BBVA’s Turkish unit has renewed its syndicated loan agreement obtained from international markets within the scope of its foreign borrowing program and in accordance with social sustainability criteria.

Spain is a key market to promote sustainability at BBVA. In the first quarter of 2023, the bank channeled €7.81 billion euros in sustainable business in this market - up 40 percent from the same period last year and more than 50 percent of the total amount (approximately €14 billion) mobilized by the BBVA Group. “Over half of our sustainable business was channeled in Spain in the first quarter of the year, a new record,” the BBVA CEO said this Wednesday at the 18th Meeting of the Banking Sector organized by IESE.

BBVA has channeled 150 billion euros in sustainable business from 2018 to March 2023, half of the €300 billion target set for the 2018-2025 period. Nearly 14 billion euros was mobilized in the year's first quarter, an increase of almost 20 percent compared to the same period in 2022. “Quarter after quarter we are making good progress towards achieving our sustainable business goal for 2025,” said Javier Rodríguez Soler, BBVA’s Global Head of Sustainability, commenting on these results.

To promote sustainable growth in the country, BBVA Mexico, González Calvillo (GC), PwC Mexico and the UN Environment Program held the first edition of the ESG Summit Mexico, in which -with the participation of experts and guests from organizations such as S&P, BlackRock and the Mexican Sustainable Finance Council-, the main aspects that a company must know to include environmental, social and corporate governance criteria into its business model were addressed.

The global carbon credit trading platform Carbonplace has raised 45 million dollars in a seed funding round and has been incorporated as its own entity. BBVA, one of the nine founding banks, has participated in this round and has appointed its Head of Carbon Markets at BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking, Ingo Ramming, as a representative on Carbonplace's Board of Directors.

The world's leading recruiter PageGroup. which operates globally as Michael Page, Page Personnel, Page Executive and Page Outsourcing, has signed an £80 million sustainability Club Deal facility led by BBVA. The new financing will support PageGroup in pursuing a twofold objective: to fight climate change and contribute to gender equality. BBVA has been mandated as sole sustainability coordinator in this transaction, in which HSBC also participated, with each entity providing £40 million in sustainable financing.

Garanti BBVA, the BBVA Group’s Turkish franchise,  integrates climate change and inclusive growth within its core strategies. In line with that commitment, Garanti BBVA has launched a program of events called 'Sustainable Future in Exports' to support Türkiye’s adaptation to the European Green Deal and pave the way to sustainable investment. At the first event, held on November 23, 2022 at Fişekhane Istanbul, the bank explained the European Green Deal and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to the sectors and institutions–especially SMEs–that will be affected by the new rules governing exports to the EU.

BBVA channeled a total of €124 billion in sustainable business between 2018 and September 2022, of which €13 billion corresponds to the third quarter of 2022, a 60% increase over the same period in 2021.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila today announced that the bank will increase its sustainable finance target by 50 percent. “Sustainability is a business opportunity,” because the amount of investment required is huge ($275 trillion through 2025), he said at the Institute for International Finance (IIF) annual meeting in Washington, DC.  In this sense, he added that the bank has been channeling sustainable financing “at a really fast pace”, which prompted the bank to surpasse in June 2022 the initial goal set for 2025. For that reason, “today I can announce that we’re now upping the ante again to €300 billion for the period 2018-2025,” he said.

BBVA placed €1.25 billion in a green bond issue of senior preferred debt today, with a seven year maturity. The issue price was set at mid-swap plus 155 basis points, below the initial target price (mid-swap plus 175-180 basis points). This is the Group’s first bond issue with a “green” seal for senior preferred debt and the largest with this label for a Spanish financial issuer.

Madrid and Mexico City hosted the 2022 EduFin summit, the annual financial summit organized by BBVA’s Center for Financial Education and Capabilities, which was held on September 29th and 30th. 25 experts from ten countries attended this international event, which has become a real benchmark in the field. Over 200 guests attended in person and over 1,600 watched via streaming. Throughout the event, participants discussed how digitization is revolutionizing financial education and propelling the inclusion of the most vulnerable.

