Euromoney has named Garanti BBVA ‘Best Bank in Central and Western Europe in Sustainable Finance’. The bank is a known leader in sustainable development thanks to its innovative practices.

CW Enerji, Europe’s largest solar power system manufacturer, has signed an agreement with Garanti BBVA Leasing, one of the industry’s leading leasing companies. As part of the framework agreement, tailored financial support will be offered to clients for the installation of solar-powered electric energy stations.

Internet sales have soared in recent months, resulting in growth in the ecommerce sector. But if new purchasing habits are to truly take root and survive in the post COVID-19 reality, businesses will have to carefully nurture the customer buying experience. Against this backdrop, artificial intelligence (AI) is not only a tool to help improve the user experience and increase customer satisfaction, it can also facilitate payment management and detect potential fraud.

British magazine, ‘The Banker,’ which is part of the Financial Times Group, has announced the results of its digital innovation in banking awards. BBVA emerged as the winner in both Europe and Latin America.

BBVA’s chief executive officer presented the media with 2020’s second quarter results. Onur Genç expects the bank to “certainly beat our capital target by the end of the year,” given that in June the bank had already hit the high end of its target range. He therefore believes that “in 2021, we will return to paying dividends,” as per recommendations the supervisory authority may make.

The BBVA Group earned €636 million in the first half of the year – more than double the results from January through March, excluding the impact of the goodwill adjustment in the U.S. This was possible thanks to the bank’s efforts to anticipate impairments related to the COVID-19 crisis in the first quarter of the year. In a highly complex context due to the pandemic, the BBVA Group has demonstrated the strength of its profit before provisions in the second quarter of 2020, with operating income up 17.6 percent year-on-year in constant euros. “We are facing this crisis from a position of strength, thanks to the resilience of our revenues, our diversified business model and our digital capabilities. Likewise, our solid capital generation stood out during the quarter,” said BBVA CEO Onur Genç.

Onur Genç, BBVA CEO:

Thanks to the bank’s efforts to anticipate impairments related to the COVID-19 in 1Q20, BBVA earned €636 million in the second quarter, doubling the underlying profit from the first quarter. This quarterly figure is on top of extraordinary provisions of €644 million due to the pandemic. In a complex environment, BBVA has once again demonstrated the strength of its operating income, which grew 17.6 percent at constant exchange rates, and its outstanding ability to generate capital. In the first half of the year, net attributable profit excluding one-offs was €928 million (-57.8 percent yoy in constant euros). Including the U.S. goodwill adjustment –recorded in 1Q20– the bank swung to a €-1.16 billion loss between January and June.

Turkey’s Garanti BBVA announced its financial results for the first half of the year. Based on the consolidated financials, the bank’s net income in the first six months of the year totaled TL 3.33 billion (approximately €407.61 million). Asset size reached TL 486.67 billion and the bank’s contribution to the economy through cash and non-cash loans was TL 367.14 billion. Actively managing the funding base, deposits continued to be the main source of funding, with 63 percent of assets funded through deposits. The total deposit base reached TL 306.88 billion with 11 percent growth in the first six months of the year. Preserving its strong capital position, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at at 17.4 percent.* The bank’s ROAE (Return on Average Equity) was 13.1 percent and ROAA (Return on Average Assets) was 1.6 percent.

BBVA has granted CAF Development Bank of Latin America a $200 million loan that will finance CAF’s assistance programs designed to address the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. The negotiation and documentation of the loan were fast tracked in order to expedite support for the region.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has been recognized as the ‘Best Retail Bank’ in the country for six consecutive years. It has also been named ‘Europe’s Best Retail Bank’ for the third time.

How do cybercriminals think? What techniques do they use and how do they set up to implement them? What are their goals? There’s nothing better than putting yourself inside the bad guy’s mind so you will be ready to react. We tell you how these criminals behave.

BBVA is the first bank in Spain to allow zero-touch cash withdrawals from its ATMs, called ‘contactless ATMs’. This new way of accessing cash not only streamlines the process, it also provides additional protection to customers during times of pandemic.

Vestel Şirketler, a part of the Zorlu Group, is making progress in its sustainability strategy with Turkey’s first issuance of a green bond in Turkish Lira. With the issuance, the Group moves closer to fulfilling its strategy as integrated in its Smart Life 2030 initiative (Akıllı Hayat 2030).

Acceleration programmes, like Open Innovation from BBVA helping startups from the fintech ecosystem, are an opportunity to offer tailored support that helps entrepreneurs to refine their model, boost their growth and access investment. In the case of the BBVA programme, the project is bringing to a close nine months of workshops, mentoring and support. For the bank and entrepreneurs, the initiative has provided an opportunity to learn together.

The sixth generation of WiFi delivers faster connectivity, expands its reach, and supports a greater density of connected devices. This technology, which goes hand-in-hand with 5G, will facilitate the rollout of sensors for the Internet of Things (IoT) and the creation of immersive and augmented virtual reality experiences.

Many families are struggling under the economic impact of the pandemic, especially those affected by joblessness. Financial vulnerability refers to the ability of individuals or households to cope with a ‘shock’ that entails the loss of their main source of income.

“Hello, I’m Blue, the BBVA virtual assistant. What can I do for you today?” This is how the first virtual assistant developed entirely by BBVA introduces itself. The newly launched virtual assistant responds to more than 100 customer requests among the 800 features that are integrated in the BBVA app. This makes Blue the most comprehensive virtual assistant on the market. The new tool takes advantage of natural language processing (NPL) and machine learning, which facilitates both voice activated and text-based customer interaction with the app.

BBVA’s Center for Financial Education and Capability’s grant program has selected the financial education research projects that will receive financing this year. One of the novelties of this edition is that seven grants will be given this year, instead of five like in previous years. A total of 40 projects from 23 countries were presented.

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 was selected as the best bank in Latin America in 2020 by Euromoney magazine. It was also named the region’s best bank for sustainable finance for the second year in a row. The publication also recognized BBVA as the best bank in Mexico and Argentina.

The uncertainty triggered by COVID-19 has led to a rise in cyberattacks against individuals in Spain. BBVA has therefore hosted several webinars in recent months to offer practical advice to customers and non-customers and thus alert the general public to the risk of fraud on the Internet. During these online events, involving members of the BBVA Cybersecurity team, including Roberto Ortiz, Global Head of Security Culture and Training at BBVA (People Information Security), speakers addressed the need to educate, inform and raise awareness of cyber attacks to protect the identity and finances of network users.

