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Finances

Finances

BBVA shareholders will receive on Oct. 10 a gross dividend, against 2024 earnings, of €0.29 per share, 81 percent higher than a year earlier. This is the highest interim dividend to be paid by BBVA to date. The bank will thus distribute about €1.7 billion in cash to shareholders. Following this dividend, from 2021 BBVA will have distributed about €15 billion in dividends and share buybacks.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç, speaking on Wednesday at Bank of America's annual investor conference, stated that the process in the Banco Sabadell transaction is actually relatively straightforward. "Spain has excellent institutions, and the CNMC, the competition supervisor, is certainly one of them," he said. Genç noted that similar deals have been approved in the past and expressed confidence that, “If the same methodology is applied, the deal should be cleared in phase 1, as there are no competition issues.” On Mexico, he emphasized the country's highly positive prospects and reaffirmed that the bank "will continue to deliver reliable high returns."

Throughout its history, BBVA has played a prominent role in the economic and social development of Spain, propeling its progress and constantly adapting the bank in order to be at the forefront of innovation and technology. Since it was first established in the mid-19th Century (1857), BBVA has been known for being a visionary bank, with the ability to anticipate the trends that will change the financial industry and the future needs of its customers. Some of its noteworthy milestones include financing the construction of the Madrid subway system; being the first bank to allow women to do their banking without the permission of a legal guardian through the creation of the  Women’s Bank; and being the first bank to introduce credit cards as a payment method. A track record that has established BBVA as a crucial ally to face future challenges and thus encourage economic growth and the transformation of businesses.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila and Spanish Minister of the Economy Carlos Cuerpo launched the 41st edition of the APIE Seminar in Santander, Spain on Monday. The event focuses on the role of companies in the new economy. In his presentation Torres Vila emphasized BBVA's support for Spanish businesses, particularly SMEs, which he identified as key drivers of the country’s growth and development. Specifically, he said, “our view of the importance of SMEs is one of the reasons for the offer we presented to Banco Sabadell shareholders a little over a month ago,” as the bank holds a strong position in this segment. “The transaction represents a clear commitment to SMEs, and will further reinforce our commitment to this kind of businesses,” Torres Vila stated.

A takeover bid happens when an investor or a group of investors offers to buy shares from all the shareholders of a listed company. They usually offer a specific price for these shares or other securities that give them an ownership stake in the company.

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.

Davos will be held in Switzerland from January 15th - 19th with the theme ‘Rebuilding trust’. The event organized by the World Economic Forum will bring together over 100 governments, major international organizations and around 1,000 companies, as well as civil society leaders, renowned experts, young agents of change, social entrepreneurs and the media. Davos 2024 is an opportunity to reflect on the key challenges facing the world, marked by the geopolitical tensions of recent years, but also by the trends that will define the future, such as the decarbonization of the economy and artificial intelligence.

BBVA has updated the Group's Tax Strategy, last published in 2015. The bank thereby addresses rising interest among analysts, investors and wider society in corporate decisions with an impact on environmental, social and good governance issues. The new strategy strengthens the governance, oversight and control structure by creating a specific tax compliance body and integrating ESG criteria in tax decision-making.

The surge in online banking has heralded many benefits for customers who insist on being able to bank wherever and whenever they choose. However, the digital revolution has been harder for many older customers, who are not very Internet savvy, and for those living in villages and rural parts of Spain. Moreover, customers finding it hard to keep up with their payment obligations need solutions, such as tailoring installments to their payment capacity or having their loan refinanced. Banks have reacted to these social demands and are stepping up to the challenge.

BBVA has stood out in the 2023 stress test of the European Banking Authority (EBA).  The exercise is carried out every two years and examines the banks’ capacity to maintain minimum capital levels and own resource requirements under two scenarios: a baseline and an adverse one. In the baseline scenario BBVA would generate 326 basis points, to a maximum fully-loaded CET1 of 15.87 percent as of December 2025. In the adverse scenario, BBVA would see a capital depletion of 295 basis points, to a fully-loaded CET1 of 9.66 percent. This impact is significantly lower than the average of the European banks surveyed (459 bps). BBVA is the third bank with lowest impact among its comparable group¹.

