test, increasing the urgency to adopt measures and make them more resilient to potential future threats.

Public and private issuers and investors came together at the 10th edition of BBVA’s Latin America Conference, a forum where they were able to identify business opportunities and share their vision of economic development, the social and geopolitical impact of COVID-19 and the ESG outlook in the region. This annual event, which was held virtually, had record-breaking attendance with nearly 1,000 professionals from over 400 institutions and 39 countries.

BBVA has executed its first sustainability-linked interest rate swap for the glass bottle design and manufacturing company Vidrala. The conditions of this product are tied to the company reducing its carbon footprint, and will allow it to transform variable flows into fixed flows, thus reducing the interest rate risk.

BBVA’s goal is to make the opportunities of this new era available to everyone. Being connected and having operational capabilities from anywhere in the world is more important than ever given the circumstances. The correspondent banking team, also known as International Financial Institutions (IFI), is a key part of this endeavor.

BBVA has been the global coordinator and sustainable co-agent of Iberdrola’s new  €2.5 billion multi-currency syndicated loan. This operation, which was linked to two sustainable indicators, constitutes an industry milestone as it´s referenced to Risk Free Rates (RFR), which replace LIBOR and which will serve as a model for future financing in Spain. It’s also a unique transaction since Iberdrola has committed to donating part of its adjusted margin to sustainable projects.

BBVA and Funespaña formalized a sustainability-linked loan with KPI metrics, becoming the first case of sustainable financing in the Spanish funeral sector which will include three sustainability indicators. The seven-year financing in which the fixed interest rate that the company will pay depends on the fulfillment of three indicators, one environmental and two social. To carry out the operation the bank acted as a sustainable coordinator and Valora as a sustainable consultant.

BBVA’s Shanghai branch has closed its first corporate loan in the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB) with Toyota Motor Finance China. The loan is a short term working capital loan to support Toyota’s corporate activity in the country. The transaction represents an important milestone for BBVA as it is the first one that the bank executes in the local currency after obtaining its renminbi licence in China.

Asia has become the world’s fastest growing economic region of the 21st century and currently plays a critical role in the global supply chain. According to figures provided by BBVA Research, between 2011 and 2021 the region generated 60 percent of global economic growth and one in every two million dollars of investment. And this contribution is expected to increase to 65 percent between 2017 and 2027. This growing trend is driving the global presence of Asian multinational companies as well as the expansion of global multinationals into Asia, where 43 percent of the 5,000 largest companies of this type are currently present. The region represents an important export center and a very attractive domestic market.

BBVA’s Quantitative Investment Strategies business, geared toward institutional investors, has completed its first family of indexes specialized in sustainability. In addition to the  indexes that were previously announced, two more are joining the family: ‘Solactive BBVA ixS Global Inclusive Growth’ and ‘Solactive BBVA ixG Global Governance & Board Diversity’. These indexes make it possible to invest in high growth global companies that are aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and in leading global companies in corporate governance, respectively.

Global Finance recognized BBVA as the world’s best investment bank for sustainable finance at the latest edition of its awards ‘Best Investment Bank Awards 2021’. A global recognition that joins the bank’s other awards for the best equity bank in Western Europe and the best investment bank in Argentina, Spain and Turkey.

BBVA expands its market activity with ‘Quantitative Investment Strategies’ (QIS), a business which focuses on the design, manufacturing and distribution of investment strategies that materialize in self-created indices intended for end investors. The organization will debut this new line of business with the launch of its first index ‘Solactive BBVA ixESG Global Leaders Index’.

Green, social and sustainable bonds have been growing exponentially in recent years. This year in particular, social and sustainable bonds are playing a fundamental role in companies and the markets due to the COVID-19 health crisis. The team at BBVA Global Markets Research is constantly analyzing this market. This is a summary of the latest news you need to know to stay up to date on this ever-changing financial product.

BBVA, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Bloomberg, has developed a new cloud-based technology for the equity markets area of its Corporate & Investment Banking unit. The bank has created ‘BBVA C-fit’, a platform built around AWS and Bloomberg technologies, to provide its equity trading team with one of the most cutting edge platforms available in the financial markets sector.

BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) has decided to boost its equities capability for corporate clients, issuers and institutional clients along two vectors: on one hand, developing its equity investment products factory and digital platforms for product distribution; and, on the other, expanding its ECM (Equity Capital Markets) execution capabilities through a strategic alliance with Oddo BHF, one of Europe’s leading equity research and distribution entities.