A bond is a debt instrument that companies issue in capital markets to attract financing from institutional investors (for example, investment funds). Banks also issue debt: it is a way of obtaining funds that they later use to grant loans to their clients. Along with customer deposits, issuances are, for banks, an additional source of financing to carry out their activity.

Spain’s GDP could contract 11.5 percent in 2020 and grow seven percent in 2021, according to the latest ‘Spain Economic Outlook’ report, which was presented this Tuesday by Jorge Sicilia, Chief Economist at BBVA Group and Director of BBVA Research; Rafael Doménech, BBVA Research Head of Economic Analysis; and Miguel Cardoso, BBVA Research’s Chief Economist for Spain. The contraction that is expected in 2020 represents a downgrade from the previous report’s forecast, which estimated an eight percent drop in GDP this year. The downward revision is mainly due to the fact that lockdown measures were in place longer than anticipated and these restrictions had a greater impact on demand, like in other European countries. Still, the reduction in number of COVID-19 infections and the easing of restrictions has led to a strong recovery. The ambitious policy announcements in Europe and a significant fiscal stimulus in Spain reinforces the expectation that this trend will continue. Even so, the risks continue to tilt to the downside in a climate of continued heightened uncertainty.

Garanti BBVA Leasing and Smart Energy, one Turkey’s largest solar power project developers, sign a strategic alliance to offer financing to investors interested in this sector.

This partnership deal will let BBVA employees take an official master’s degree in Big Data, gain recognition as data scientists or achieve an industrial doctorate in data science. In addition, the agreement will enable students at Universidad de Navarra to carry out research alongside BBVA and even join the bank later on.

For the second time in a week, BBVA is tapping wholesale markets with a debt issue. In this case, it is a subordinated Tier 2 bond in pound sterling, with an 11-year maturity term and a six-year early amortization option. The issue closed raising £300 million at an initial coupon rate of UKT plus a spread of 315, the reference index for this type of issuance. On July 7, BBVA successfully completed the issuance of a €1 billion bond, the first green bond ever in AT1 format by a financial institution at international level.

Garanti BBVA Vice President İlker Kuruöz, together with Fatih Sarı, journalist and technology columnist, participated in 3T3, a program where they analyzed the pandemic’s impact on business.

BBVA successfully launched the first-ever green contingent convertible (CoCo) bond by a financial institution, worth €1 billion. The issue was oversubscribed by almost a factor of three, and the high-quality order book drew 225 orders. Strong interest from investors allowed the company to lower the yield from its initial guidance of 6.5 percent to 6 percent.

Álvaro Garrido has been safeguarding the integrity of BBVA’s assets for the past three years. In his role as Chief Security Officer (CSO), he’s responsible not only for the Group’s physical & digital security, but also for its fraud prevention efforts, an exceptionally broad range of duties for such a large company and, at the same time, a great professional challenge.

Today, a group of 16 major European banks from five countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) paved the way for the future launch of the European Payments Initiative (EPI).

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and BBVA are set to join forces to support Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps affected by the COVID-19 crisis, signing two agreements to provide total financing of €1.42 billion.

solarisBank, the German technology company with a banking license, has today announced a fresh €60 million investment injection to enable it to continue its growth plans.

In June, BBVA’s Group executive chairman held a round of meetings with the bank’s teams in Spain, Mexico, the U.S. and Turkey. At the meetings he went over the situation in each country and shared future challenges. “The pandemic will serve to accelerate our strategic priorities – digitization, data and sustainability – as well as the search for new ways of working,” he explained.

BBVA’s digital development strategy of the past several years is now strongly supporting the digital management of customers’ finances. The implementation of agile work methodologies, DevOps practices—coordination across different teams throughout software development—and a global perspective were key for digital solutions to provide value and become scalable among business units and countries. Thanks to BBVA’s commitment to technology and new ways of working, the bank was able to guarantee service quality, adapt its way of working—with 90% of employees working from home—and, at the same time, enhance its response capacity.

The British magazine presented BBVA’s Turkish franchise the award for ‘The best bank in Turkey in sustainable finance’ and ‘The best investment bank in Turkey’.

BBVA in Uruguay has launched its banking application for Apple Watch, another innovation that makes life easier for customers.

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.

Quality Funds, BBVA’s platform specialized in international funds, was named the best pan-European platform specialized in investment funds, according to the prestigious 2020 report by Platforum.

The process of choosing startups in open innovation is proving increasingly difficult in the face of the proliferation of emerging companies globally. BBVA has various scouting mechanisms, and to do this it takes into account factors such as the degree of maturity, whether the solution dovetails with the bank’s needs, and the entrepreneurial team’s passion.

BBVA’s unit in Turkey, national leader in innovative loan structuring, has agreed a ‘gender loan’ with four tourism businesses within the Limak Grubu consortium. The loan’s interest rates are indexed to criteria evaluating equal opportunities across the group’s entire workforce.

Beyond hastening the adoption of specific technologies – such as telemedicine or robotics – one of the brightest outcomes of the scenario brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has been the unprecedented collaborative spirit that has emerged, which could unleash deeper changes in technological development in the coming years. The challenges posed by the coronavirus aftermath may lead to increasing levels of data sharing and faster deployment of solutions to preserve privacy, which could help lay the foundation for new digital infrastructures.

BBVA’s unit in Switzerland, together with Urban Connect, will debut their corporate fleet of e-bikes to be shared among the bank’s Zurich-based employees.

The BBVA Center for Financial Education and Capability’s grant program for financial education researchers, BBVA EduFin Research Grants, continues to grow each year. Despite the crisis caused by the global pandemic, the call for applicants saw a greater geographic reach, making this year the most international yet. The overall number of applications also increased.

Garanti BBVA’s management team received first place in the 2019 Corporate Management Awards presented by the Turkish Union of Corporate Management (TKYD).

BBVA’s executive chairman joined CEO Onur Genç at the bank’s headquarters in Madrid to participate in an employee meeting where they reviewed lessons learned from the crisis and how the bank’s strategic priorities have proven their resilience in the face of the recent challenge. Carlos Torres Vila believes that, in the current context, BBVA’s purpose, strategy and values “are more relevant than ever.” Together with Ricardo Forcano, global head of Engineering and Organization, and Carlos Casas, head of Talent & Culture shared further details about the bank’s plans for Spain and Turkey where the pandemic statistics favor a return to the workplace.