BBVA’s Turkish unit is launching the ‘Women who know their accounts’ program as part of its strategy for inclusive growth. The aim of the program is to support women who are not familiar with banking services, to help them discover their potential and ensure a more active participation in economic life. The program will support them by providing training in basic financial matters and in managing their personal finances.

Celia Mosquera has had to reinvent herself three times after being forcibly displaced by violence in Colombia. Her story is one example of the remarkable resilience of micro entrepreneurs supported by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF): 60 percent of them managed to overcome poverty after five years of assistance and finance from the entities within the foundation.

BBVA has given a new boost to its Wealth Management unit within the Private Banking area in Spain to enhance its range of services for individuals with a net worth of over €2 million. With a view to more personalized support for customers, BBVA Private Banking has recruited 28 new bankers (an increase of 38%), bringing the total team to 101 professionals. Of these new entrants, 13 will focus on the Ultra High Net Worth segment (net worth of more than €10 million).

BBVA has announced the MREL regulatory requirement for 2024 -a buffer to absorb losses- which the bank is already in compliance with. Starting next year, the bank needs to have a 22.11 percent volume of its own funds and eligible liabilities, or 25.42 percent including the combined requirement for capital buffers based on its risk-weighted assets (RWAs). As of March 31, 2023, the bank already meets this requirement, reaching 26.89 percent, as well as the subordination requirement.

BBVA reported a total tax payment in 2022 of €10,948 million (+33 percent vs. 2021) across all the countries in which it operates, of which €5,023 million (+65 percent) were its own taxes and €5,925 million (+14 percent) were third-party taxes. This was the highest tax payment ever recorded by the Group, in line with its earnings performance during the past year. In Spain, BBVA generated a total tax contribution of €2,759 million, of which €1,326 million consisted of its own taxes (+42 percent).

After a 2022 shaped by the developments in the Basel III framework, post-COVID regulation or the first European banking climate stress tests, 2023 is looking set to be a key year in terms of digital regulation. Thus, the regulatory framework for cryptoassets and the digital euro will be two of the major issues on the agenda in the coming months. There are also expectations that the Basel III regulation will be finalized, that progress will continue to be made in sustainability and that proposals will be presented in Europe to improve the crisis management framework.

Many would agree that the sustainable finance regulatory agenda has been increasingly growing in both intensity and complexity over the last few years. We hope that 2023 will be the year in which this regulatory framework is consolidated, all the pieces fit together, and the inconsistencies found are corrected.

The finalization of Basel III, post-COVID regulation, artificial intelligence and the crypto world, or international coordination in the supervision of sustainable finance are some of the trends that will mark the regulatory agenda in 2022. Santiago Fernández de Lis, Head of Regulation at BBVA, reviews the keys to financial regulation in the year that has just begun.

The BBVA Group is debuting fully digital retail banking in Italy, with a unique value proposition and customer experience. BBVA is entering the Italian market with free digital banking; one of the most secure cards in the world - as there are no printed numbers on the card, and a dynamic CVV - unmatched in Italy; and financing products at competitive prices.

Following the European Central Bank (ECB) decision to lift its recommendation limiting shareholders’ distributions, BBVA’s Board of Directors has resolved the payment of a cash interim dividend of €0.08 (gross) per share on account of the 2021 dividend, to be paid on 12 October 2021. The net dividend per share would stand at €0.0648. The bank will make this payment to its shareholders on October 12, 2021.

To measure and understand a banking entity's credit quality, several metrics must be considered as an interrelated whole. One indicator in isolation cannot give a full picture of credit risk. The three most widely used metrics are the NPL ratio, the coverage ratio and the cost of risk. These metrics enable us to analyze the volume of non-performing assets in relation to the size of an entity's loan portfolio, the provisions recognized to cover future default losses and the annual cost of generating this buffer of provisions.