Following the lifting of the secrecy order, BBVA wishes to reiterate the main messages regarding its actions in recent months.

BBVA stood out at the “Global Finance Best Investment Bank Awards” for yet another year. With 33 years of experience reporting on international financial markets and readers in more than 180 countries, the magazine presented the bank seven awards in different locations in recognition of BBVA’s capacity in investment banking and sustainable finance products and solutions.

In response to a statement released by three Spanish press associations, BBVA states that it deeply respects the work of the media and their important role in society, and therefore, it rejects any practice that infringes their fundamental rights, the freedom of information and the freedom of speech.

BBVA is now offering its shareholders the possibility of exercising their right to vote or the delegation of this right through three channels: the websites bbva.es and bbva.com, and the bank’s mobile banking app. These voting and delegation options are available from February 19th through March 12th. BBVA’s Annual General Meeting is planned for March 13th in Bilbao.

BBVA officially presented the six strategic priorities that will allow the Group to accelerate and strengthen its transformation in the coming years. Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila and CEO Onur Genç announced the new priorities at a Live@BBVA event, broadcast via streaming for the bank’s 126,000 employees around the world.

For the tenth consecutive year, Garanti BBVA was presented the award for the Best Trade Finance Bank by Global Finance magazine. This award confirms yet again Garanti BBVA’s experience and leadership offering its clients unique solutions in the trade finance field.

Over the past two years, market volatility has caused investors to think twice before investing in Turkish assets. In an interview for Bloomberg in Turkey, Emre Hatem, head of Corporate Loans and Project Finance Restructuring at Garanti BBVA, discusses the country’s economic outlook for 2020 following 2019’s slump in transactions.

 Pillar No. 1

BBVA believes that banks play a key role in the future of society, particularly in how they address the social and environmental challenges we all face.

Today BBVA launched an issuance of senior non-preferred debt in Switzerland. It is the first time the bank has issued debt in the alpine country. The deal closed at 160 million Swiss francs (around €150 million), well above the initial offer of CHF 150 million (around €140 million).

BBVA’s Executive Board Member analyzed in Frankfurt the main challenges that Europe will face in the decade ahead and how they will affect banks. José Manuel González-Páramo noted that, on top of political and economic challenges, Europe will need to tackle “the double disruption that digital transformation and climate change will bring” and which will impact not only its economy, but also its financial institutions.