CDP, the world’s leading environmental information platform, celebrates a decade in Turkey. Garanti BBVA is one of the platform’s key partners in the country. The organization recently held the ‘Turkish CDP Climate Leadership’ award conference to recognize the environmental efforts of the country’s businesses.

BBVA’s Group executive chairman underscored the urgency of reactivating the economy to prevent damage that could be irreversible – something we should do standing “united and with consensus.” At an event organized by the Spanish Federation of Businesses (CEOE), Carlos Torres Vila indicated that “private investment is crucial to a digital, data-based, social and sustainable future.”

Ebru Dildar Edin, Executive Vice President of Corporate and Investment Banking at Garanti BBVA participated in the seminar ‘The Changing Future of Work,’ where she emphasized the role sustainability will play in establishing a new, improved normal.

BBVA has now earmarked the €35 million donation it committed to support COVID-19 relief. The lion’s share of the funds (81 percent) were allocated to defend against the virus’ initial hit in medical centers and hospitals.

BBVA is the only Spanish bank to have signed a declaration calling for the need to include investing in renewable energy in the economic reconstruction plan proposed by the European Commission. It is one of the private sector’s latest calls to action to governments that are “committed to a green recovery, once the worst of the COVID-19 crisis is over.”

BBVA’s entire branch network in Spain is now operational after the bank reopened the last of the branches that had closed because of the COVID-19 health crisis. The branches will follow strict safety measures, and BBVA is relying on its appointment system—a service that was already available to customers but which is more important than ever—to encourage compliance with health guidelines and provide a better customer experience by cutting waiting times. BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila visited a branch in Madrid to see how employees are handling this phase of the pandemic.

Francisco Herrera, Computer Science Professor at the University of Granada, is leading research that aims to diagnose COVID-19 in less than a second using chest x-rays. The project, which is in advanced stages, uses artificial intelligence as a tool to interpret biomedical images more effectively than the human brain. This technique would greatly help health clinics that do not have sophisticated diagnostic imaging systems.

How does BBVA manage the evolution of the pandemic across its footprint? After monitoring the news report began emerging earlier this year about a new virus, on March 9, the bank’s Corporate Continuity Committee decided to create a global war room, led by Ricardo Forcano and Carlos Casas, the heads of Engineering & Organization and Talent & Culture, respectively. War room is a military term that is increasingly used in the business world to describe a group of people who are totally dedicated to tackling a crisis, to make timely and agile decisions.

Twelve months ago, BBVA announced the worldwide unification of its brand and logo. A year later, the deployment of the new brand is well-entrenched across the Group’s footprint in both its physical and digital assets.

BBVA’s Turkish franchise has set the goal of reducing its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 29 percent by 2025 and 71 percent by 2035. The announcement comes as part of the bank joining the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Science-Based Targets (SBT), the most important environmental data platform in the world.

BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group operates in more than 30 countries and has a strong leadership position in the Spanish market, is the largest financial institution in Mexico, it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States. It is also the leading shareholder in Turkey’s Garanti BBVA.

In its third year, the BBVA global ninja hackathon took place virtually for the first time. Local teams representing the digital talent community from seven of the bank’s operating countries participated in the event. Despite the separation by distance, more than 1,000 BBVA ninjas joined the initiative, helping their teams solve technological challenges created by Amazon Web Services (AWS). At this year’s event, U.S. team SQL Injection emerged as the global winner.

BBVA’s Turkish unit is on the frontlines in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Emergency field hospitals in Sancaktepe and at the Atatürk airport have received locally manufactured medical equipment.

BBVA Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila participated in this year’s virtual edition of South Summit, the leading fintech event, where he spoke about the challenges facing the banking sector and financial technology in a post-COVID-19 world. “If we are going to have a rapid recovery, the only way is with a model of sustainable and inclusive development,” he added. “Technology and data are the key ingredients, together with people –all of you entrepreneurs who produced ideas– to drive the sustainability agenda.”

June 15 marks the end of the submission phase of the third edition of BBVA EduFin Research Grants, the research grant program promoted by the BBVA Center for Financial Education and Capability to support the efforts of experts and researchers focusing in the field of financial education and inclusion. The program represents a unique opportunity to secure the level of funding and the visibility that many projects need to keep making progress.

Ricardo Forcano, the Global Head of Engineering and Organization at BBVA, participated in a digital meeting organized by the Association for Managerial Progress (APD) entitled ‘Innovation and culture for organizational growth’.  During the event, the director explained how the current situation can serve as an impetus to redesign work methods in organizations. He also explained that BBVA is using collective intelligence and data to face the current crisis.

In the summer of 2018, Pablo Martín sequestered himself for almost 100 days in a cabin in the Swiss municipality of Montricher. His purpose: to write ‘Memories of an Old Hardhead’. At the time he would never have imagined that the plot of his novel would so closely reflect the reality of 2020.

BBVA’s CEO sat down with Turkish news agency Anadolu to discuss the current scenario facing Turkey’s economy and banking system. Onur Genç expressed his optimism regarding Turkey’s progress at the economic level and considers that banks are in good shape to face this crisis. Digitization, in his opinion, will be key for banks in the current scenario. In this sense, he cited Garanti BBVA as an example of a digital leader, with almost nine million digital customers, eight million of whom are mobile.

Collaboration between banks and financial technology startups could be key for finding solutions in the new environment that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about. The digital event ‘BBVA Open Talks Global: Fintech Post-Covid’ included how the innovation ecosystem is reacting in the various countries where BBVA is present. Where Spain is concerned, innovation has accelerated and there are already tech solutions on the table to build a post-pandemic future.

BBVA invested 77.6 million euros in knowledge, education and culture activities in 2019, about 68 percent of the Group’s social investments. These initiatives, carried out as part of BBVA’s Community Investment Plan, benefitted 7.2 million people.

BBVA and Mahou San Miguel, Spain’s leading producer of beer, have begun a collaboration that will roll out the bank’s digital professional development program (‘Ninja’), offering it to the beverage company’s employees.

BBVA placed a €1 billion  inaugural COVID-19 social bond on the market today, making it the first private financial institution in Europe to do so. Demand was close to €5 billion, nearly five times more than the initial offer. The funds will be primarily allocated to mitigating the severe economic and social impact caused directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic. The interest rate was set at 112 basis points over mid-swap, 33 basis points below the initial target price (145 bps over mid-swap).

On 26 and 27 May 2020 the European Innovation Council (EIC), BBVA and Ferrovial are jointly hosting their first online EIC Corporate Day, bringing together 19 of the most innovative startups in Europe. The online EIC Corporate Days are the digital version of the physical events in where the European Commission connects Europe’s most innovative companies and innovators with C-level corporate and cross sectorial decision makers.

