Communications

Shotton Mill is completing one of Britain's most significant sustainable industrial transformations. In partnership with Turkish conglomerate Eren Holding, the former newsprint mill in North Wales will reopen in 2026 as the country's largest recycled containerboard and tissue production facility.

Global Finance has named BBVA Best Bank for Embedded Finance in the second round of the World’s Best Digital Banks 2025 – Corporate Winners awards. The award recognizes BBVA’s leadership in developing integrated financial solutions that deliver simple, immediate, and relevant banking services directly within the environments where individuals and businesses need them.

At the 'Beyond Hype: crypto meets banking at BBVA' event, BBVA Spark brought together leaders from the crypto industry such as Andrei Manuel, founder of Bit2Me, Catriona Wingate, head of banking at BVNK in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Kaushik Sthankiya, head of banking at Kraken. The experts analysed the factors driving the growth of crypto companies, the opportunities and challenges they face when coexisting with traditional financial infrastructures, and how collaboration with banks can make a difference.

BBVA has rolled out a roadmap, known as ‘The Eight,’ aimed at ramping up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to evolve the way the bank interacts with customers, manages risk, automates processes, and strengthens its technological capabilities. This decisive step forward in its transformation will enable the bank to radically improve its range of products and services through innovation and to structurally enhance its ways of working to boost value creation.

Image: Antonio Bravo, Head of Data at BBVA

BBVA and OpenAI have entered into a strategic alliance aimed at redefining the future of financial services through the use of artificial intelligence. The agreement, announced by Carlos Torres Vila, Chair of BBVA, and Sam Altman, CEO and Co-founder of OpenAI, marks a unique and unprecedented level of collaboration in the financial industry to build a radically customer-centric proposition and to drive a more productive and efficient operating model.

The Business Network for LGBTI Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) named BBVA as one of the leading organizations in the ‘Top Líderes LGBTI+ 2025,’ officially held on December 10 to coincide with International Human Rights Day. This recognition underscores the bank’s contributions to creating inclusive, safe and respectful work environments, as well as its commitment to equal opportunities.

BBVA has successfully completed its €993 million share buyback program, launched on October 31, as part of its ordinary shareholder remuneration for the 2024 financial year. The deal is part of the bank’s strategic plan, which plans to have €36 billion to be returned to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks by 2028. Of this amount, some €13 billion will be distributed in the short term¹.

BBVA’s Chief Executive Officer, Onur Genç, took part this Thursday in the Global Banking Summit hosted by the Financial Times in London. During his address, he remarked that the bank remains firmly focused on delivering its 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, which is built around profitable, organic growth. Along these lines, he pointed to BBVA’s expansion in Europe through its digital banking model in markets such as Italy and Germany. He also noted that the bank is firmly committed to “growing organically in the markets where we already operate.”

BBVA’s digital banks in Europe are exploring what could become the first banking app in the world natively integrated within ChatGPT, marking a bold step forward in how financial services integrate with conversational AI. This demonstration shows how people will be able to discover BBVA’s products and services in Italy and Germany through a dedicated BBVA app built directly into OpenAI’s conversational assistant.

Just over a year ago, BBVA created its Digital Banks unit, led by Murat Kalkan, an executive with a strong background in diverse retail banking businesses at BBVA, to drive the bank’s push into new markets with a fully digital model.

BBVA has secured a place among the world's leading digital banks, according to Euromoney’s latest report,  ‘The World’s Best Digital Banks.' The study evaluated more than 300 institutions globally, placing BBVA in the leadership category alongside digital-native rivals such as Revolut, Nubank, and Singapore-based DBS.

BBVA Asset Management is expanding its alternative investment offering with the launch of BBVA Open to Partners Group Mercados Privados IX, FIL. This is the first Spanish multi-strategy open-ended private-markets fund, giving BBVA Private Banking clients ongoing, exclusive access to a global and diversified portfolio of funds managed by Partners Group —a global private-markets specialist with more than 20 years of experience in managing evergreen structures.

At BBVA, the adoption of artificial intelligence is much more than just a technological change: it represents a profound transformation of the banking business. The bank’s AI strategy is built on leadership and employee empowerment as a way to drive uptake and achieve a truly transformative impact. OpenAI invited Antonio Bravo, Global Head of Data, to take part in its annual event OpenAI Frontiers, where he explained how both entities are already transforming the banking sector, with tangible results.

