Bonus, Garanti BBVA’s most popular credit card, is now celebrating its 24th anniversary. Bonus also happens to be a credit card platform, having amassed some 18 million users and eight partner banks.

Garanti BBVA Digital Asset’s crypto app, ‘Garanti BBVA Crypto’ was recently presented the award for ‘Pioneers of Digital Finance’ by KPMG Turkey and the Financial Innovation and Technology Association (FINTR).

The international publication has granted two ‘Innovators Awards’ to BBVA for its crypto asset service in Switzerland and for an automated process the bank has developed to guide the creation and application of machine learning models for the early detection and management of debt.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences category goes to American psychologist Elke Weber in recognition of her research into “environmental decision-making and human responses to climate change.” Weber was the first psychologist to join the IPCC, a group of experts to which she brought her knowledge of decision-making theory.

Once again, BBVA has been busy promoting sustainability training among 418 of its suppliers and SME customers across 13 countries in which it operates. A total of 552 people will soon be taking part in the UN Global Compact Sustainable Suppliers Training Programme, of whom 59% (326) are women.

On April 8, the European Union's instant payments regulation finally came into force. However, many citizens are still unaware of the changes that this regulation will have on the way they pay.

We are immersed in an exciting era of unprecedented transformation in economic history. Two global macro trends will change the economy and industry as we know it in the coming years: first, technological disruption driven by advances in artificial intelligence; secondly, decarbonization. These emerging megatrends will transform business models in all sectors and provide an unprecedented opportunity for innovation and entrepreneurship.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila spoke on Monday on Spain's opportunity to lead investment in the clean technologies required for the decarbonization of the economy. In his view, if the implementation of the EU Net-Zero Industry Act is ambitious in Spain, the country’s leading innovative companies will be able to invest in cleantech and place it in a better position compared to its European peers.

Last Friday, the Chair of BBVA formally opened the new Miami office of BBVA Global Wealth Advisors (GWA), BBVA’s U.S. registered investment advisory unit. Carlos Torres Vila met with the team at this new office, comprised of over 30 professionals.

“Decarbonization is a technological revolution that requires innovation and financing. Its scope is global and it will affect all industries and sectors,” said Antonio Bravo, Global Head of Sustainability Strategy and CIB at BBVA. In the framework of the Energy Tech Summit, which ended yesterday in Bilbao, Bravo emphasized “the key role” of financing new clean technologies. “BBVA is committed to financing cleantech to facilitate its growth on an industrial scale,” he stressed.

For the fourth year in a row, the BBVA Group’s Uruguayan franchise was named the Best Trade Finance Bank in 2024 by the international magazine Global Finance.

Garanti BBVA, in its role as a supporter of startup growth and investment, has revealed the latest cohort of startups joining its renowned Garanti BBVA Partners Tech Program.

Exoticca, a leading company in the digitization of big-ticket travel, has announced the signing of a €4 million finance agreement with BBVA Spark. This loan agreement will facilitate the company's expansion in Latin America. The financing is supported by the European Union and the European Investment Fund under the InvestEU Fund program.

On Tuesday, BBVA completed its latest share buyback in the amount of €781 million. Including all the buyback programs carried out between November 2021 to date, the bank has repurchased the equivalent of 14 percent of the total, for a total amount of €5.36 billion. BBVA launched these buybacks as part of its commitment to create value for its shareholders.

BBVA is sponsoring the Energy Tech Summit, Europe's largest conference on innovation and investment in climate technologies and cleantech. More than 1,000 attendees from 40 countries including startups, investors, companies and government representatives will participate on April 10 and 11 in this event to be held at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. The forum aims to connect and amplify the impact of new cleantech technologies in the fight against climate change.

BBVA shareholders will receive a gross cash dividend of 39 euro cents per share this Wednesday, 26 percent more than in April of last year. This dividend comes on top of the 16 cents per share paid in October as an interim dividend charged to 2023 earnings and the €781 million share buyback initiated on March 4, 2024.

Sir George Benjamin (composer, conductor and Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King's College London) has been awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Music and Opera for "his extraordinary contribution and impact in contemporary creation in the realms of symphonic music, opera and chamber music," according to the committee.

The contingent convertible capital instruments (CoCos) also known as Additional Tier 1 bonds are  hybrid bonds that combines debt and equity elements. Its defining characteristic is that it may be converted into shares if the CET1 capital ratio drops below a specific level.

Antoni Ballabriga, Global Head of Sustainability Intelligence & Advocacy at BBVA, analyzes the importance of technological innovation and cleantech investment in an article published in the latest issue of the magazine 'Estrategias de Inversión'.

