BBVA has updated its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy with several new additions following the recommendations of Spain’s financial market regulator, the CNMV, and the bank’s growing commitment to its role in sustainable banking.  Furthermore, BBVA’s Board of Directors also approved the General Policy on Sustainability, which defines and establishes the general principles, main objectives and guidelines for the management and control of the Group in terms of sustainable development, with the aim of striking a balance among economic development, social development and environmental protection.

In 2020, BBVA launched its 'COVID-19 Social Response Plan' with €35.7 million to help society at large. The funds were primarily used to purchase medical equipment to support public health systems. In addition, the bank collaborated with a variety of different organizations to support vulnerable groups, and promoted research on the disease and its side effects. More than 3.5 million people directly benefited from these initiatives, rolled out on top of another batch of measures implemented to support clients and customers, including payment deferrals and government backed loans.

Garanti BBVA has been included in Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index - a recognition it received thanks to its internal equality policies, the benefits it provides its customers and its successful efforts through its entire value chain.

BBVA reached €50.2 billion in sustainable financing at the end of December 2020. This means it has achieved half of its sustainable financing objective foreseen for the 2018-2025 period (€100 billion), one year ahead of schedule. The growth rate in the financing of this type of BBVA sustainable operation is 33 percent more than planned.

BBVA received the banking industry’s silver award in the yearbook put together by S&P Global, analyst for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the ranking in which the Group rose to the position of the second most sustainable bank in the world in 2020.

Garanti BBVA is launching a product to finance the installation of solar energy systems on rooftops for self-consumption.

45 minutes by motorcycle, half an hour by boat and 15 minutes on foot. That is how Sergio Pacheco and Victor Madera, loan officers of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation in Colombia, manage to bring financial services where no one else does. This journey is just one example among the numerous cases that can be found in the countries where the Foundation works. These are the lengths to which they go to reach those who live outside the financial system, which is another barrier to their progress. In 2020, BBVAMF has banked nearly 300,000 people in Colombia and Peru, and its two institutions combined have reached more than 2.1 million clients.

BBVA USA received a perfect score of 100 on the 2021 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.  The bank joins the ranks of over 767 major U.S. businesses that also earned top marks this year.

GoBanking Rates released its annual Best Banks of 2021 lists this month, naming BBVA USA in three categories: Best Money Market Accounts, Best Regional Banks and Top 100 Banks. 

How do you know if a banking product is sustainable and contributes to the protection of the environment? In 2020, 26 banks including BBVA, tested how the European Union's taxonomy on sustainable activities could be applied to core banking products. Common criteria for determining which products are sustainable could allow banks to drive sustainable financing for the entire economy.