BBVA placed €1 billion in a contingent convertible bond (known as CoCo or AT1) in euros this Monday, with demand reaching more than €5.250 billion. The issue price was set at 5.625 percent, significantly lower than the initial price guidance of 6.125 percent.

Enterprises are one of the six major priorities in BBVA’s 2025 - 2029 strategic cycle.  The bank supports all companies in every stage of their development, offering accessible solutions, tailored to their needs and reality, a global vision (presence in 25 countries) and expert advice. BBVA is much more than a financial provider: it is the strategic partner that boosts companies’ growth, combining knowledge, innovation and sustainability. From SMEs to large corporations and institutions, BBVA wants to be by their side, understand their challenges and help them overcome them with confidence.

At the 6th Mexico–European Union Forum, held in Mexico City on October 16 and 17, 2025, Javier Rodríguez Soler, BBVA’s Global Head of Sustainability and Corporate & Investment Banking, underscored the bank’s involvement in Plan Mexico, a key government initiative in the current administration. He also underscored the bank’s commitment to mobilizing resources to advance sustainability.

BBVA announces that the takeover bid for Banco Sabadell will not proceed as the minimum acceptance level set by the bank has not been met. Looking ahead, BBVA’s Strategic Plan and its corresponding ambitious financial goals will consolidate the Group at the forefront of European banking in terms of both growth and profitability. As part of the Strategic Plan, BBVA is to immediately resume shareholder remuneration: On October 31, it will start executing the pending share buyback of around €1 billion; on November 7, it will pay the highest interim dividend ever (€0.32 per share) for a total of €1.8 billion; and, as soon as it receives the authorization from the European Central Bank (ECB), it will launch a significant additional¹ share buyback program.

In an increasingly digital world, data centers have become critical infrastructure underpinning technological and economic progress. Their rapid growth, however, brings with it unavoidable challenges in terms of sustainability and efficiency. In this context, BBVA CIB positions itself as a strategic partner for companies, supporting them in their transition towards more responsible and resilient models capable of adapting to a constantly evolving environment.

The three leading rating agencies have upgraded BBVA’s rating over the past three weeks. On Tuesday, Fitch upgraded the long-term senior preferred debt one notch, from A- to A. It also upgraded BBVA’s long-term issuer rating, from BBB+ to A-, with a stable outlook, among other improvements. This latest move joins the recent upgrades by S&P and Moody’s.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç said on Tuesday that the acceptance period for the takeover bid for Banco Sabadell is progressing well ahead of expectations. Genç participated in the 16th Financial Meeting organized by KPMG and business daily Expansión in Madrid, where he emphasized the positive response from shareholders, both institutional and retail, who are backing the transaction. He reiterated his belief that BBVA will comfortably exceed the 50 percent acceptance threshold thanks to the financial appeal and strategic rationale of the offer. He also stressed that “waiting for a hypothetical second bid makes no sense, as it would be highly unlikely and would offer no advantages in terms of price, timing or taxation. Shareholders who do not tender their shares will be left out and will not benefit from the price being offered,” he said.

It will soon be enough to spot a shirt we like and just ask a voice-enabled AI device to send it home in our size and in a different color, bypassing the entire traditional online shopping process. Artificial intelligence is set to transform shopping into a conversational experience, explained Carmela Gómez, Global Head of Open Banking at BBVA, at the Sibos financial event. AI will also enable companies to anticipate cash needs, open up new financial opportunities for vulnerable communities, and make access to credit easier for gig economy workers.

AI-generated cover image

Following the recent upgrade of BBVA’s rating by S&P, another leading ratings agency, Moody’s, has raised BBVA’s rating from A3 to A2, one notch above that of Spain, with a stable outlook. The main reason behind this upgrade is the favorable performance of BBVA’s fundamentals.

From January to August 2025, BBVA reached €3.1 billion in agrifood business, a 69 percent increase over the same period in 2024. Of this amount, €2.09 billion corresponded to sustainable business, with 82 percent YoY growth. BBVA announced these figures at Fruit Attraction, one of the world’s top fruit and vegetable trade fairs, held this week in Madrid.

SWIFT, the global financial messaging network connecting more than 11,500 institutions in 200 countries, is set to develop a shared blockchain platform that will function as a common digital ledger for banks around the world. This infrastructure will enable seamless, real-time international payments and transfers and transactions with stablecoins and digital assets. BBVA has joined a consortium of more than 30 partner banks now starting work on a prototype.

