The agreement between Hochschild Mining and BBVA is a ‘Club Deal’ facility totaling $200 million in favor of the mining companies Ares and Amarillo Mineraçao do Brasil.

This Wednesday, BBVA CEO Onur Genç emphasized the bank’s excellent performance in the first half of the year, and the sustainability of these metrics over time. He specifically pointed to improvement in profitability indicators, with an ROTE of 16.9 percent at the end of June 2023. “We have been delivering better than the competition - not only at the Group level, but at the country level,” he said during a conference for investors organized by Bank of America in London.

NFTs are unique and verifiable representations of digital assets, such as works of art, music, videos, virtual collectibles and other types of digital content, based on blockchain technology to guarantee their authenticity and ownership. Over 64 percent of those who purchase NFTs do so for profitability, while 12 percent are simply collectors.

BBVA has incorporated a new form of connection to its treasury solutions via API, reducing companies’ integration times for BBVA Pivot Connect by 80 percent. The first three APIs, available on BBVA Pivot, make it possible for companies to manage and trace payments to suppliers, track international payments, and check balances and transactions in accounts in any country.

BBVA Spark is the financial ally of high-impact companies and the partner of reference for the entire ecosystem of entrepreneurs. This unit, already present in Mexico, Spain and Colombia, will expand to the rest of the South American countries.

With BBVA financing, Supermercados Peruanos seeks to have a direct impact on the percentage of recycled waste and to increase the number of people benefiting from its food donation program ‘Bueno por dentro’ (Good on the inside).

The events aim to provide support and guidance for sectors and institutions impacted by both the European Green Deal and Carbon Border Regulation processes.

The prestigious publication has included BBVA among the best companies in the world in the first edition of this list put together in collaboration with Statista.The bank is the second Spanish company in the ranking and sixth bank worldwide. The ‘World’s Best Companies’ is a comprehensive list of the most remarkable organizations around the globe  in various sectors based on three dimensions: employee satisfaction, revenue growth and sustainability.

BBVA today placed $1 billion in an AT1 contingent convertible (CoCo) bond on the US market. The bond has a 6-year redemption option. The interest rate has been set at 9.375%, below the exit rate of 9.625%. Demand has tripled the initial offering, reaching $3.4 billion. This is BBVA’s second CoCo bond issue so far this year.

BBVA has invested 25 million dollars in a new round of financing from the venture capital fund Lowercarbon, which specializes in decarbonization. This new investment, added to a previous one of 20 million reaching a total of 45 million, will be allocated to disruptive solutions with enormous potential, including new technology based on nuclear fusion.

Although the most recent Gender Equality Report presented at the World Economic Forum recorded that Colombia has closed the gender equality gap by 75.1 percent, it is still a challenge to reach the figures of countries such as Iceland, which ranks first with 91.2 percent.

This pioneering initiative by Garanti BBVA will see this year a new category, ‘Women’s Cooperative of Türkiye’, aiming to recognize women’s efforts through cooperatives. Candidates may apply by filling out the form at www.garantibbvakadingirisimci.com until November 15, 2023.

The bank has launched an educational video channel aimed at children to supplement the shows shown on Learn together 2030 KIDS. The new proposition will target channels that cater to young audiences (YouTube Kids, TikTok, Instagram), with enticing content based on the Sustainable Development Goals

BBVA has become the first bank in Spain to make registration and login available to its customers at online retailers and service providers through a new Bizum service. This new way of operating online allows customers to streamline the processes related to registration and access to their personal accounts in companies, businesses, or digital providers. Consequently, it eliminates the need to enter data -such as email or passwords- and allows the entire process to be carried out by simply providing the telephone number associated with Bizum. Since BBVA integrated the Bizum service in 2016, more than four million of its customers use this solution daily to pay.

BBVA has relied on behavioral economics techniques to encourage employee participation in cybercrime training. The messages conveyed through the use of these techniques have effectively doubled interest in the course and, in some cases, increased course attendance by up to 70%. The initiative, which has been recognized by the Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists, will succeed in making the bank’s regular cybersecurity messages to its customers more effective.