Joaquín Dopazo is leading a project that uses a machine learning algorithm to identify proteins involved in the illness and cross match this information with a database of drugs used to treat other conditions. “We checked if some of the proteins detected are therapeutic targets of other medications approved for other uses, and we concluded that these treatments could act on the mechanisms that COVID-19 uses to cause harm,” says the researcher, who in 2018 won a BBVA Foundation team grant in the Big Data category.

Garanti BBVA has rolled over the syndicated loan it received from international markets under the framework of the foreign borrowing program and signed loan agreements totalling approximately $700 million. Both the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) participated in the deal.

BBVA has added a new feature to its financial aggregator One View. Using data analytics, it allows companies to find out the amount of greenhouse gases they emit into the atmosphere with their daily activities. At a time when SMEs and companies’ main concern is how to face the gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions during the health crisis, finding out their carbon footprint is the first step toward taking action that helps them to reduce their energy costs while having a positive impact on the planet. With this information, they can also explore new, more sustainable lines of business that will facilitate their recovery in a new context.

Ebru Dildar Edin, Vice President of Garanti BBVA, participated in a talk organized by Turkey’s Business Council for Sustainable Development (SKD Türkiye) to discuss the social challenges following the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus crisis may lead to a series of changes forcing many companies to rethink their business models. Startups frequently depend on funding, and some may be critically impacted. Still, others may find themselves in a stronger position thanks to their capacity to adapt to the changing landscape or because they provide digital services that have proven invaluable. Could the coronavirus crisis set the stage for the next big startup?

Economies around the world have never experienced a halt in activity as drastic as the current economic standstill caused by COVID-19. The new normality, as the experts have coined it, has brought with it a feeling of global fellowship in which all countries are fighting together to overcome this difficult experience.

BBVA’s Turkish franchise has improved the landing page of its Garanti BBVA Mobile app with an improved design and new digital banking features.

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.

Falsehood, lie, fallacy, insidiousness, post-truth. There are a multitude of synonyms to refer to the term that continues to fill social networks and the media: ‘fake news’.

Laura Lechuga, research professor at Spain’s National Scientific Research Council (CSIC) and group leader in the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), is heading up the ambitious CoNVaT project. CoNVat aims to produce a rapid, inexpensive, and highly sensitive test for diagnosing COVID-19 from the first day of infection. “It won’t only indicate if the virus is present or not, but it will also reveal its concentration. This is important because it gives an idea about how  advanced the infection is,” she explains. The new test should be ready in less than a year, in time for future waves of the pandemic.

What does a company bring to society? What role does it play? Why does a brand exist? These questions can be answered in many ways, each answer hinting at the company’s “what for”, the reason that drives it and defines how it engages with society, its purpose.

BBVA now has more than 500,000 customers registered exclusively through digital channels in Spain: more than 50% did so via cellphone. In 2016, BBVA launched the option of becoming a customer using a ‘selfie’, boosting acquisition of new customers via digital channels. This service and the other alternatives that BBVA offers to users to become customers has become more important than ever after the outbreak of the pandemic and the state of emergency, which advises against travelling.

As part of BBVA’s Community Investment Plan, BBVA has allocated €9.8 million to entrepreneurship initiatives, benefiting 2.2 million people in 2019. It is therefore fulfilling its commitment to entrepreneurship as the driver of opportunities for people, creating a positive impact on their lives in all countries where BBVA has a presence.

The ‘RRSSalud’ project is researching the dynamics and types of fake news regarding coronavirus on social networks, thus helping to alleviate the negative effects of this health crisis. Coordinated by the researcher Ramón Salaverría, the initiative is part of the BBVA Foundation’s 2019 program to assist scientific research teams in economics and digital society. One of the first conclusions of the study has determined that one-third of current fake news stories refer to the health crisis contain health or scientific content.

BBVA in Switzerland has launched a new online platform in record time, targeting prospective customers who are interested in opening an account. They can now confirm their identity over a video call and digitally sign the contract required to open the account.

Dircom, the Spanish Association of Communication Executives, announced the names of the winners of this year’s edition of its Ramón de Corral Awards. BBVA took home two awards, one for ‘One BBVA’ named ‘Best integrated campaign for organizational change’ and the other with ‘El Sentido del Cacao’, named ‘Best external campaign for services’ category. Also, BBVA’s ‘Values ​​Day’ event was one of the finalists in the ‘Best in-house event involving over 500 workers’ category.

Between last week and this week, the bank will reopen an additional 250 branches, to coincide with Spain’s careful easing of confinement restrictions. BBVA has also initiated the gradual return to work for those employees who fulfill critical business functions. The health of the bank’s customers and staff is the fundamental factor guiding this process. In the next few days, 200 employees and external contractors will return to their posts in central services, and 1,300 staff will return to branch offices throughout Spain.

In many ways, the coronavirus crisis marks a turning point in human behavior. One of the lessons this pandemic is teaching us is the essential need to change the way we interact with nature. “We will open the door to new pandemics if we continue maintaining a toxic relationship with nature,” states the ecologist Pedro Jordano. For the secretary of the jury for the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge in Ecology and Conservation Biology, biodiversity “works like a shock absorber”. If it is altered, “it leads to all kinds of problems,” like the spread of COVID-19.

BBVA’s financial education programs and initiatives have benefited 15.5 million people from 2008-2019, of which 13.1 million are children and youth. According to the PISA report on financial skills presented by the OECD today, Spanish youth have improved in these skills, but continue to be below average compared to the countries included in the analysis.

The BBVA’s Center for Financial Education and Capability has decided to extend the deadline for its call for research proposals until June 15th.

Analysts praised BBVA’s foresight as the group booked €1.43 billion in provisions during the first quarter to cover the expected impact of COVID-19 on its business. The Group’s capital ratio was another one of the quarter’s standouts.  The reports published by analysts also focused on BBVA’s strong top-line growth and the soundness of the messages conveyed by the bank’s management, particularly in connection with its expectations regarding provisions and capital generation.

BBVA has joined the manifiesto ‘Green Recovery. Reboot and reboost our economies for a sustainable future’, promoted by the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Pascal Canfin. This alliance defends a sustainable recovery from the coronavirus crisis, and is comprised of politicians, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and unions, among others. “In order to tackle the challenge of a quick recovery, we should start with a more sustainable development model,” said BBVA Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila.

