BBVA will resume today, March 16, 2022, the execution of its share buyback program. After completing a €1.5 billion initial tranche, it will continue with an additional amount of up to €1 billion, to be executed in the next two to three months. Following its completion, BBVA will proceed with additional buybacks of up to a maximum of €1 billion, thus completing its share buyback program for a maximum of €3.5 billion, one of the largest among European banks to date.

BBVA is rolling out its innovative Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) product line for investors in South America, focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of investment strategies that materialize in proprietary indices. In March, Peru will become the first country to incorporate these innovative strategies into local investment products. Colombia and Chile will follow.

Garanti BBVA recently published its 2021 Integrated Annual Report entitled ‘How Does a Bank Create Value?’ Covering both the bank’s activities throughout the year and its economic indicators, the aim of the report is to serve as an example and an inspiration, inviting all of the Garanti BBVA’s stakeholders to turn words into action.

Starting Jan 1, 2022, BBVA must meet a volume of own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) of 21.46 percent, or 24.72 percent including the requirement of combined capital buffers in terms of its risk-weighted assets (RWAs). As of December 31, 2021, the bank already complied with this requirement, reaching 28.24 percent, as well as with the subordination requirement.

BBVA received approval from the Chilean Financial Market Commission (CMF) to open a representative office in the country's capital, Santiago de Chile. It will focus on developing and promoting the investment banking business, under the management of BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (BBVA CIB).

BBVA has released the 2021 annual report on the remuneration of directors. For the first time the bank is applying the directors’ remuneration policy approved at the latest Annual General Meeting (AGM), which includes the best practices in the market in terms of compensation. In 2021, a year in which the bank posted its highest recurring result and the highest cash dividend per share of the past ten years, the total remuneration for the Chair and the CEO increased 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively, compared to 2019. The remuneration of 2020 is not comparable as that year both waived their full variable compensation as a gesture of responsibility during a period heavily marked by the pandemic.

The finalization of Basel III, post-COVID regulation, artificial intelligence and the crypto world, or international coordination in the supervision of sustainable finance are some of the trends that will mark the regulatory agenda in 2022. Santiago Fernández de Lis, Head of Regulation at BBVA, reviews the keys to financial regulation in the year that has just begun.

BBVA is the first Spanish bank to launch on the wholesale markets, with a euro-denominated senior non-preferred bond of 1 billion euros. The issue has received a high level of demand of two billion euros - double the target, with 125 orders.