BBVA today tapped the market for £300 million via a Tier 2 subordinated debt issue. The interest rate was set at UKT + 360 basis points, at the low end of the starting range (360-365 basis points). Demand reached £390 million. The issue drives forward BBVA's funding plan for 2023, in alignment with its strategy to optimize its capital structure. The issue was denominated in sterling to diversify the investor base.

BBVA has implemented a business banking service model that speeds up the response to the financial needs of multinationals when they expand into new markets. Employing more than 2,500 specialized managers, the new "Cross-Border" model cuts the requirements for opening non-resident accounts by up to 70 percent, thus drastically shortening the time required to set up new subsidiaries. BBVA Business Banking already works with more than 120,000 subsidiaries of business groups in 14 countries.

Garanti BBVA, a leading force in digitization in the Turkish banking industry, has announced the launching of Garanti BBVA Digital Assets,  the first venture of its subsidiary Garanti BBVA Financial Technologies. With a pilot already in progress, the company will initially provide services for transfer and custody of bitcoin and ether in the cryptoassets market.

From April to June 2023, BBVA channeled around €19 billion in sustainable business. This figure, showing growth of around 30 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, sets a new quarterly record. In total, BBVA channeled €169 billion in sustainable business from 2018 to June 2023, well over half of the €300 billion target laid down for the 2018-2025 period.

BBVA has stood out in the 2023 stress test of the European Banking Authority (EBA).  The exercise is carried out every two years and examines the banks’ capacity to maintain minimum capital levels and own resource requirements under two scenarios: a baseline and an adverse one. In the baseline scenario BBVA would generate 326 basis points, to a maximum fully-loaded CET1 of 15.87 percent as of December 2025. In the adverse scenario, BBVA would see a capital depletion of 295 basis points, to a fully-loaded CET1 of 9.66 percent. This impact is significantly lower than the average of the European banks surveyed (459 bps). BBVA is the third bank with lowest impact among its comparable group¹.

Garanti BBVA has released its earnings through June 30, 2023. The bank’s net income for the first half of the year totaled TL 33.81 billion; asset size stood at TL 1.89 trillion; and Garanti BBVA contributed TL 1.31 trillion to the economy through cash and non-cash loans. Customer deposits reached TL 1.40 trillion for the first six months of 2023, and remained the main source of funding, with 74 percent of assets funded by deposits. The bank’s capital position continues to be strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 15.8 percent.* Its return on average equity (ROAE) reached 38.3 percent and return on average assets (ROAA) was 4.2 percent.

Luisa Gómez Bravo will be the new CFO of the BBVA Group. She currently is the Global Head of Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), the group’s wholesale banking unit. Gómez Bravo will replace Rafael Salinas Martínez de Lecea, who is stepping down from his executive duties after a successful career with the bank spanning over three decades. He will continue to be involved with the Group as a board member of Garanti BBVA. Furthermore, the current Head of Sustainability, Javier Rodríguez Soler, takes on the additional role of Head of CIB.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has taken a step forward in its strategy to boost automotive sales over digital channels with the launch of a new digital loan for Renault and Dacia brand vehicle purchases. Now on offer to businesses and the self-employed via Garanti BBVA’s website and the smartphone app, the bank’s new financial product provides an end-to-end digital experience.

For the third time, BBVA's corporate banking has won the international publication's highest accolade in the latest edition of its 'World's Best Bank Awards', which set the standard for excellence in the financial sector.

Droughts are abnormally dry periods, in which multiple factors are involved and which have important consequences for the environment and societies. An estimated 55 million people are directly affected by droughts every year, and they could harm as many as three out of four people worldwide by 2050, according to the UN. BBVA delves into this complex phenomenon in the new report 'Cuando falta el agua: claves para hacer frente a la sequía' (When water is scarce: keys to face drought).

BBVA has signed the sale of a portfolio of unsecured non-performing loans. This portfolio has an approximate gross value of €500 million. The sale will have a positive impact on the bank’s NPL ratio in Spain.