If the context in which banks and companies interacted last year was already complicated due to the political and economic uncertainty, combined with the low interest rate scenario, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic last March further complicated this context by forcing nearly everyone into lockdown. Investment banks were a key component for the survival of large corporations. Jose Ramón Vizmanos, the Head of Global Client Coverage at BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking, explained this to the financial newspaper Cinco Días in an interview this summer.

BBVA and Grupo Piñero agreed three sustainable bilateral financing deals on behalf of Levantur. These are the first sustainable bilateral loans to be guaranteed by Spain’s Official Institute of Credit (ICO). The Spanish tourist Group will use the financing for liquidity and working capital needs arising from the economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

BBVA and the Korean energy company, SK Innovation, have signed a working capital loan of €100 million to expand the company’s electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities in Europe. This transaction is the first working capital loan certified by BBVA in Asia in compliance with its sustainable transaction banking framework.

The prestigious international magazine Euromoney named BBVA the best investment bank in Spain in 2020. The bank also received the title of the best bank in Latin America and repeated as the best bank for sustainable finance in the region. BBVA was also selected as the best bank in Argentina and Mexico.

BBVA has closed with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), one of the leading global investors in renewable energy, a green loan, long-term project financing credit facility for the investment in the Monegros portfolio of 12 onshore wind farms in Aragon, Spain. BBVA has had all significant roles, including sole bookrunner, structuring bank and green loan coordinator in this transaction amounting to a total of EUR 380m. Apart from BBVA, the final club deal group was composed of five other European banks.

BBVA, acting as sole sustainability coordinator, has advised the German energy company EnBW to incorporate environmental and  social criteria into its core bank financing. This characteristic underscores the company’s sustainable commitment. The financing agreement turns EnBW into one of the first corporations in the world to include sustainability across its entire financing spectrum. EnBW has issued three hybrid bonds and one green bond since 2018; BBVA acted as active bookrunner in the green bond and in one of the hybrids.

BBVA’s teams in Asia and Colombia secured this cross-border transaction, which will allow Asian client China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) to build, operate and service line 1 of the Bogota subway. The landmark agreement will contribute to financing the largest infrastructure project in Colombia’s history, and is also the most ambitious cooperation project the country’s ever signed with China. The transaction is the first one certified by BBVA in Asia in compliance with its sustainable transactional banking framework.

BBVA, in partnership FinIQ, a market leading fintech company, is announcing the launch of BBVA epricer, a website for its equities and credit linked structured products. The website is designed to help professionals structure and obtain prices for equity and credit linked investment products that aim to either provide an enhanced yield or exposure to the underlying investment. In the current environment, where remote work has become the new normal, the website provides a digital channel for BBVA clients to request from the simplest to the most exotic investment proposals.

Social bonds, as debt instruments that enable project financing with a positive social impact, have been gaining traction among issuers in recent years. In 2019, these kinds of issuances outpaced previous volume records, and issuance activity of this type will undoubtedly be driven by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This is the view of analysts at BBVA Global Markets Research.

BBVA acted as the sole advisory bank and bookrunner in the issue of the bond, Spain’s first in support of the public health system and to combat the COVID -19 outbreak. The bond, issued by the Community of Madrid, was entirely by Spanish insurer MAPFRE, will be the underlying asset of MAPFRE Compromiso Sanitario, the three-year asset-backed fund announced earlier this week by MAPFRE AM.

With a newly updated version of Global Net Cash, BBVA takes another step forward in the digital transformation of banking for global businesses and institutions. In the current context, BBVA recommends more than ever the use of digital channels and joins the challenge #iwillstayathome. The bank is delivering important improvements to its online banking solution, incorporating new features that will provide users with easier, more intuitive access to data with a unique digital experience, and all this in real time.

It is the first international sustainable supply chain finance line (a product also known as confirming or reverse factoring) set up by Acciona, a leader in providing sustainable solutions for infrastructure and renewable energy projects. The €15 million line will be used to streamline payments to suppliers in the ‘Ness Energy Project’, a waste-to-power plant in Scotland. As a result, a total of 25 European suppliers will benefit from the early collection of the receivables they issue in consideration for services rendered to this infrastructure.