The event connected entrepreneurs with representatives from 15 countries and leading global institutions, offering genuine opportunities for international collaboration, investment, and growth.

Mahmut Akten points to 2025 as a year of strong performance and value creation for Garanti BBVA, setting the foundation for a clear and forward-looking strategic agenda for 2026. Following a period of high inflation in Türkiye, the economy has entered a normalization phase. Akten says Turkish banks should prepare for another challenging year, as regulatory credit limits are expected to remain largely in place to support disinflation efforts. While some adjustments may be considered, Akten underlines that maintaining financial discipline will be critical to achieving price stability and sustained growth.

Shotton Mill is completing one of Britain's most significant sustainable industrial transformations. In partnership with Turkish conglomerate Eren Holding, the former newsprint mill in North Wales will reopen in 2026 as the country's largest recycled containerboard and tissue production facility.

BBVA is to launch on December 22 an extraordinary share buyback program for a maximum amount of €3.96 billion, after obtaining all required authorizations. This is the largest buyback ever carried out by the Group. The program is part of the €36 billion that BBVA expects to make available for distribution to shareholders between 2025 and 2028¹, through both ordinary remuneration and additional distributions, such as this program.

Omnicom will become BBVA’s full-funnel agency, a comprehensive approach that spans from creative strategy to media activation. Omnicom will work to strengthen the brand’s global consistency, elevate client experience across all touchpoints and advance its commercial transformation focused on personalization.

BBVA has led a $30 million funding round in Olea, the digital platform specialized in supply chain finance solutions. With this transaction, BBVA strengthens its role as a strategic partner and key driver of Olea’s growth. The round also included participation from XDC Network, theDock, and SC Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered.

BBVA’s Turkish unit has introduced a new tool on its Garanti BBVA Mobile app to help customers manage their personal finances, improve their financial health and plan for the future. ‘My Credit Coach’ provides an overview of each customer’s financial situation based on their banking history and offers personalized recommendations.

BBVA has rolled out a roadmap, known as ‘The Eight,’ aimed at ramping up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to evolve the way the bank interacts with customers, manages risk, automates processes, and strengthens its technological capabilities. This decisive step forward in its transformation will enable the bank to radically improve its range of products and services through innovation and to structurally enhance its ways of working to boost value creation.

Image: Antonio Bravo, Head of Data at BBVA

BBVA’s Turkish unit has been named Türkiye’s Best Transaction Bank by Euromoney, one of the world’s most respected financial publications, in recognition of the bank’s performance in transaction banking and its ongoing investment in technology-driven solutions for corporate clients.

In this episode, we speak with M&G Investments, a global asset manager at the forefront of responsible and sustainable investment.

BBVA has successfully completed its €993 million share buyback program, launched on October 31, as part of its ordinary shareholder remuneration for the 2024 financial year. The deal is part of the bank’s strategic plan, which plans to have €36 billion to be returned to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks by 2028. Of this amount, some €13 billion will be distributed in the short term¹.

The two companies have been authorized by the Central Bank of Argentina and the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce to take joint control of FCA Compañía Financiera, a firm until now wholly owned by Stellantis and specializing in auto financing for the brands owned by the auto giant.

BBVA has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to obtain a Category 4 (CAT4) license. This authorization will allow BBVA to expand its range of corporate and investment banking service activities and strengthen its position as a strategic partner for corporate and institutional clients in the region. Eduardo Ortiz Gross, Head of BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) in the Middle East, has been appointed Senior Executive Officer for the Abu Dhabi branch, where he will lead the bank’s operations across the region.

The green economy was worth more than five trillion dollars in 2024, according to the report Already a Multi-Trillion-Dollar Market: CEO Guide to Growth in the Green Economy by the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. It is the second fastest-growing sector, with only technology ahead, and this despite the complex geopolitical environment. Globally, China leads this green market.