BBVA’s Turkish unit is launching the ‘Women who know their accounts’ program as part of its strategy for inclusive growth. The aim of the program is to support women who are not familiar with banking services, to help them discover their potential and ensure a more active participation in economic life. The program will support them by providing training in basic financial matters and in managing their personal finances.

The U.S., China and Europe are leading the development of this technology, which uses principles of quantum physics to perform calculations and information processing and has the potential to solve complex problems.

Presentation in March 2023 of the agreement to install a quantum computing center in San Sebastian, which will house the sixth IBM Quantum System One computer in the world. Image: EFE /Javier Etxezarreta

BBVA Mexico congratulates SHCP—the Mexican Treasury—on issuing a new sustainable bond known as 'BonoS.' With a fixed rate and a 12-year term, the bond is denominated in local currency. The issue attracted total demand of MXN 39,443 million, an oversubscription of 1.71 times. Both domestic and foreign investors placed orders.

BBVA, Banco Santander and CaixaBank have joined forces to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the banking sector, financial fraud. The three Spanish banks are working on tools to exchange relevant information and data to help prevent financial crime.

BBVA plans to invest in Suma Capital’s 3rd Sustainable Investment Fund, which specializes in the energy transition, the circular economy and in particular waste management for energy production: biogas and biomethane. The financial institution is investing in this reference fund for sustainable infrastructure in Spain as part of its investment strategy for climate funds. Through these investments, BBVA is contributing to the decarbonization of the planet.

The bank extends leave to its employees to care for sick family members, to accompany a partner in prenatal check-ups, to take young children in their first week of school, pregnancy protection measures to care for children or adoption and foster care processes. These are some of the improvements incorporated in BBVA's new Equality Plan, which also includes protocols against harassment in the workplace and non-discrimination of the LGTBI community.

BBVA and Tiendas Ara, a major chain of discount stores,  have teamed up to offer a new line of social-impact reverse factoring. The aim is to provide Ara’s suppliers, mainly micro, small and medium-size companies, with access to more affordable finance solutions. In line with the commitment to narrow inequalities and build lasting relationships with local suppliers to boost domestic production and foster job creation, Tiendas Ara is the first company to join this initiative in Colombia.

Garanti BBVA has signed a new agreement with Enterprise Türkiye to encourage the use of electric mobility and car rentals. Within the scope of this collaboration, the bank is offering its customers an ecommerce loan, namely a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) loan, to rent energy-efficient electric vehicles with a low carbon footprint.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has become a leading force in the Turkish market, financing nearly 25 percent of Türkiye's wind and solar energy installed capacity.

Iberpay, Swift, BBVA and several international banks have successfully completed the first pilot to process, in a real environment, instant payments between different currency areas. Their ultimate goal is to improve these international payments involving currency exchange in terms of speed, transparency, cost, availability and accessibility.

Chatbots have been automating everyday customer service tasks for years: they lighten the workload for employees and help businesses save time and money. The emergence of ChatGPT, however, has widened the scope of the technology, and its potential for streamlining and maximizing business processes, beyond anything we’ve seen before. The new chatbots can even write e-mails and debug computer code. ChatGPT’s instant popularity has prompted well-known app factories to launch a flood of similar artificial intelligence tools, but the benefits it offers for a specific range of communication and analysis tasks also come with limitations in a business setting.

The bank’s Deputy General Manager Işıl Akdemir Evlioğlu recently spoke with the Turkish edition of Fortune magazine to discuss Garanti BBVA's winning digital banking proposition.

Brand Finance's 2023 survey also recognized Garanti BBVA as Türkiye’s most valuable bank brand.

Only 59.5% of LGBTI+ people are visible in the workplace. This was made known by the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Trans, Bisexuales, Intersexuales y más (FELGTBI+) at the talk on 'Family diversity and its visibility in the workplace' held in conjunction with BBVA on the occasion of International LGBTI+ Pride Day.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) experts have just warned that El Niño, a natural phenomenon that arises in the Pacific Ocean and shapes weather around the world, has started up again. So their forecasts, which a few months ago indicated that there was a 55% chance that El Niño would re-emerge in the second half of 2023, have proven to be accurate. But this is bad news. Because El Niño poses the danger of a new global temperature change.