Artificial intelligence is contributing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects directly related to pharmacology, medical and hospital care, or mobility analysis to reduce contagion have found a crucial ally in data science to make progress and deliver results.

BBVA is partnering with the IMDEA Software Institute, which belongs to a network of international research centers in Madrid, on the development of advanced cryptographic techniques. This technology is key to the creation of data-based digital solutions that protect the privacy and security of users’ data.

Carlos Torres Vila, BBVA Group executive chairman and Onur Genç, BBVA CEO, presented the results for the first quarter of 2020 at an online press conference from their homes. Carlos Torres Vila stressed that now, “The most important thing is to look ahead and return to activity” to foster the economic recovery. This reopening should prioritize health, but “reactivate our productive network and employment.” In this sense, “everyone’s collaboration – governments, the private sector and society in general – will be fundamental to overcoming this crisis.” A recession that he predicts will last “for a limited time”.

BBVA’s recurring revenues (net interest income and net fees and commissions) grew strongly during the first quarter and the operating income was the highest of the past ten years. Also, the attributable profit absorbed the provisions established to anticipate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. According to BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila, “the recurrence of our profits before provisions and our solid capital and liquidity position allow us to face the crisis from a position of strength and to front-load in this first quarter the provisions to hedge against the impact of the pandemic”.

Garanti BBVA’s posted a net income of 1.68 billion Turkish lira for the first quarter of the year. The bank’s total amount of assets stood at 456.17 billion Turkish lira, 65% of which are funded through deposits. Deposits grew by 7% percent in the first quarter, reaching 295.92 billion Turkish lira. The bank also contributed a total of 346.58 billion Turkish lira to the economy through cash and non-cash loans. Garanti BBVA’s capital adequacy ratio was 16.6%, with a return on average equity (ROAE) of 12.4% and a return on average assets (ROAA) of 1.5%.

BBVA posted a recurring profit of €1.26 billion in 1Q20 (+6.4 percent yoy), driven by the highest operating income in ten years (+14.1 percent), and boosted by a good performance of revenues and a containment in operating expenses. Following front-loaded provisions of €1.43 billion related to the COVID-19 crisis, BBVA earned €292 million in the first three months of the year. Including the goodwill adjustment at the U.S. unit, the bank registered a €1.79 billion loss in the quarter.

Carlos Torres Vila, Group Executive Chairman:

Egon Zehnder, a global consulting firm, is holding a round of digital meetings with CEOs of banks around the world to hear about their strategies to navigate the COVID-19 crisis and their insights into unprecedented situation. During a meeting held on April 4, BBVA CEO Onur Genç detailed the Group’s priorities in the face of the health emergency caused by COVID-19: safeguarding customer and employee health and continuing to deliver its services and supporting customers.

BBVA and Allianz have reached an agreement to create a bancassurance partnership, aimed at jointly boosting the non-life insurance business in Spain. The partnership brings together two strong and innovative global leaders with common strategic priorities. It also combines the expertise of industry partner Allianz, a leader in innovation and product development in bancassurance, with BBVA’s client knowledge and network distribution, offering customers products and solutions to improve their financial health and that of their businesses. The agreement, which is subject to the approval of regulatory authorities, is expected to generate a net profit of c. €300 million and c. 7 basis points on BBVA Group fully-loaded CET1 capital ratio, according to the initial price set at c. €277 million. Additionally, Allianz could pay up to €100 million more, depending on a series of goals.

“Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis should be green, inclusive, and resilient. The recovery is not at odds with sustainability; in fact, they should be aligned,” Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA’s Global Head of Responsible Business explained at a virtual meeting organized by Finnovating. José Manuel Marques, Head of the Financial Innovation Division at the Banco de España also participated in the forum.

Donations from BBVA employees around the world to fight coronavirus have reached one million euros. As part of its campaign ‘Your contribution is worth double’, BBVA has matched the amount donated by each employee, for a total of two million euros. The donation will be used to purchase healthcare materials, to support vulnerable communities across the bank’s footprint, and to research a cure for the disease. At the outset of the crisis, BBVA announced that it would contribute 35 million euros to fight the pandemic. This figure includes the bank’s one million euro contribution to the campaign in solidarity against COVID-19.

To continue collaborating with the ‘fintech’ ecosystem and keep in touch with startups during the quarantine period, BBVA Open Innovation teams from all over the world joined together to host the InnovaHome Festival, a series of virtual events on entrepreneurship and innovation that enable us to continue providing value to entrepreneurs while the crisis lasts.

As part of Turkey’s national solidarity campaign, BBVA’s franchise will donate 200 ventilators to the Turkish Ministry of Health.

Since the start of the COVID outbreak, a plethora of mobile data collection applications have been developed to help users to report their symptoms and track the disease. In countries like South Korea these ‘apps’ have gone even further and provide authorities with the ability to alert users when they’ve been in direct contact with a confirmed positive case. In this article we take a look at how these applications work, what they are for and how they handle user information.

The mathematical community has committed all its resources to support the fight against COVID-19. Specifically, the Spanish Mathematics Committee (CEMat) has launched Mathematical Action against Coronavirus, an initiative geared towards putting the Committee’s analysis and modeling capabilities at the service of authorities to help them better understand the problem and design possible solutions. David Gómez-Ullate and Justo Puerto, both recipients of several BBVA Foundation grants and scholarships, are two of the mathematicians who are contributing to the project.

Garanti BBVA founded SALT in 2011 as an autonomous non-profit entity devoted to the dissemination of culture and the development of independent and sustainable content production environments.

BBVA Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila and BBVA CEO Onur Genç participated in a virtual Live@BBVA event with more than 65,000 connections from employees. They provided answers to questions about how BBVA is dealing with the coronavirus crisis and sent a message of hope. “Together we can ensure that the recovery is stronger,” the chairman said. “It is time to step up and make a difference,” and to do so, “ “it is essential that we all – authorities, companies and society a whole – act in a coordinated manner.”

The BBVA Foundation has awarded Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Social Sciences for her pioneering insights, which have elucidated the role of cognitive shortcuts in shaping social interactions. The American social psychologists, two of the most influential working today, have been instrumental for understanding how these shortcuts in mental processing intervene in the formation of value judgments about other people or social situations.

BBVA Research has used big data technologies to examine the impact of COVID-19 on Spanish consumption. The conclusions reflect a 49 percent average decline in consumer spending. The analysis has led to a collaboration between researchers at BBVA Research, the University of Cambridge, the Imperial College of London, and the University of Edinburgh. The use of anonymous transactional data to gain a real-time reflection of reactions to the crisis and economic policies was justified for decision-making purposes.