With South America undergoing a transformation that demands decisive investments in infrastructure, energy, agriculture, technology and mining, BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) is committed to being the strategic partner of corporations and institutions. Its offering combines innovative and sustainable financial solutions with close, hands‑on support. This is underscored by Verónica Incera, Head of CIB for South America and Argentina, who highlights the bank’s commitment to supporting its clients’ internationalisation with high‑value advice and a clear focus on their specific needs.

BBVA, in a further show of its commitment to offering innovative payment solutions, has launched a new virtual card product in Mexico alongside Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Sabre Direct Pay, Sabre Corporation’s (NASDAQ: SABR) virtual payment solution. This innovative offering in Mexico enables travel agencies to issue secure virtual card numbers (VCNs) for each payment. This improves control, integrates with backend reconciliation tools, and significantly reduces manual work and errors.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila assured in an interview with Spanish news agency EFE that the offer for Banco Sabadell is an “exceptional opportunity that shareholders should not miss.” In his remarks, he reaffirmed his confidence in the success of the transaction and recalled that the term to tender the shares ends on October 10. “We are going to surpass 50 percent. We are absolutely certain of it because it’s an exceptional offer. It was from the start, and with the improved offer, even more so,” he said. Regarding a possible second takeover bid, he affirmed: “There’s no reason to wait because that hypothetical, uncertain second takeover bid offers no appeal compared to the offer that is already on the table—not in terms of price, not in terms of timing, and not in terms of tax treatment.” Furthermore, “BBVA would never proceed with that second bid unless the price remained the same.”

Clean technologies, also known as 'cleantech', are technologies that contribute to sustainability and environmental protection. This includes innovative solutions for  both climate change adaptation and mitigation, ranging from emission reduction to biodiversity protection and water treatment.

The BBVA Board of Directors has agreed to improve the offer to Banco Sabadell shareholders by 10 percent¹. In addition, the consideration will now be entirely in shares, so shareholders with capital gains would not be subject to taxation in Spain, if acceptance exceeds 50 percent of Banco Sabadell’s voting rights, as the transaction would qualify as tax neutral in that case. The Board of Directors has also agreed to waive both the possibility of making further improvements to the consideration and of extending the acceptance period.

BBVA has launched a new service that enables financial institutions outside Europe to send payments to Spain in just seconds, at any time of day and on any day of the year. The service significantly enhances efficiency for sending banks while allowing recipients to access funds instantly, helping corporates optimize treasury management and offering retail customers a seamless experience.

In its announcement on Monday of the annual review of the composition of its indices, Stoxx has added BBVA to Stoxx Europe 50, the stock market index that measures the performance of the 50 super-sector leaders in Europe. The index serves financial institutions as the underlying for a wide range of investment products: exchange-traded funds (ETFs), futures and options, and structured products worldwide.

BBVA and SAP Spain have forged a strategic alliance whereby the bank will integrate the SAP Multibank Connectivity solution to enhance its corporate banking service offering and attract new business clients. The solution will enable BBVA to transform and optimize how financial transactions are carried out for corporate and business banking clients, making the whole process more efficient and agile.

BBVA has taken a significant step forward in its data-driven transformation strategy with the successful implementation of ADA, its global data platform, in Mexico and Colombia. This strategic advance seeks to improve and accelerate the bank's ability to offer personalized and relevant products and services to its customers. The cloud-based data platform, built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies, enables the centralized consolidation of analytical processes, ensures real-time access to data, and scales the use of artificial intelligence.

The bank published its latest ‘Green and Social Bond Report’ on fund allocation and the impact of its sustainable issuances through December 2024. BBVA allocated a total of €5.83 billion to environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds through green initiatives, and €1 billion to projects with a social focus. This year, the amount of resources allocated to activities aligned with environmental criteria rose by 20 percent over the previous year.

On Tuesday, 8 July, BBVA placed €1 billion in senior non-preferred (SNP) debt, with a five-year term maturing in 2030. Final demand amounted to €2.9 billion, before ultimately closing at €2.6 billion. The final price was set at mid-swap plus 85 basis points, significantly below the initial guidance of mid-swap plus 110 basis points, making it the lowest spread for an SNP achieved by a southern European financial institution in the past three years.