The Banker magazine, owned by the UK-based Financial Times group, has honored BBVA as Spain’s best-performing and fastest-growing bank. In addition, BBVA is Mexico's leading bank by capital adequacy and ranks among the 'Top 5' in Türkiye, Colombia and Peru. To compile its league table of leading banks, The Banker examines 30 indicators using its own in-house method.

Openpay, the BBVA Group's digital payments company, is positioning itself in the acquiring business in Latin America, with its annual volume of transactions processed in the region to reach 360 million by the end of March 2023. This exponential growth is the result of technological innovation in payment processes and the synergy it has established with the global financial institution, which has made it one of the main digital payment processing companies.

Celia Mosquera has had to reinvent herself three times after being forcibly displaced by violence in Colombia. Her story is one example of the remarkable resilience of micro entrepreneurs supported by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF): 60 percent of them managed to overcome poverty after five years of assistance and finance from the entities within the foundation.

BBVA and Solarpack, a multinational specializing in the development and construction of solar power facilities and in sales of photovoltaic solar energy in Spain, have signed an arrangement to finance a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Shell Energy Europe. A total €38 million in green finance will be allocated to a renewable energy project located in Murcia, Spain, which will generate more than 100 gigawatts (GWh) per year. The project will avoid the emission of approximately 70,300 tons of carbon dioxide.

BBVA Asset Management published its first report on environmental activity, based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate Financial Disclosures (TCFD). It is the first Spanish asset manager to make this commitment to transparency. The report includes the environmental progress of the asset management area and incorporates information on the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.

BBVA is repeating as the only Spanish bank on the Steering Committee of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). The bank has been a founding member of this alliance since April 2021. NZBA is a forum promoted by United Nations that defines the frame of reference for the decarbonization of the banking sector: a robust, science-based framework that underpins the credibility of the voluntary commitments.

BBVA has given a new boost to its Wealth Management unit within the Private Banking area in Spain to enhance its range of services for individuals with a net worth of over €2 million. With a view to more personalized support for customers, BBVA Private Banking has recruited 28 new bankers (an increase of 38%), bringing the total team to 101 professionals. Of these new entrants, 13 will focus on the Ultra High Net Worth segment (net worth of more than €10 million).

BBVA has now added to its product offering an ETN issued by Fidelity Exchange Traded Products GmbH that tracks the performance of bitcoin. Customers who qualify under the MiFID suitability assessment can sign up for the new product via BBVA's website or smartphone app.

The bank will have HP computers at its headquarters through the Device as a Service model. The DaaS approach will provide greater business productivity and scalability, as well as sustainability benefits, achieving an estimated 32% saving in energy consumption.

BBVA's country manager in Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, spoke on Wednesday to underscore the bank's excellent performance in Spain, driven by a strategy of healthy organic growth via customer acquisition and strong progress in almost all line items of the income statement. Speaking at the UIMP summer course hosted by the APIE and BBVA, Mr. Belausteguigoitia stressed that one out of every five customers who open an account for the first time or decide to switch banks chooses BBVA. As a result, the bank ended 2022 with a record intake of new customers, while the figure for the first five months of this year is already close to 500,000.

Carlos Torres Vila defended the power of knowledge as “the best instrument we have to understand the world” and to face “major disruptions” such as the global environmental crisis, during the award ceremony of the 15th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards.

BBVA has established a set of general principles to fulfill its commitment to the security, health and wellbeing of its professionals. Global guidelines that can be adapted to each one of the countries where it has a presence according to regulations and local needs.

BBVA and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced the launch of Colombia's first blue bond at the 2023 Banking Convention in Cartagena.