BBVA’s Chief Executive Officer, Onur Genç, took part this Thursday in the Global Banking Summit hosted by the Financial Times in London. During his address, he remarked that the bank remains firmly focused on delivering its 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, which is built around profitable, organic growth. Along these lines, he pointed to BBVA’s expansion in Europe through its digital banking model in markets such as Italy and Germany. He also noted that the bank is firmly committed to “growing organically in the markets where we already operate.”

The Banker, a magazine of the Financial Times Group, has once again recognized the BBVA Group as ‘The Best Bank in Latin America.’ On this occasion, the British publication, which presented the bank with the same award in 2023, emphasized its leadership in innovation and pioneering approach to sustainability. BBVA also received the award for the Best Bank in Argentina and Peru.

In the image: Pablo Barriuso and Anselmo Andrade, from BBVA UK, receive the award for Best Bank in Latin America.

BBVA celebrated the fourth anniversary of its digital retail bank in Italy, which currently has over 800,000 customers and expects to reach one million in 2026. Since last November, BBVA Italy has increased its customer base by 35 percent, and has multiplied the financing granted to customers eightfold, including 1,800 mortgages. The success of the BBVA Italy model is driving the Group’s organic growth strategy across the rest of Europe, as CEO Onur Genç explained at a meeting with the media at the bank’s new offices in Milan. “Our priority is to consolidate our progress and ensure sustainable long-term growth: expanding our presence in key financial products, such as investments, and continuing to attract customers from traditional banks seeking a more modern experience”, Genç said.

The latest climate change summit recently held in Belém left a bittersweet taste in the mouth: while the final agreements were less ambitious than hoped, meaningful progress was made toward financing for climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as for a just transition.

Global Finance magazine has just announced the winners of its 'World’s Best SME Banks' awards. In this year’s edition, BBVA has received a double accolade: ‘Best SME Bank in Spain’ and ‘Best SME Bank in Western Europe.’ These awards showcase its business support model, its growth within this segment, and its ability to boost productivity, digitalization, and sustainability among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Born in 1961 in Alabama (United States), Carl Lewis is considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. The “Son of the Wind” excelled in sprinting and long jump events, combining flawless technique with extraordinary mental strength.

Shares, artwork, real estate… in fact pretty much any asset, can now have a digital twin. Tokenization is reshaping investments by making it possible to split tangible, real-world assets into tokens that can be bought or sold in a matter of seconds, with the utmost transparency and with no intermediaries. So what are the steps involved in turning tangible value from the physical world into its digital counterpart?

BBVA’s Global Head of Finance, Luisa Gómez Bravo, took part this past Thursday in JP Morgan’s annual investor conference. During her presentation, she explained that BBVA’s strategy is predicated on the bank being one the leading players in each market in order to secure a competitive edge. She pointed to the profitability and value creation that the bank is achieving in 2025, which are paving the way toward its financial targets. BBVA’s unrivalled profitability will ultimately lead to strong capital generation that can be paid out to shareholders (up to €36 billion through 2028¹).

In this episode of BBVA Greenfluencers, we delve into the world of impact investing with Finance in Motion, a leading asset manager dedicated to driving sustainable development through finance.

The third meeting of the Spain–China Business Advisory Council (BAC), held in Beijing as part of the State visit of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain to China, once again highlighted the importance of economic dialogue between the two countries. BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) played an active role in the event, reaffirming its commitment to supporting enterprises in their international expansion and its role as a strategic financial partner in strengthening ties between Asia, Europe and Latin America.

BBVA has closed its first growth capital transaction in Finland with Bob W, the Helsinki-born hospitality scaleup focused on redefining the short-stay experience across Europe through technology. This also marks BBVA’s first growth capital deal in Finland, coinciding with the bank’s debut as a key partner at Slush, the renowned global innovation event that gathers more than 13,000 attendees, 2,500 startups and 2,000 investors in Helsinki each year.

Spain’s development finance institution, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), and Garanti BBVA, BBVA’s Turkish franchise, signed the first financing agreement aimed at boosting the activity of companies with Spanish interests in Türkiye for up to $100 million.