The BBVA Group paid a record €7,668 million in own taxes in 2023 across all the countries in which it operates, up 53 percent on the previous year.  A further €5,950 million was also collected from third parties, making a grand total of €13,618 million in taxes, the highest tax contribution ever recorded by the Group. In Spain alone, BBVA paid a total of €3,384 million, 23 percent more than in 2022, thanks mainly to the increase in own taxes (€1,911 million, +44 percent year-on-year).

BBVA has received the new Single Resolution Board’s MREL regulatory requirement, which establishes the buffer the bank must maintain to absorb losses. Starting today, the bank’s own funds and eligible liabilities must represent 22.79 percent of the total of risk weighted assets of its European resolution group (which includes the holding, BBVA S. A. and its subsidiaries in Europe). BBVA already meets this requirement.

BBVA received the Gallup Award for one of the world’s top workplaces. This marks the third time the financial institution has received this global recognition.

BBVA Global Wealth Advisors, Inc. (BBVA GWA), the U.S. subsidiary and registered investment advisor (RIA) of Madrid-based BBVA, has selected BNY Mellon's Pershing as its clearing and custody provider. BBVA GWA’s advisory clients will access broker-dealer services from Pershing Advisor Solutions (PAS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BNY Mellon. PAS is an SEC-registered broker-dealer, member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

In 2023, 96 percent of power consumption at BBVA Group facilities came from renewable sources, well above the 70 percent target set for 2025. In Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru and Türkiye, 100 percent of the bank’s power usage comes from clean energy sources.

BBVA ‘Aprendemos juntos 2030’ is debuting the second season of ‘Desafios’ (Challenges), the program in which Generation Z talks about its challenges. In the seven years since it was launched, the global project has surpassed three billion views and has over eight million followers.

On the morning of Wednesday, March 13th, the European Parliament gave its final approval of the European Artificial Intelligence Act.  According to some EU authorities, this makes the bloc the first international jurisdiction with comprehensive legislation on the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

The BBVA Foundation and Salt, a non-profit cultural institution founded by Garanti BBVA, are joining forces to launch a grant program for Turkish artists, which includes a two-week residency in Spain and the opportunity to show the work produced in Türkiye and Spain.

For the fourth consecutive year, on the occasion of its Annual General Meeting (AGM), the bank will donate €300,000 to social non-profits active in four areas related to the environment and inclusive growth. Asociación Talismán, Fundación Emet, Asociación Puente de Esperanza Madrid and Fundación Madre Coraje were the chosen candidates 2024.

In the past two years, BBVA added 7,187 professionals in the data and technology field to its workforce - a figure it plans to increase in 2024 with 2,700 new hires. Of this amount, 1,225 will take place in Spain for the bank’s headquarters in Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona. Technology talent has become a key aspect of the Group’s digital strategy.

BBVA shareholders largely backed the items on the agenda, which were subject to vote at the Annual General Meeting held on Friday. The bank’s corporate management received 98.2 percent of the votes. The AGM’s quorum stood at 71 percent, the highest in the bank’s history.

BBVA tapped the market Friday with a €1 billion seven-year green senior preferred bond, maturing in March 2031. Demand exceeded more than three times the initial offer, reaching €3.3 billion. The final price was set at mid-swap plus 90 basis points, significantly below the initial pricing (mid-swap plus 120 bp). Bookrunners were BBVA, Commerzbank, HSBC, Natixis and UBS.

The BBVA Group has established a new entity, BBVA Global Wealth Advisors, Inc., in Miami, Florida (USA), with the aim of serving high net-worth Latin American clients. BBVA Global Wealth Advisors joins the international wealth management service that BBVA already offers in Switzerland and Spain.

Luisa Gómez Bravo has been CFO of the Group since September 2023. She recognizes that the first few months in her new role have been very intense. After all, the Finance unit is responsible for the Group’s financial planning and monitoring, for capital, for managing liquidity and structural balance sheet risks, for relations with the Group’s investors and shareholders, and many other functions. After a historic 2023 in financial terms, Gómez Bravo predicts that 2024 will be another great year for BBVA. This will be possible, she maintains, thanks to the Group’s structural strengths:  leading franchises in high growth markets and a strategic focus based on the opportunities provided by innovation, digitization and sustainability. And these focal points have been the main drivers of the bank’s growth. “BBVA’s ability to combine profitability and growth is unique in the European banking sector and it sets us apart from our competitors,” she stressed.

BBVA closed 2023 reporting good progress in decarbonizing its credit portfolio. Improvements in plan delivery reached 24 percent in key sectors —such as oil and gas— for which 2030 targets were set. As of December 2023, 80% of the finance portfolio in high-emission sectors relates to clients actively managing their transition, according to the latest TCFD report published by the bank.