The BBVA Chair gave the opening presentation this Monday at the 40th edition of the APIE Seminar in Santander. Carlos Torres Vila stressed the contribution of the banking sector to Spain’s social and economic progress over the four decades commemorated by the course. He specifically indicated that: “Over the last 40 years, and despite the great economic crisis from a decade ago, credit granted by banks in Spain as part of their main business activity, in other words, channeling deposits toward loans, has added 20 percentage points to GDP per capita,” according to an estimate by BBVA Research. This activity has also had a very positive impact on productivity per hour of work (+31 percent), investment (+27 percent), and private consumption (+11 percent).

BBVA Asset Management (BBVA AM) has announced the winners of the fifth BBVA Sustainable Future Solidarity Call for Proposals, which distributes a total of one million euros among 23 NGOs throughout Spain. Their solidarity projects are framed within the areas of social inclusion, dependency, the elderly and health, and the environment. In these five years, BBVA AM has distributed more than €4.2 million among a total of almost 100 solidarity projects, generating a direct and indirect positive impact on more than 370,000 people.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila concluded the sixth edition of BBVA Open Summit, the annual entrepreneurship event, recalling the bank’s commitment to innovation. “BBVA has 600 million committed to various venture capital funds. The recent focus of these investments is on driving decarbonization and the development of innovative entrepreneurship in our main markets. Both areas make strategic sense for BBVA, to incorporate new knowledge into the Group and to support the companies we want to be our customers,” said Torres Vila at the closing of the event.

BBVA uses AWS to deliver advanced analytics and data services in the cloud, taking a decisive step in its data and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation process. As part of its transformation into a data- and AI-driven organization, BBVA will use AWS to harness analytics and machine learning to transform its internal processes, improve risk management, drive growth, and provide innovative solutions for its customers.

BBVA has announced the MREL regulatory requirement for 2024 -a buffer to absorb losses- which the bank is already in compliance with. Starting next year, the bank needs to have a 22.11 percent volume of its own funds and eligible liabilities, or 25.42 percent including the combined requirement for capital buffers based on its risk-weighted assets (RWAs). As of March 31, 2023, the bank already meets this requirement, reaching 26.89 percent, as well as the subordination requirement.

BBVA Research has raised its forecast for Spain's GDP growth to 2.4 percent in 2023, up from its previous forecast of 1.6 percent in March. According to the latest ’Spain Economic Outlook’ paper published on Tuesday, this improvement is explained partly by revisions made by the Spanish statistics office, INE, but also by a surprisingly positive performance in exports, which offsets for slack internal demand. However, the BBVA research unit has lowered its growth forecast for 2024 from 2.6 percent to 2.1 percent, as uncertainty is expected to worsen across the world economy next year.

BBVA today placed an AT1 contingent convertible (CoCo) bond on the market, with a December 21, 2028 redemption window. The interest rate was set at 8.375 percent, significantly lower than the initial 8.75 percent. Demand reached €3.1 billion, tripling the initial offer of the issue.

BBVA in Colombia redesigned its smartphone app. From now on, the app will feature a new interface, run faster, offer more security and provide new functionalities. This marks the launch in Colombia of BBVA's global mobile banking app, which is already active in Spain, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, among other countries. Today, more than 1.7 million Colombian users are using the new version of the app on their smartphones.

BBVA has invested $20 million in Just Climate’s Climate Assets Fund I (“CAF I”) whose objective is to invest in the highest impact solutions that can radically reduce or remove emissions, while generating attractive risk-adjusted financial returns.

BBVA went to market this Wednesday with a €750 million Tier 2 subordinated debt issue, maturing in September 2033 and with a three-month daily call option period between June and September 2028. The pricing was finally set at midswap plus 280 basis points. This was significantly below the initial pricing of midswap plus 305 basis points. Demand was high: €1.6 billion, and more than 130 orders. The bookrunners were BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, JP Morgan and Unicredit.

The 2023 ‘Reunión Nacional de Consejeros Regionales’ (National Meeting of Regional Advisors, or RNCR) brings together over 300 people from the business community across the country to analyze the social and economic challenges Mexico is facing. It also demonstrates the contributions made by BBVA Mexico to propel the development of projects and find solutions that foster growth and well-being in the different regions of the country.

