An electrocontinent is a continent where electricity plays a greater role than fossil fuels in sectors such as transportation, industry, and buildings. The European Union (EU) aims to move toward this model through its Electrification Action Plan, published in July 2026.

BBVA supports the joint statement from global corporate leaders ahead of COP31 in Türkiye, underscoring that “the low-carbon transition is a strategic opportunity,” and urging regulators to create “predictable policy frameworks that unlock innovation and investment.” The letter also calls for scaling up international climate finance for developing economies. Chairs and CEOs from the World Economic Forum’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders,  including BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila, have endorsed the letter.

Javier Rodríguez Soler, BBVA’s Global Head of Sustainability and Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), will co-chair the Climate Finance and Investments Working Group at the COP31 Business Forum. Convened alongside the Climate Summit taking place in Türkiye in November, the group will tackle barriers to mobilizing climate finance and develop recommendations for the COP31 Presidency.

The race to build computing capacity for artificial intelligence is reshaping data center financing in the United States. As projects become larger, more capital-intensive and increasingly developed in phases, sponsors need financing that can adapt to changing capital requirements while still providing certainty of execution on increasingly compressed timelines.

BBVA is entering a new phase from a position of leadership and credibility, following years of transforming its business model and building relationships with its customers. In the current environment, the bank aims to accelerate its growth in Spain by focusing on three levers: expanding its customer base, deepening customer relationships and increasing its presence in higher-value businesses such as the enterprise segments, insurance and Global Wealth. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be the key accelerator in this new phase, with customers at the heart of the transformation and an increasingly simple, hyper-personalized and specialized experience. This was highlighted by BBVA’s country manager in Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, during a meeting with analysts and investors.

BBVA is the bank with the most mature artificial intelligence strategy in Spain and the eurozone, according to the international Evident AI Index. The report recognises the bank’s progress in embedding AI across its business to create more personalised and intelligent banking for its customers, while also placing it at the global forefront of developing AI-skilled talent.

BBVA is strengthening its commitment to high-net-worth clients with the launch of Global Wealth, a new umbrella brand bringing together the Premium, Private Banking and Ultra High Net Worth (UHN) segments. From October, the three offerings will share a common name and identity across all countries, reflecting a highly specialized service model and a more differentiated value proposition that combines local and global capabilities to meet the needs of clients and their families.

BBVA has completed the first tranche of the extraordinary €2 billion share buyback programme it announced at the end of July. Between 5 August and 1 October 2026, the bank repurchased shares worth €1 billion.

On October 15, BBVA will pay its shareholders 37 cents per share in cash as a gross interim dividend against 2026 earnings. This amount is nearly 16 percent higher than in 2025 and represents the highest interim dividend in BBVA’s history. In total, the bank will distribute approximately €2.0 billion to its shareholders¹.

BBVA will expand its capabilities in Asia after BBVA Japan Securities Limited completed the relevant local regulatory registrations. This new subsidiary serves a strategic purpose: to act as a direct channel connecting Japanese institutional investors with BBVA's global financial solutions, operating strictly as a local sales and middle office platform for the distribution of BBVA's international products.

Garanti BBVA has completed a USD 125 million sustainable subordinated bond issuance with a consortium of IFC and DEG. The proceeds will support the Bank’s capital structure while being directed toward green investments by micro-enterprises and SMEs and improving women entrepreneurs’ access to finance.

More than 1,000 events took place across New York during Climate Week NYC 2026, alongside the United Nations General Assembly. Once again, the city became a unique meeting point for governments, companies, financial institutions, investors and civil society to discuss the future of sustainability.

Clean technologies, or cleantech, are no longer just solutions that help lower emissions. They have become a key component in economic and geopolitical transformation. The first edition of the European Clean Tech Atlas 2026, published by the Bruegel think tank offers an in-depth look at their deployment and the challenge of combining decarbonization, industrial competitiveness and energy security.

During New York Climate Week, held from September 20-27, BBVA and Garanti BBVA actively participated in various platforms addressing the global climate and sustainability agenda. Garanti BBVA CEO Mahmut Akten, Garanti BBVA Executive Vice President Sinem Edige, BBVA Global Head of Sustainability and Corporate Investment Banking Javier Rodriguez Soler, BBVA Global Head of Sustainability Intelligence & Advocacy Antoni Ballabriga, and bank executives shared their expertise and insights across events, conferences, and high-level roundtable discussions. They evaluated global developments, the sustainable transformation journey of Turkey and its financial ecosystem, and key priorities leading up to COP31 alongside international stakeholders.

BBVA on Wednesday placed £600 million (€698 million) in a senior non-preferred bond issuance. Demand reached as much as £1.25 billion. The bond has a six-year maturity, until September 2032, with an early redemption option in September 2031. The price was set at UKT (the UK sovereign bond) +100 basis points, below the initial price guidance of UKT+115 basis points. BBVA, NatWest and Nomura acted as bookrunners.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç said in London on Tuesday that artificial intelligence (AI) will drive the next major transformation of the sector and that the bank is very well positioned to address this new cycle. The Group was a pioneer in the digitalization era and is taking the same approach to AI: early adoption, rapid scaling and a transformation around this new technology. “We do believe we are embracing this technology better than our competitors,” he said during his participation in the CEO conference organized by Bank of America.

Antalya will host COP31, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, from November 9 to 20, 2026. The city is seeking to consolidate a sustainable model for urban development and tourism while tackling challenges such as water stress, rising temperatures and sea-level rise.

Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation has done more than bring order to the crypto market. It has also laid the groundwork for modernizing financial infrastructure through tokenization.

In artificial intelligence, getting a prediction right or detecting complex patterns does not always mean understanding the underlying events that occurred to lead to that result. Understanding causal relationships is the core idea addressed by the doctoral thesis of Jesús Renero Quintero, who is part of the AI adoption team at the bank. The thesis was developed within the industrial PhD program in Data Science promoted by the University of Navarra and BBVA. The goal is to design AI that is more reliable and transparent.

FC Internazionale Milano and BBVA have officially presented their partnership at a media event held at the club’s headquarters in Milan. The event also coincides with the launch of new BBVA offers in Italy, where the bank is now approaching one million customers.

BBVA has provided BizAway with €10 million in financing to support its acquisition of Dutch company Uniglobe Alliance Travel. The transaction will enable the scaleup to bolster its presence in Northern Europe, expand its customer base in the Benelux region, and move forward with its goal of becoming the leading corporate travel partner across the continent. The financing benefits from the support of the European Union and the European Investment Fund (EIF) under the InvestEU program.

BBVA measures and shares climate physical risk assessments with its clients. In doing so, it relies on proprietary methodologies through BBVA Adapta, an in-house tool that enables it to assess the physical climate risk of its portfolio at a granular level and over different time horizons. The analysis generates metrics and spatial visualizations for the bank’s Risk and Business areas.

BBVA Research believes that COP31, to be held in Antalya, Türkiye, this coming November, must turn climate commitments into concrete, verifiable action. The bank’s research unit notes that, while climate governance already has a framework of commitments and initiatives in place, a gap remains between the stated goals and their implementation. In a recent climate report, it also cites financing as one of the factors that will determine progress toward the measures agreed upon.

Artificial intelligence is fueling an unprecedented surge in demand for digital infrastructure. But increasingly, the defining challenge facing the sector is not computing power alone. It is energy.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and professor at New York University.

Twenty-one leading international financial institutions have committed to establish a new company in H2 2026, subject to closing conditions, to support the issuance of a stablecoin solution.