In 2024, BBVA channeled €27 billion to boost the sustainable business and fund development projects in its emerging markets (Mexico, South America and Turkey), which represents a 60 percent increase over 2023. Meanwhile, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation allocated €1.5 billion in lending to vulnerable entrepreneurs in 2024.

BBVA is taking a strategic step in its digital transformation by expanding its long-standing collaboration with Google Cloud through the deployment of Google Workspace with Gemini, as part of the global bank’s comprehensive AI adoption strategy.

BBVA's Investor Relations and senior management team have been honored with a set of prestigious awards from the investment community, underscoring their unwavering commitment to transparent and effective communication with institutional investors.

Following the assessment of the condition imposed by the Spanish Council of Ministers on June 24, 2025, BBVA is to move forward with the acquisition of Banco Sabadell as “the project creates significant value for the shareholders of both entities and represents a unique opportunity to build one the most competitive and innovative banks in Europe. Together we will be a stronger institution, with greater scale and the capacity to increase lending to households and business by €5 billion annually, thereby supporting the economic growth of our country,” BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila said.

This week, BBVA completed two significant risk transfers (SRTs) with a combined value of €3.5 billion.  BBVA also reached an agreement to sell a €314 million portfolio of restructured mortgages. These transactions allow the Group to unblock regulatory capital, as part of its strategy to optimize capital allocation.

Today in Frankfurt, BBVA officially launched its new digital bank in Germany. It combines cutting-edge technology, through one of the top financial apps in the world, with a compelling value proposition: an interest-bearing checking account paying three percent for the first 12 months, and a debit card with a three percent cashback on purchases - both paid monthly and completely free of charges, with no fees. “We’re bringing something new to Germany. A banking experience that combines the simplicity and convenience of a fee-free account, typical of digital actors, with the full range of products, reliability, and trust of a universal bank,” said BBVA CEO Onur Genç.

The Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ceremony paid tribute to 20 leading figures in science and culture, recognized for their decisive contributions to the advancement of knowledge. Carlos Torres Vila, President of the BBVA Foundation, emphasized in his speech that we are living in complex times, marked by enormous challenges, but we also possess “extraordinary tools to confront them: science, technology and culture.”

The agreement contributes to the development of climate technologies, or cleantech, in a first-of-a-kind project to support European energy resilience, helping stabilize the power grid and promoting decarbonization in the energy industry.

BBVA Global Head of Sustainability and Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) Javier Rodríguez Soler affirmed that “BBVA is the 4th largest bank financing data centers in the U.S.,” based on data from January 1 through May 29, 2025*. During an event organized by the Spain–U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Houston, Rodríguez Soler said that “the U.S. will continue to be a strategic growth market for BBVA.”

Photo credit: Spain–U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO of Good Tech Advisory and former Head of Artificial Intelligence at the World Economic Forum, reflected at BBVA’s FinAI Summit on the challenges of responsible artificial intelligence and on the kind of relationship society wants to forge with this technology: AI is not our best buddy or our partner, she stated, even though 20 percent of men in the United States have used it at some point “as a romantic partner, the person they talk to, the person they love. Is that the future we want with this technology?”.

Garanti BBVA has contributed over $440 million in support to the Turkish economy by renewing its existing syndicated loan.

The first edition of Global Finance AI in Finance Awards named BBVA the best bank in Spain for its artificial intelligence strategy, both within the organization and in its financial solutions for individuals. The publication also recognized one of BBVA’s revenue forecasting tools as the top AI risk management solution in Mexico and Latin America.

Image generated with Artificial Intelligence (Midjourney)

BBVA’s smart  ‘discrete mode’ in its app detects when more than one pair of eyes is looking at the screen and hides sensitive information. Therefore, you can do your banking and view and manage your cards anywhere, while keeping your financial data private, making it illegible to onlookers and possible cybercriminals. Below we tell you how to activate this feature.

The BBVA Group has accomplished its 2025 Community Investment Objective a year ahead of schedule, aimed at fostering the development of the societies in which it operates. Between 2021 and 2024, the financial institution channeled €594 million into social endeavors, reaching out to nearly 106 million people

Jaime Sáenz de Tejada, Global Head of Commercial & Institutional Client Solutions, stated that “one in four companies in Spain chose BBVA in 2024, a figure that is even more impressive in Catalonia, where one in three companies chose BBVA.”