BBVA has gained recognition from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, as the first 'EDGE Champion' in the Peruvian banking industry, after certifying more than 250,000 square meters of sustainable construction built to EDGE standards.

The CEO of BBVA in Switzerland has participated in the fifth edition of the Crypto Valley conference, the most emblematic event of the Crypto Valley Association (CVA), where he has emphasized the role of banking for blockchain developments alongside other leading experts in the industry.

BBVA has built a new advisory tool into its app. With the help of strategic partners, the app now provides personalized guidance on how to lower energy consumption by installing solar panels in family homes. This functionality enables bank customers to see an estimate of how much they could save on their electricity bill thanks to self-consumption, without having to enter any data if they already have their home registered and their electricity bill settled by direct debit. In addition, the solution shows the estimated cost if solar panels are installed, the number of panels required for savings, the investment required, the option of ordering them digitally from the bank's energy partner through a turnkey service, and terms for access to BBVA credit. In the first quarter of 2023, the bank funded nearly 4,000 installations, which represents growth of 67 percent compared to the same period last year.

Mace, the company that managed the construction of the iconic London Eye, has become a global benchmark for sustainability in the construction industry. It has committed to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (CO2) by 10 percent each year, save 10 million tons of carbon for its clients and contribute to biodiversity gain through the protection of 500 hectares. BBVA is supporting the construction company in this transition.

Garanti BBVA, in cooperation with KAGİDER, organized the country’s Women Entrepreneurs Competition for the 16th time this year. The winners of each category of the competition were announced at the June 1st awards ceremony.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has renewed its syndicated loan agreement obtained from international markets within the scope of its foreign borrowing program and in accordance with social sustainability criteria.

The publication specialized in financial markets and investment banking has included BBVA AI Factory for the second time in its list of the best financial innovation labs in the world. The Innovators 2023 Awards also recognized the car comparison tool in Spain and the collection link for companies in Colombia as two of the outstanding innovations in the sector in the last year.

BBVA, the Comillas Pontifical University and the technology consultancy NTT DATA have unveiled Spain’s first master's degree in fintech, payments and online banking. The master's degree offers comprehensive, specialized, practical and advanced training in financial technologies with the aim of equipping future professionals with the skills to transform and lead the payments and online banking industries.

All ventures are born from a clever idea, but not all new ideas end up becoming new companies. In addition to creativity, in order to materialize a business idea, it is essential to obtain financing, visibility and investors. Startup incubators are entities that offer entrepreneurs guidance, training and resources to materialize their project.

Deferred tax assets, or DTAs, are a company's claim against the tax authorities. DTAs arise mainly in two ways: through losses that can be offset against future profits or through prepayments of taxes recoverable in the future.

Garanti BBVA CEO Recep Baştuğ has ranked fourth in this year’s Top 50 Sustainability Leaders list, published by the Turkish edition of business publication Fast Company. Bastug was singled out among nearly 150 leaders of companies, banks and startups, following a thorough selection process by a jury of 34 business personalities and experts from around the world.

BBVA Plan Mercado Monetario PPI has received the award for best pension plan in the Short-Term Fixed Income category at the Expansión-Allfunds awards. BBVA Asset Management (BBVA AM) was also nominated in the categories of Best National Manager and Best Solidarity Fund.

BBVA has trained 102,000 employees in sustainability between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, in addition to continuing to train new hires, the bank is focusing on the specialization of 15,000 professionals in sustainability, developing training programs adapted to their needs.

Carlos Torres Vila, Chair of BBVA, during a recent visit to Lima unveiled the Group’s new investment plan for Peru. In an interview with the financial newspaper Gestión, he stated that "'we expect 75 percent growth in our investment, based on a plan of S/2,000 million (about €500 million) over the next four years.

Spain is a key market to promote sustainability at BBVA. In the first quarter of 2023, the bank channeled €7.81 billion euros in sustainable business in this market - up 40 percent from the same period last year and more than 50 percent of the total amount (approximately €14 billion) mobilized by the BBVA Group. “Over half of our sustainable business was channeled in Spain in the first quarter of the year, a new record,” the BBVA CEO said this Wednesday at the 18th Meeting of the Banking Sector organized by IESE.

