Social services

Garanti BBVA has been developing social investment programs for years with the aim of creating common values. With this in mind, the non-profit organization SALT was founded in 2011, which is now Garanti BBVA´s most important cultural and artistic initiative.

The main goal of volunteering is to help others. But it turns out volunteers also benefit from their charitable activities. Over the years, many studies have shown volunteers experience greater fulfillment, better health, and improved overall well-being.

Two young friends on a surfing trip to Bali, shocked by the heaps of plastic they found washed up on the beach, returned to the United States with an entrepreneurial vision to clean the ocean. Their company, 4Ocean, promises to remove one pound of trash from oceans and coastlines with the sale of every one of its $20 bracelets, which are made from recycled plastic and glass bottles. In roughly two years, the venture, which now employs more than 150 people around the planet, reports that it has recovered over 4 million pounds of trash.

Acting on its brand message and promise of “creating opportunities,” BBVA Compass continues to pave the way for people and communities throughout its footprint. Most recently, the bank dedicated time to two community service projects in San Diego as a sponsor of AFP Aware, an initiative where the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), as part of its annual conference, partners with organizations committed to corporate and social responsibility.

Sustainable Development is essential to achieving more peaceful and just societies and the United Nations counts on the private sector to help in this effort. The BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) has contributed its experience in the finance sector to the report entitled “Business and SDG 16: contributing to peaceful, just and inclusive societies,” drawn up by the Sustainable Development Goals Fund and the University of Pennsylvania.

BBVA Compass and the Houston Dynamo wrapped up their joint campaign to raise money for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts with a series of community events that ended when the Dynamo took the pitch at BBVA Compass Stadium for the Ninth Annual BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup.

In the month since Harvey hit Houston, BBVA Compass has published a series of articles to help its customers and the public at large understand the city's new reality, how to move forward, and how the bank will be there to provide support.

BBVA Executive Chairman Francisco González has reinforced the Group’s commitment to the U.S. after the most recent natural disasters. “We’re going to redouble our commitment to those affected through a number of actions,” he explained. In Houston, where he met with the city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, he gave a message of solidarity on behalf of the entire BBVA Group. Francisco González also announced that he is going to visit Mexico City in the coming days to see first-hand the damages caused by the Sept. 19 earthquake.

The ninth annual BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup will be broadcast nationally for the first time in an effort to help raise as much money as possible for this year's nonprofit beneficiary: the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund established by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

One of the first projects BBVA Compass pursued after the bank made its $11 billion commitment to low- to moderate-income communities in late 2014 has come online and put 128 low-income Austin families in green homes zoned to some of the area’s best schools.

If Fernando Álvarez of BBVA Francés, Argentina, has an abundance of anything, it is drive and patience. Even so, three years after his first failure, it was hard for him to give it another go. Then a coworker and two children convinced him to never give up.

The Indian Doctors Association of Houston held its annual gala on Friday, celebrating key community achievements and providing scholarships to young, aspiring doctors.

Dan Rather, who got his big break covering Hurricane Carla as it barreled toward Texas in 1961, saluted the American Red Cross of Greater Houston and its supporters like BBVA Compass for their "willingness of heart" at the disaster relief organization's annual fundraising luncheon last week.

Nobody wants to go into a care home. Based on this premise, Saraiva Senior, a project by Sacendi (a social and healthcare company that provides integrated services for the elderly in Pontevedra), aims to implement a new approach to care for the elderly. The company, a participant in BBVA Momentum, BBVA's support program aimed at social enterprises, is determined to change mindsets, promote a positive vision of aging and renew the traditional concept of the care home. The director of this social enterprise, Lucía Saborido, its associate director, Noelia López and its technical director, Ricardo Fra Otero, explain how.

This month's BBVA Compass Volunteer Summit in Houston brought together the bank's top volunteers – employees who step up beyond their regular jobs to help lead the bank's community efforts.

Everyone should have access to basic financial services by 2020. This goal, set by the World Bank, aims to combat the financial exclusion that impacts two billion people. Several organizations from the public and private sector, including BBVA Microfinance Foundation, have signed the Universal Financial Access 2020 (UFA), committing to meet this deadline.

Having a bank account is the first step to access basic financial services, such as loans or insurance, which help underprivileged families to receive essential services like water, electricity, housing, education or healthcare. It also allows small and medium sized businesses to grow, expand operations and improve risk management.

Five BBVA Compass employees pulled on their cycling kits and logged more than 1,100 miles to raise money for The Center, a Houston-based agency that serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

According to the BBVA Bancomer Foundation, education is one of the factors that have a bigger impact on the development of people. Besides expanding knowledge, education broadens culture, instills values, helps develop a different view of the world and promotes human growth.

What connects a customer who is about to lose two million Mexican pesos (nearly 100,000 euros), soy milk, butterflies, and children who immigrate to the United States? One person. Her name is Amelia Aguilar and she is the manager of a BBVA Bancomer branch in Puebla, Mexico.

Leka is an intelligent toy that has been developed to stimulate these types of individuals to learn, have fun and progress.

Sixteen leaders from 13 Ibero-American countries meet in Madrid to participate in the first edition of the Ibero-American Public Leadership Program , organized by the Carolina Foundation, CAF Development Bank of Latin America; and BBVA.

The World Insurance Report 2016, from the insurance firm Capgemini in partnership with the European Financial Marketing Association (EFMA), found that Spain's generation Y (young people between 15 and 35 years of age) are among those most disenchanted with the services provided by conventional insurance firms.

According to the Global Findex (2014) report, only 15% of adults worldwide use electronic money, and a lot of them live in developing countries.

To a large extent, 3D printing has become more than just a trend thanks to healthcare. 3D makes it possible to create hearts, arms, hands, ears... all tailor-made. And it reduces costs.

Knowing how your customers behave on the Internet can help you sell more or anticipate economic trends. That is why companies are devoting so much time and energy to creating teams of analysts who can interpret the vast quantity of data circulating on the Internet and create algorithms to identify new patterns of behavior adopted by consumers.

The Colombian Laura Parra, the winner of the Innovators Under 35 award in 2013, organized by MIT Technology Review in its Spanish edition in partnership with BBVA, has developed a video game that helps children with mobility problems in their rehabilitation therapy.

A company will pay up to $10 (around 8 euros) for access to your social network accounts, credit card transaction records, and other personal information, and will sell insights gleaned from that data to companies looking for information on consumer behavior.