See the video on YouTube of the first day of BBVA EduFin Summit 2022

See the video on YouTube of the second day of BBVA EduFin Summit 2022

Carlos Torres Vila to open EduFin Summit 2022, BBVA's global financial education event

BBVA to train two million people in financial education

Spot the differences between a knowledgeable financial influencer and a con artist

BBVA is part of a European high level expert group charged with providing recommendations to the European Commission to promote sustainable financing in emerging countries and bridge the gap that currently exists in financing the SDGs. BBVA is the only private bank in this group, which will present its recommendations in mid-2023.

BBVA has created a new sustainable loan that focuses on reducing water footprint, a key priority in many companies' sustainability policies. Iberdrola, one of the world leaders in sustainability, is the first company to formalize this innovative solution in the sustainable financing market, which can be structured as a bilateral or syndicated loan.

This Monday, Carlos Torres Vila opened the 39th APIE Seminar in Santander, together with Nadia Calviño, the first Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. The BBVA Chair said that “private investment will be fundamental to the decarbonization of the planet.” In this regard, he believes authorities play a crucial role in building “confidence, with certainty regarding the regulatory framework, the rules of the game, budgetary and fiscal stability, and competitiveness.”

Grupo DEME, a marine engineering company with a global presence, signed a €20 million sustainable financing agreement with BBVA. The loan is part of an extensive financing package that will enable the Belgian group to finance further investments in its dredging and environmental activities. Based in Zwijndrecht (Belgium) with over 5,200 employees worldwide, the company is reinforcing its commitment to sustainability and the environment.

In the past 15 years, around 1.5 billion adults have been included in the financial system, where microfinance has played a key role. Giovanni di Plácido, director of Analysis and Research for BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF), recounts the creation of loans and monetary transactions to the advent of microfinance as a formula for inclusion, and the Foundation's leading role in the transformation of this sector in its 15 years of activity.

Garanti BBVA recently renewed its syndicated loan with international markets. The agreement was signed with 30 banks from 16 countries for $594 million, and consists of two separate tranches of $283.5 million and €290.5 million, respectively, and a one year maturity.

Garanti BBVA recently completed its first derivative transaction linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria with Bank of America.

BBVA has acted as sole sustainability coordinator to the British construction and consultancy giant Mace which will allow them to formalise their sustainability financing criteria. The company linked two finance facilities to social and environmental KPIs.

Uber, Instagram, Twitter, and Google are some of the companies in which Lowercase Capital & Lowercarbon Capital's founders invested when they were startups. Chris and Crystal Sacca have invested in innovative startups for years, first in technology and more recently in the fight against climate change. As widely known investors, activists and philanthropists in the U.S., they devote a major effort to environmental protection.

The pandemic has shown the importance of having insurance to cover hospital expenses, temporary unemployment or death. These unexpected expenditures are a shock for people under vulnerable conditions and their household economy. Microinsurance are products tailored to address these needs and offer protection to low-income persons aiming to guarantee their well-being and security in the face of risks, all at affordable prices.

In line with the objective of BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking objective of supporting its clients in their transformation towards more sustainable business models, BBVA is launching a new carbon markets business line that offers its corporate clients the possibility of trading emission allowances and carbon credits.

Social taxonomy is the classification of economic activities that significantly contribute to social goals in the EU and represent a common code for investors, businesses and regulators regarding what is sustainable from a social perspective and what is not.

Garanti BBVA has signed a contract with Standard Chartered for $75 million with a maturity of 370 days. In doing so, it repurchased a repo transaction related to  Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), realizing the first repo transaction indexed to sustainability performance.

BBVA and North American Stainless (NAS), the U.S. subsidiary of the Acerinox Group, signed a $100 million deposit. It is a relevant operation for both companies as it is NAS’ first sustainability-linked deposit, and the first deposit of this kind that BBVA has signed with a U.S. client.

BBVA's CEO, Onur Genç, expressed BBVA's intention to go beyond financing and advising its customers in the transition to a sustainable future. At the IIF Sustainable Finance Summit, he announced that “BBVA will invest in promising innovative companies involved in decarbonization”.

INWIT, the leading Italian telecommunications tower operator, has taken another step forward in its commitment to sustainability by incorporating environmental and social criteria in its core revolving credit facility (RCF). BBVA acted as global and sustainability coordinator for this revolving credit line which involves a total of 10 lenders.

The District of Bogota signed a one trillion Colombian peso (about $253 million) social loan with BBVA, which is in turn secured by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA. This operation is the first that MIGA secures in local currency in Colombia and marks a milestone in the structured finance market for the country's public sector.