In order to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis as soon as possible, it is important to adopt measures designed to preserve jobs, especially for SMEs and the self- employed, said BBVA’s Group executive chairman. At this point, “We need to put ourselves in the position of the self employed and business owners,” Carlos Torres Vila said Monday night in an interview with Spanish radio station COPE. In this regard, he stressed the role of banks to help these business endeavors overcome the crisis.

Climate emergency is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Besides transport, the agro-livestock or heavy industry sectors are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Our digital activity, linked to our traceable digital footprint, also contributes to our carbon footprint.

In an op-ed published in El País, Olga Gouveia, Principal Economist at BBVA Research, recalls the importance of banking services – considered essential services by authorities in many countries – in the current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, banks are part of the solution and the recovery will be faster if they remain capable of financing the economy.

The anti-malaria medication has made headlines in recent weeks as a potential solution against coronavirus. How accurate are these news reports? “Hydroxychloroquine does have properties that could turn it into a new asset,” says Elena Gómez-Díaz, a researcher at the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine ‘López-Neyra’ (IPBLN-CSIC) and recipient of a BBVA Foundation Leonardo Grant in 2017. The proven efficiency of hydroxychloroquine in malaria treatments could contribute to speeding up the development of a COVID vaccine.

On Monday, the Country Manager of BBVA in Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, held a virtual meeting with the team from bank’s entire business area in Spain (more than 20,000 people) to offer support and update them on the bank’s current situation. The director reported that the bank has managed to adapt to the new situation in record time.

Lending institutions belonging to the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) and the Spanish Federation of Savings Banks (CECA) are joining forces to announce a new voluntary measure to help mortgage customers affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a statement from both entities. People with a mortgage on their first home who are affected economically by the coronavirus outbreak may apply for a deferral of up to 12 months in the capital repayment. Likewise, principal repayments on personal consumer loans are to be deferred for up to six months. This means that these customers will only pay the interests on the mortgage loan, which will reduce considerably the amount they were paying until now.

Thanks to initiatives by BBVA employees, the bank has donated 175 external cell phone batteries to the new IFEMA hospital and 210 blankets to the Alcalá de Henares hospital, both in Madrid.

BBVA’s has increased its initial €25 million commitment to €35 million to be used in to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the countries within its operating footprint. BBVA Group Executive Chairman Carlos Torres Vila recently explained that the bank must “step up” and use everything in its power and all its resources “to save lives, alleviate the economic impact, and help others overcome these difficult times.”

The appropriate design of a product can help reduce its environmental impact and make it last longer. More and more companies are turning to materials that are more durable and easier to recycle. One of the key aspects of product creation is predicting the possible repairs owner may have to make.

In the last few weeks the international community has called on the innovation ecosystem to band together in a coordinated fight against the coronavirus pandemic. A large number of initiatives have risen to the occasion, encompassing schemes that support startups, developers that propose technical solutions, and requests for institutions to share their data with the scientific community. These projects share a single goal: to combine forces, creativity, and resources in the fight against the virus and its far-reaching effects.

Organized by the economic magazines, ‘Capital’ and ‘Ekonomist,’ CEO Club Summit is the premier business event in Turkey, and for the first time, it was held virtually as a precaution against COVID-19. Garanti BBVA CEO Recep Bastug was on hand to participate.

“The effects of the pandemic are devastating. Along with the irreparable loss of human life, both the virus and social confinement are contributing to a severe economic dilemma that cuts across society, including such susceptible segments like SMEs and the self-employed. At BBVA, we want to be as close to our customers as possible. Mitigating the socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is crucial,” explained Lidia del Pozo, Director of Community Investment Programs at BBVA. During a webinar entitled ‘Responsible Banking during the COVID-19 Crisis,’ organized by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), representatives from financial institutions from around the world shared their strategies for addressing the pandemic and its impact on society.

The European Commission has published its taxonomy for sustainable finance, a classification instrument to help financial players and companies determine which activities qualify as sustainable. Investments in projects and activities that pursue the European Union’s environmental goals contribute to the transition towards a low carbon economy.

BBVA Foundation recognizes the Estonian composer with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Category of Music and Opera for cultivating an original language, which has led to the creation of a unique sound world. In its citation, the jury underscores that Arvo Pärt’s creations are “a fresh approach to spiritual music, especially in his choral oeuvre, that reduces the musical material to the essence.”

BBVA Momentum, BBVA’s program in support of social entrepreneurship, is proud of its participant entrepreneurs who consistently demonstrate their ability to innovate under the most difficult of circumstances. The coronavirus crisis is no exception. A number of the Momentum program’s Spanish startup graduates have put the full weight of their ingenuity and resources into providing workable solutions to improve people’s lives.

BBVA’s Group executive chairman said that the bank has to “step up and make a difference” to do everything in its power to “save lives, mitigate the economic impact, and help others overcome these difficult times.” Carlos Torres Vila also announced that as an act of responsibility with society, customers and clients, shareholders and employees in the current context, “Those of us running the bank on a global level and in the different countries have decided to give up all variable compensation in the year 2020.” In a video made for employees, he maintained that BBVA is facing the COVID-19 crisis from a position of strength.

BBVA Group is staying ahead of the crisis with a global remote working plan that protects customers and employees alike. It has also ensured continued, uninterrupted operations for both consumer and business customers by strengthening digital access to its full suite of services. To contain the spread of COVID-19, BBVA has significantly reduced the number of employees working in its branch offices.

Garanti BBVA has put 10 million Turkish lira (approximately €1.4 million) into a fund to support public hospitals as they contend with the coronavirus pandemic. The money has been earmarked to address the most urgent needs of health care workers.

Researchers, businesses, and innovators around the world are putting technology to work to alleviate the effects of the global health crisis. From applications that collect data to track the spread of the virus to 3D printed ventilators for hospitals: these are some of the various technology projects rising to the occasion in the fight against coronavirus.

BBVA has launched a campaign for employees to do their part to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees who wish to do so, can join this cause through the campaign ‘Your contribution is worth double’ in which the bank will contribute an additional euro for every euro donated by employees.

The Group is to donate €25 million to combat the coronavirus outbreak across its footprint. This week, BBVA will deliver an initial batch of medical equipment, respirators and surgical masks, worth approximately €3 million to Spanish health officials.

BBVA’s Turkish franchise is launching new measures to protect the health of employees, customers and society, while tackling the possible economic challenges generated in Turkey by coronavirus.

