Carlos Torres Vila participated in an event sponsored by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, entitled 'Unstoppable women: Challenges to and achievements of reinvention in times of crisis'. The event, chaired by Queen Letizia of Spain, shone the spotlight on the work of Latin American women entrepreneurs and technology’s key role in propping up their resilience against the economic impact of the pandemic. Development experts from organizations such as SEGIB (Ibero-American General Secretariat), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN Women and representatives of technology companies such as Google also took part in the event.

BBVA celebrated its third annual Values Day under this year's theme, ‘united by our values’. The event provided the bank’s more than 125,000 employees the opportunity to reflect on and cultivate the BBVA corporate values and behaviors. The activities and workshops organized for this year's event — unavoidably marked by the COVID-19 pandemic — were moved into a virtual environment, which was available to employees during the days leading up to the event.

Carlos Casas, Global Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA, was tasked with delivering the closing speech at the latest edition of Sondersland Fest, a virtual event that brought together in Madrid top talent experts to share their insights on the latest trends on this matter with the thousands of young professionals that participated. “We are currently living a key moment where industries that are experiencing powerful transformations, such as ours, must transmit to younger generations what it takes to build the talent that the market professionally demands,” explained Casas.

When she was barely 20 years old, Yohana Sosa decided to open her own business, knowing that things won’t be easy. Her talent for enterprising is mixed with a sense of responsibility which all of us must have, when it comes to caring for the environment. This is how she created D’Alexis Cartonera, a micro business that recycles cartons and turns them into custom-made packaging material. Today, almost a decade later, Yohana is a pacesetter in her community as her business keeps growing with the support of BBVA Microfinance Foundation, and with it, a greater awareness on how important it is to preserve natural resources.

BBVA USA today announced the formation of its second Business Resource Group (BRG), this one in support of employees who identify as part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and supporting community. The announcement was made during the bank’s first LGBTQ Perspectives internal panel discussion, held virtually and including more than 300 bank employees.

The world of work and professional environments are in the midst of a full blown transformation process, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. According to Ophelie Richard, BBVA global head of Talent Acquisition, "the value of assigning workstations to specific individuals based on their hierarchy within the organization has been completely redefined." And this, in her opinion, "opens up great opportunities, from hiring employees regardless of their geographic location to workstation virtualization.”