The Mercury library stores the code that BBVA's data scientists reuse to develop analytical models embedded in a range of financial products. In line with the open source philosophy, the bank has published Mercury on Github, a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. This means other programmers will be able to use Mercury code in their work, which will help drive fintech innovation and further evolve the library with contributions from the community.

The bank has published an in-house guide to raise awareness among employees of the value of generational diversity. The goal is to confront any lingering prejudices about people’s age. "At BBVA, we have up to four different generations under one roof. We want to drive home the point that everyone here, regardless of age, is highly capable and brings value and talent to the bank," said Heather Spratt, who leads the BBVA employee group concerned with safeguarding generational diversity at the bank.

BBVA has been honored as the Best Bank in Argentina in the 'The World's Best Banks 2023 - Latin America' awards presented by the financial magazine Global Finance.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are everyday topics that have emerged as a new form of global economy. Thus, BBVA in Switzerland is launching Blockchain to go, a series of educational pills to provide people and companies with the necessary knowledge to enter this new world with confidence and security.

Garanti BBVA Mobile, Türkiye's most widely used banking application, maintains its leadership among private banks for the services it provides to individual customers and corporate clients.

BBVA in Colombia and Bancamía, an entity of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, have announced that the Transforming Realities Scholarship will widen its scope and, starting this year, will support 100 vulnerable young people in the country so that they can pursue university studies. This initiative benefits the children of Bancamía's micro-business customers throughout the country. In its three previous editions, it has benefited 21 young people from different departments of Colombia.

Spanish households with higher consumption emit more CO2 than those with lower expenditure, although this difference is accentuated by transport use patterns, while emissions from food and energy are less unevenly distributed. By age, adults aged between 35 and 40 emit 6.9 tons of CO2 per year on average, 10% more than the average Spanish adult, according to the report ‘The Carbon Footprint of Spanish Households’ by BBVA Research.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and BBVA are set to make it easier for startups with innovative and sustainable value propositions to get access to financing. The two institutions have concluded an agreement under the InvestEU guarantee programme whereby the EIF will grant a €200 million guarantee to enable BBVA Spark (BBVA’s specialised startup initiative) to strengthen its support for startups, helping them with their expansion plans.

Garanti BBVA, as main sponsor of the Turkish division of CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), the world's largest environmental reporting platform run in Türkiye by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum, welcomed the results announced at the 13th Climate Change Conference and Award Ceremony of CDP Turkish chapter. Garanti BBVA Sustainability Manager Seray İmer received the award on behalf of the bank, which is once again on the A List at the global level according to the CDP 2022 results.

BBVA today placed a 3-year €1 billion issue, with a redemption option in the second year. This is the first senior preferred debt issue of BBVA in 2023.

The concept of digital identity -the personal data we voluntarily or involuntarily share online- is a cornerstone of cyberspace. Defining digital identity, regulating it and empowering the user is the next challenge we face.

BBVA has channeled 150 billion euros in sustainable business from 2018 to March 2023, half of the €300 billion target set for the 2018-2025 period. Nearly 14 billion euros was mobilized in the year's first quarter, an increase of almost 20 percent compared to the same period in 2022. “Quarter after quarter we are making good progress towards achieving our sustainable business goal for 2025,” said Javier Rodríguez Soler, BBVA’s Global Head of Sustainability, commenting on these results.

Türkiye’s Garanti Bank earned a net income of TL 15.5 billion in the first quarter of the year. Total assets stood at TL 1.5 trillion and the bank contributed TL 1.1 trillion to the economy through lending activity. Customer deposits reached TL 1.0 trillion (+14 percent this quarter) and remain the primary source of funding, with 70 percent of assets funded by deposits. Garanti Bank continues to have a strong capital position, with a ratio of 15.9 percent¹. Its ROAE was 38.2 percent in the first three months of the year, and ROAA stood at 4.5 percent².