BBVA is lighting its corporate headquarters in Madrid as a symbol of its support for the professionals who are fighting day in and day out against coronavirus.

Spanish banks are to provide a deferral of up to three months on rent payments for families affected by the coronavirus and living in dwellings belonging to the Spanish Social Housing Fund.  This fund was created in 2013 and includes more than 10,000 dwellings in Spain that are the property of lending institutions.

Garanti BBVA, BBVA’s Turkish unit, has implemented a series of proactive measures to address the coronavirus pandemic, currently affecting 176 countries in the world. Garanti BBVA considers the health of its employees’, their families’, and society at large as its most important priority.

Garanti BBVA’s ‘Instant Insurance at the Branch’ campaign has been recognized with a Bronze Stevie award in the category of ‘Sales Enablement Solutions’. This accolade recognizes the bank’s efforts to develop car loan products and improve customer experience.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management has gone in this twelfth edition to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for their fundamental contributions to the study of innovation, technical change, and competition policy. The joint research of these two economists builds on Joseph Schumpeter’s idea that productivity growth at the macroeconomic level stems from a process of creative destruction in which the continuous entry of new firms and technologies renders the incumbents obsolete.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has launched the latest round of its Garanti BBVA Partners Acceleration Program, an initiative that seeks to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit and support local small business people.

The Spanish Banking Association (AEB) supports the economic measures announced today by the Government amidst the coronavirus outbreak in order to avoid a production drop and to back employment. The AEB also expresses its complete disposition to facilitate their implementation and thus mitigate the impact of this crisis on families and businesses.

BBVA continues taking security measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Spain. Starting this Tuesday, the bank is operating its branches with 20 percent of its workforce, guaranteeing service in all municipalities where it has a presence.  This measures aims to protect the health of customers and employees, following the recommendations of healthcare authorities.

The BBVA Momentum 2019 closing event took place on March 3rd at the Impact hub in Madrid. It set the scene for putting a face and name to the most promising entrepreneurs of this season’s Momentum program. Their business pitches highlighted the potential of their growth plans, which is already starting to materialize for many of them.

BBVA shareholders have backed the Group’s corporate management in 2019 with 99.4 percent of the votes at the Annual General Meeting, held on Friday in Bilbao. Quorum has been the highest in the bank’s history: 66.83 percent.

Carlos Torres Vila, Group executive chairman

• Excellent figures: “In 2019 BBVA posted its highest net attributable profit of the past decade without one-offs”
• New strategic priorities: We want “to improve our clients’ financial health and help them transition toward a sustainable future”
• Dividend: BBVA is proposing at the AGM a complementary gross cash dividend of €0.16 per share. The total dividend for the year stands at €0.26 per share, which reflects a 36 percent of attributable profit, excluding the impact of the goodwill adjustment in the U.S.

Onur Genç, Chief executive officer

• Business model: “Once again, we have demonstrated the strength of our diversified model”
• Profitability: “We are number one in terms of profitability,” among 15 largest European banks

BBVA Group’s executive chairman referred to the Cenyt case at the 2020 Annual General Meeting, which was held on March 13, 2020. This is a transcript of what he said at the meeting.

BBVA shareholders meet today in Bilbao (northern Spain), where the bank will hold its Annual General Meeting. Starting at noon, Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila and CEO Onur Genç will present the bank’s shareholders with the most significant 2019 accomplishments and the outlook for 2020.

Andrew Wong is the winner of the third edition of the scholarship offered by BBVA in collaboration with The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The promising youth from the U.S. was selected among culinary students from around the world. He will complete his training at three restaurants led by chefs Mauro Colagreco, Luke Dale-Roberts and Leonor Espinosa.

YouTube started publishing its Ads Leaderboard list in 2017, to showcase the best performing and impactful advertising campaigns on its channels. The streaming giant has just released the list of ads that garnered the best results in Turkey in 2019, and, once again, Garanti BBVA’s campaigns rank high on list. The list is drawn up based on a number of factors, including the number of organic and paid plays, viewing time and the full playthrough ratio of each ad.

In light of the situation resulting from the coronavirus, BBVA recommends not attending the Annual General Meeting in person whenever possible. The AGM is to be held on March 13th, 2020, at the Euskalduna Conference Center in Bilbao. Additionally, in order to allow shareholders to exercise the remote vote, BBVA has extended the deadline to do so until Thursday, March 12, 2020, at 08:00 pm.

BBVA’s 2020 Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting (AGM) is scheduled to be held next March 13, 2020, on first call, at the Euskalduna Conference Center in Bilbao. BBVA wishes and promotes the participation of its shareholders in such an important event for the company. For that reason, the bank has made available to its shareholders the appropriate channels to enable the exercise of their rights remotely, which are described in the Annual General Meeting section on the corporate website.

BBVA is operating as normal after activating additional measures on Tuesday following the recommendations made by the Ministry of Health and the Madrid and Basque regional governments, and after an employee at the bank’s Madrid headquarters tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). Following this positive case, the bank has closed the area where the employee worked, as well as some common spaces as a preventive measure. The rest of the bank’s facilities are operating as normal.

Unequivocally identifying people online and respecting their privacy remain major challenges for companies and a growing cause of concern for users. Covault is committed to a model whereby banks take on the role of the verifiers of users’ data, which is in keeping with the trend within the ecosystem.

Following a selection process that began last November and involved large international firms in advertising communication, BBVA has awarded tenders for media management and the digital ecosystem to WPP Group and Accenture Interactive, respectively.

In an interview published by the Spanish newspaper ABC, BBVA’s Group executive chairman took stock of recent years and anticipated the bank’s focus looking ahead with new strategic priorities. Carlos Torres Vila underscored that the bank has reached “the [capital] levels where we want to be.” Now that this has been accomplished, in the medium to long term “there is an opportunity to increase BBVA shareholder returns through dividends or share buybacks,” he said.

BBVA Global Wealth (GW), the BBVA Group private global banking unit has entered into an agreement with art advisory firm We Collect to expand its art advisory services to customers in Spain and Switzerland. One of BBVA GW’s goals is to promote non-financial art-related issues, incorporating new opportunities for customers throughout 2020.

In commemoration of International Women’s Day, BBVA’s Turkish franchise has launched a new initiative called ‘Women are the future.’ Garanti BBVA has reserved its digital channels, social networks and screens at branches for the winners of the contest, Turkey’s Women Entrepreneurs Competition.

