BBVA today tapped the markets with its third senior non-preferred bond of 2019. The €1 billion 5-year issue was priced at mid swap plus 80 basis points, with a coupon of 0.375 percent, the lowest for a senior non preferred debt issue in Spain as well as the lowest for BBVA senior debt (preferred and non preferred). Demand peaked at €1.8 billion with more than 130 orders.

BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila participated this weekend at the annual meeting of the International Advisory Panel (IAP) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He was was also invited to The Singapore Summit, an event that focuses on Asia’s role as a global driver of growth.

Garanti BBVA recently signed the world’s first gender loan with Turkish company Polat Energy. The $44 million loan will finance the construction of Turkey’s largest wind farm. The company’s performance will be annually assessed based on a series of gender criteria, and improvements in their performance will also enhance the terms of the loan.

Even though sustainable finance has been a fundamental issue in the social agenda for many years now, thanks to the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change, the world became aware of the environmental risks and economic impact resulting from the effects of climate change. However, it is not just society that is increasingly more aware. The financial industry is also contemplating climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as relevant factors to determine their investment strategy.

Large technology companies, or bigtech, have a large customer base, access to a massive volume of data and financial strength. While banks also have some of these attributes, it is the network effect technologies that companies benefit from that could ultimately undermine data-fueled innovation that is causing regulators and businesses alike concern. According to Santiago Fernández de Lis, the Head of Regulation at BBVA, if we want to ensure the continued growth, innovation and sustainability of the digital economy, we need to shift our approach to regulation from a national, sectoral approach to a truly cross-border and intersectoral approach.

In recent times, EU institutions have made significant headway in developing a credible banking union. But despite progress, there is still a lot of work to do. According to José Manuel González-Páramo, Executive Director and Global Head of Economics and Institutional Relations at BBVA, the Europe’s new lawmaker team must promote new reforms to advance towards a true union.