BBVA USA and the Houston Rockets teamed up to send “care packages” to small businesses in the Houston area impacted by the pandemic over the past year.

The ongoing pandemic has taught us many things about ourselves, perhaps most significantly, what is most valuable and important to us. Even more, all this downtime has given us the chance to reflect on how we can direct our time and effort toward those things. That’s why BBVA spent the early part of 2020 converting its in-person financial education program to deliver virtual classes.

As part of its ongoing commitment to financial education, BBVA USA hosted its third annual Financial Education Forum, a virtual event designed to provide insight on the state of financial health in the U.S. This year’s event featured a presentation of Financial Health Pulse 2020 U.S. Trends, which provides an ongoing snapshot of the financial lives of people in America.

As Central Alabama deals with the aftermath of 11 confirmed tornados on March 25, BBVA USA has announced it will donate $25,000 toward community relief efforts through the BBVA Foundation. The tornado recovery grant will support the United Way of Central Alabama.

Global Finance has named Garanti BBVA the Best Investment Bank in Turkey for the fourth time in the last five years.

BBVA has invested €91.4 million in financial education programs that have benefited 29.2 million people (almost the equivalent of the population of Peru) since 2008, the year in which it launched its Global Financial Education Plan. On the occasion of the European Money Week and Global Money Week celebrations, BBVA also announced that in 2020 it devoted a total of €2.7 million to fund these initiatives that contribute to promoting financial health among communities.

Sandra Ceballos is a single mother who besides tending to the needs of her four children, also takes care of the environment through her recycling business. Jessica Quipainao, also the primary breadwinner in her household, preserves her Mapuche heritage by making jewelry. Johana Jurado sells garments to leave a legacy for her daughter, and therefore strives to keep this small business afloat. They are just three of the 1.5 million women entrepreneurs across five Latin American countries that are thriving with help from the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF). Thanks to this work and its development finance initiatives, the Foundation is the top contributor to gender equality, according to the latest report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

BBVA increased its investment in social programs and initiatives by 25 percent, from €113.8 million in 2019 to €142.2 million in 2020, directly benefiting 12.2 million people. Additionally, the institution has promoted access to various training platforms to more than 15.6 million people. In 2020, BBVA’s social initiatives reached a total of 27.8 million people in countries where the Group is present.

Placing the core values of its corporate culture at the heart of its banking activities, Garanti BBVA issued its Integrated Annual Report 2020 with the concept “The Meaning We Attach to Words”. Integrating the real life reflections of its commitments to the society alongside economic indicators in its legal annual reporting, Garanti BBVA also describes the sustainability principles it has implemented in the process.

BBVA was recently named Best Investment Bank for Sustainable Financing by Global Finance as part of its 22nd annual World’s Best Investment Banks survey.

In naming the global winners, Publisher and Editorial Director Joseph D. Giarraputo pointed out the role investment banks will play in the world post-pandemic, specifically mentioning the importance of understanding the skills and specialties that these banks bring. For BBVA USA, sustainability is a clear differentiating factor and has become especially important over the past year.