As part of his tour across all regions and business areas, BBVA CEO Onur Genç met in Madrid with the team of the bank’s wholesale banking area, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB). Genç had the opportunity to review the priorities of the business units and wholesale banking products that comprise this area of the bank.

Madrid-based Ciudad BBVA today hosted the official conference of the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases (FEDER), which included the participation of Queen Letizia; BBVA Group executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila; the Health Minister Salvador Illa; and the President of the Congress of Deputies Meritxell Batet.

Pablo Inchausti works at BBVA Argentina and is a very special member of the ‘Ninja’ initiative. In 2019, he became the first person to earn a black belt as part of this program designed to promote and give visibility to BBVA’s technological talent. Now he’s willing to help more and more colleagues do the same.

BBVA’s ‘Ninja’ initiative is a pioneering program designed to allow any employee to acquire technological knowledge and skills thanks to the use of gamification techniques and training offered by the best tech companies and educational platforms in the market. Following its success in the units more linked to the Group’s technological transformation –where nearly 9,000 employees are currenlty enrolled–, it will expand to new areas of the bank in 2020.

BBVA’s Turkish unit broke new ground in the country, issuing Turkey’s first integrated annual report based on artificial intelligence. A leader in harnessing the power of technology in its products and services, the bank issued its 2019 Integrated Annual Report entitled ‘The Next Decade’.

The BBVA Foundation has honored Charles Bennett, Gilles Brassard, and Peter Shor with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences for their respective roles in the development of quantum computing and cryptography.

By Anita Dharapuram

On March 3, the winners of 2019 BBVA Momentum will arrive in Madrid, Spain to celebrate their entrepreneurial accomplishments and culminate this year’s program. A handful of the program’s winners hail from Turkey, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States – and one was recently recognized by Forbes magazine. 

The European Research Council has presented one of its most prestigious research grants to  Stephen Hansen, an Associate Professor of Economics and researcher at the Imperial College of London, and previously at the University of Oxford. With this grant, Hansen will start a research project on big data together with BBVA Research.

In just a few short days the closing event for BBVA Momentum 2019 will take place. International experts in social entrepreneurship will join the best of the best of this year’s pool of entrepreneurs at the celebration. The three most promising social ventures from this year’s Turkish Momentum program will travel to Madrid to present their business models.

Over 20 leading international and national experts and the most promising social entrepreneurs of BBVA Momentum 2019 edition will meet in Madrid for the global event bringing the edition to a close. Those attending this event will have a unique opportunity to expand their knowledge and professional network with the best ecosystem for social entrepreneurship.

Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins visited BBVA headquarters on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of their strategic partnership.

BBVA is the first financial institution in Spain to distribute cards made of recycled plastic. This launch is part of the bank’s commitment to the fight against climate, and adopt initiatives that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The new cards, which are currently in the early stages of production, will begin circulating in the month of May. They will initially be available for those holding BBVA accounts for young people (Cuenta Joven BBVA).

Garanti BBVA’s Cash Management service portfolio has been recognized by Global Finance magazine as the best in Turkey. The bank’s Cash Management model, personalized customer solutions, product diversity and market share as some of the key aspects cited by the publication in its assessment.

For more than 20 years, Garanti BBVA has been leading and actively contributing to the development of Internet and mobile banking in Turkey. Last year was full of advances, prompting research firm Forrester to name Garanti BBVA’s mobile application as the second best in the world, only after BBVA Spain’s application.

BBVA has mobilized €29,90 billion since it rolled out its Pledge 2025 initiative two years ago to contribute to the fight against climate change. It is almost one third of the €100 billion that the pledge envisages. The 2019 figure includes transactions in green financing (63 percent of the total); financial inclusion and entrepreneurship (13 percent); social infrastructures and agroindustry (9 percent) and other sustainable finance (15 percent).

BBVA’s Turkish franchise announced its decision to turn to renewables to power its corporate buildings, subsidiaries and branches.

The 2019 edition of BBVA Momentum in Mexico has accelerated the growth of 100 social enterprises. The three companies that stood out for their potential growth and innovation will go to Madrid on March 3rd to participate in the global event ending this 2019 edition.

Fintech startups are transforming the path to homeownership with new financing models. Different companies in BBVA’s ecosystem are revolutionizing traditional approaches to home buying, creating new options that are helping consumers become homeowners, more easily, quickly, and with a more personalized experience.

The electronic forensic investigation starts with the application of a series of keywords to people’s electronic devices that, according to the information available, are thought to have had information of interest about the facts, may have had or not participation in them (the so-called ‘custodians’). Devices may include both computers and other electronics used by the custodians as well as data available in servers, in both emails and other files.

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

The three 2019 BBVA Momentum winning social enterprises in the United States will attend the global event marking the close of this iteration of the program (to be held in Madrid on March 3rd) where they will share the full force of their business models. The three companies will participate in the premier social entrepreneurial event showcasing their initiatives, which seek to foster diversity, education, and access to healthcare in the communities they serve.

The Atlantic Council in Turkey and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently held the ‘Renewable Energy Outlook Conference: Financing, Investment, Regulation, and New Technologies in Turkey, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Western Balkans’.

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.

The BBVA and Anthemis Venture Creation Partnership is helping U.K. based financial health business Wollit get off the ground with an integrated investment programme.

The BBVA Foundation has awarded Isabelle Guyon, Bernhard Schölkopf and Vladimir Vapnik with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Information and Communication Technologies category, for helping advance the field of artificial intelligence with their seminal contributions to machine learning. Their work has been applied to fields as diverse as medical diagnosis, computer vision, natural language processing and the monitoring of climate change.

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.

BBVA Momentum ends its 2019 program with the celebration of a global event in Madrid. International players in the sector and the three most promising entrepreneurs from each participating country will attend the event. The event will close the most ambitious year for the program, which accelerated the growth of 169 social businesses from Colombia, the United States, Mexico, and Turkey.

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.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman participated this Monday in the presentation of ‘Superpowers of Artificial Intelligence’, the latest book by Kai-Fu Lee, one of the world’s most authoritative voices in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Both were invited to feature as speakers in a discussion panel and share their insights into the technological revolution and how it is reshaping society. “Through data and artificial intelligence we can improve our customers’ financial health,” said Carlos Torres Vila.

Quantum computing has taken a short time to make a big leap: from R&D laboratories to corporate meeting rooms. BBVA began its quantum journey almost two years ago and now has a team specialized in quantum development, business units involved in the initiative, strategic alliances agreed, and various lines of research in place.

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.