BBVA has successfully completed the share buyback program announced on March 20, 2023, for a total of €422 million. This program is part of the distributions to shareholders for the year 2022. In total, BBVA devoted €3.02 billion to its shareholders, including a cash dividend of €0.43 (gross) per share and this share buyback plan.

The bank has signed a collaboration agreement with the Legendaryum Metaverse to explore how immersive digital environments could change the remote relationship model both between internal areas and with customers. BBVA has opened a remote meeting room in Legendaryum to analyze the potential of these spaces and how they change the way users relate to each other and help in the design of specific banking services.

The Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) Regulation is the EU regulation governing issuance and provision of services related to cryptoassets and stablecoins. Adopted on April 20, 2023, by the European Parliament, MiCA is the first and only legislation of its kind in the world and leads the way for other jurisdictions. MiCA will enter into force at some point between mid-2024 and early 2025.

With the aim of incentivizing the financial inclusion of senior citizens and creating a personalized user experience, BBVA Mexico is joining the so-called Comisión Nacional para la Protección y Defensa de los Usuarios de Servicios Financieros (National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Financial Services Users, or CONDUSEF) to adjust its policies, procedures, products and services so that customers can have better interactions with the bank and better management of their finances.

The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and the country manager of BBVA Uruguay, Alberto Charro, gave the opening presentations at the BBVA Sustainability Forum this Tuesday in Montevideo. A meeting where government officials, experts and the business community analyzed various initiatives to support the fight against climate change. BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila recorded a video message in which he stressed the need for all countries to join the race to decarbonization in Latin America, and emphasized the progress in Uruguay in its transition toward a more sustainable economy.

After just a year and a half of landing in the country with a free, 100% online service, BBVA has positioned itself among the top five financial institutions in the country, according to the annual ranking World’s Best Banks by Forbes and Statista. Specifically, BBVA ranks as the fourth best bank in Italy, ahead of many traditional and native banks in the country. Digital services and customer support were the most highly rated criteria among respondents. BBVA also ranked among the best banks in Spain and Mexico.

The Spanish tech firm has integrated dasGate in its platform and targets 100 percent growth by 2023, with €26.3 million in revenue and 278 employees.

In line with its Net Zero Banking Alliance commitments, Garanti BBVA announced its interim decarbonization targets for 2030. As the first bank in Türkiye to announce that it will no longer fund coal-related projects, Garanti BBVA joined the UN-convened Net Zero Banking Alliance in 2021.

The Allianz and BBVA bancassurance joint venture is now one of the largest home insurance companies in Spain, with more than one million insured households and €276 million in premiums for this range of insurance products.

BBVA has published its clients’ progress toward decarbonization in the initial version of its climate transition plan. The bank is one of the first in the world to apply the recommendations by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) to define a transition plan. Emissions declined in all sectors with published decarbonization indicators. BBVA’s goal is to finance this emission reduction by its clients.

BBVA earmarked €131 million for social programs and investment in the community in 2022, almost 19% more than the previous year's €106.3 million. The contribution reached 77.8 million people overall, 43% more than in the previous year.

In the last decade, the average social well-being in the countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would have declined approximately two percent if the damage caused by CO2 emissions had been internalized, thus avoiding the worst future scenarios of global warming, according to BBVA Research.

BBVA will allocate more than €3 billion of 2022 earnings (47% of reported net attributable profit) to shareholder distribution in the form of dividends and a new share buyback program. The bank will pay a final dividend of 31 euro cents per share on April 5.

BBVA reported a total tax payment in 2022 of €10,948 million (+33 percent vs. 2021) across all the countries in which it operates, of which €5,023 million (+65 percent) were its own taxes and €5,925 million (+14 percent) were third-party taxes. This was the highest tax payment ever recorded by the Group, in line with its earnings performance during the past year. In Spain, BBVA generated a total tax contribution of €2,759 million, of which €1,326 million consisted of its own taxes (+42 percent).

The U.S. based consulting firm, Gallup, has selected BBVA as one of the most exceptional companies to work for in the world. The Gallup award recognizes organizations that are committed to the corporate culture and talent development of their workforces.