Garanti BBVA presented its sponsored platform ‘Women of Commerce’ as an example of good practice at the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women held at the UN Headquarters in New York from March 6 to 17, 2023.

After announcing that the bank will have 35 percent women in management positions in 2024, BBVA has launched the high performance program ‘I am female talent’, which is geared toward the bank’s female employees with the greatest potential for growth. The bank has also presented a new remuneration policy for executive directors, which includes a diversity indicator as part of the variable incentives.

BBVA sees the challenge of diversity as one of the most important strategic pillars of its corporate culture and a wealth to be promoted. To this end, BBVA Switzerland is joining the Group's diversity and equality initiatives with a new project with WeBloom, a Swiss organization dedicated to diversity, inclusion and sustainability in science and technology.

The bank celebrates the third edition of Diversity Days, an internal event to promote diversity, inclusion and equality in the workforce through activities, conferences and events throughout the week. As part of Diversity Days, the bank informed its workforce about its Diversity Policy, a general guide for action that makes respect for differences, and thus for diversity, a fundamental pillar of the company’s strategy.

BBVA takes another step toward gender equality, setting a target for 35 percent of its management positions to be held by women by 2024. At the end of last year, this figure stood at 31.4 percent. This measure adds to a series of initiatives that are contributing to increasing the number of women in positions of responsibility.

The pandemic proved to be the turning-point for her to take the most important step of her life. Not without fear, Alicia García began a gender transition process to "not have to hide my identity and be able to be myself." This was a personal journey with an impact on her work environment. Although a lot less than expected.

In an organization as large and diverse as BBVA, with more than 110,000 employees in 25 countries, we are bound to encounter different family models that go beyond the one formed by two adults of different sex and one or more children. To better understand each type of family and their specific needs, the bank has created a guide to make that diversity visible. “We want to raise awareness that there are other family models besides the conventional one. At BBVA every family has their place, and we are under a duty to be aware of the needs and specific features of each one,” explains José Antonio Gallego, Diversity Discipline Leader at BBVA.

Women in Banking (WIB) was created with the purpose of leading and promoting conscious change regarding the value of women in decisive positions in the Spanish banking sector. The initiative was launched thanks to the backing of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB in Spanish), and seven other banks promoting it : BBVA, BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, ING, Sabadell and Santander.

The financial institution is launching the second edition of the BBVA CIB Female Graduate Training Program, an initiative to incorporate 20 fresh female graduates in the BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking area. This initiative offers the opportunity to unlock the potential of the selected women with immersive training for a year that includes placements in different teams and countries before joining the workforce. This program is aligned with the bank's diversity strategy and shows the bank's commitment to promoting female profiles in areas where they are less present.

The road to equality requires us to redefine gender roles to free them from stereotypes and prejudices inherited from past social norms. In this new paradigm, the company plays a key role if it wants to attract and retain the best profiles. In the search for this approach in favor of ungendered talent, BBVA is committed to programs and actions that reflect different family models, new paternities, the promotion of women and the visibility of role models to amplify the message of diversity.

For the fifth year in a row, the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index (2022 Gender Equality Index) has included BBVA in its annual report that analyzes companies’ commitment to this issue. The firm lists the bank due to the diversity and inclusion that helped it improve its rating by five points from the last edition. Garanti BBVA, the Group’s subsidiary in Turkey, is also part of the index.

Garanti BBVA joins Ecording to plant 100,000 seeds for female entrepreneurs and raise awareness of the importance of their work.

In its annual report, Intrama includes the success stories of more than 30 Spanish companies with the best practices in Diversity and Inclusion, of which BBVA is one. The global human resources consulting firm highlights the financial institution's strategic alignment of diversity policies, the communication of its projects and the training provided to its staff in this area.

“At BBVA, there are more than 100,000 people working in over 25 countries, with a wide range of different cultures, experiences, beliefs, languages, etc. This diversity is a fundamental part of the recipe to our success, and it will make us stronger to face the challenges and opportunities that lie before us,” said BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila at the main event of the bank’s Diversity Days, a series of internal events being held for the second year in a row to share important advances in terms of diversity and inclusion, and to create a space for learning for all of the Group’s employees.

Garanti BBVA strives for sustainable development and the participation of women in economic activity. Now, the bank is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its comprehensive and continuous approach to supporting women entrepreneurs.

When Blanca Huergo knocked on BBVA’s door less than two years ago, she could never have imagined that she would wind up visiting its Madrid headquarters to meet with its top executives. This young Mathematics and Computer Science student at the University of Oxford has become a role model for many girls in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) career areas where they are scarce.

Diversity should not merely be a passing trend, but a fair way to perceive the world on a daily basis. Companies and startups must design their products and services without leaving anyone behind, taking into account all ages, body types and abilities.

Turkey recently held its women's wheelchair basketball championship which took place in Hatay this year. As part of its social commitment, Garanti BBVA has been supporting this sport´s men's and women's teams since 2013.

Every June 28, the world celebrates sexual and gender diversity, a reality that is reflected in each of the letters and symbols of the acronym that defines this community.

'Diversidad Trans. Punto de encuentro' is the manual presented by the financial institution that includes guidelines and protocols focused on supporting trans or gender transitioning employees or customers. Diversity and inclusion in general, and particularly LGBTIQ+, are intrinsic to BBVA's DNA and are part of its strategic and business objectives.

The challenge of diversity is one of the key transformation pillars for any company. In the case of BBVA, ensuring a diverse workplace, in the broadest sense of the term, allows the company to better address the needs of its diverse customer base and offer a more comprehensive service.

There are more than 10,000 team members spread across BBVA USA’s footprint, each with a unique story to tell.

Much has been written about generational differences and how to classify the population according to someone's year of birth. The truth is that there is no exact or official definition of when a generation begins or ends and, depending on which demographers or researchers you consult, there are discrepancies about the years that comprise each generation.

The agile work methodology, new skills that teams look for or the recent inclusion of diversity as a strategic business priority are some of the ways in which BBVA’s human team has changed over the past few years. Paloma Tejada, head of Talent and Culture, Agile and Communications, at Client Solutions, BBVA, spoke about all of them in a conversation with Matthew Gamser, CEO of the SME Finance Forum.

The financial institution celebrates Diversity Days, a conference that highlights recently implemented projects in this area and that draws a roadmap with the challenges and goals for converting diversity into the Group's DNA and as a key objective for the future.

Between October 2019 and June 2020 women lost jobs at a greater rate than men, while the employment recovery rate in the third quarter of 2020 was slightly higher for men, widening the gender gap. These are some of the key takeaways of BBVA Research’s 'Gender diversity and training' paper. According to the report, published on the occasion of BBVA’s diversity workshop (Diversity Days), training is one of the essential factors to reversing this situation and boosting women’s participation in the digital economy, a sector that’s recovering at a faster pace.

For yet another year, BBVA renewed its commitment to diversity and inclusion and is named one of the Top 30 Spanish companies with the best practices in the field. It was reported in the 2021 VariableD Report from Intrama's ECDI Network, comprised of companies committed to diversity and inclusion. The organization presented its conclusions at the 2020 FactorW Diversity Summit which is the largest national congress on this matter.

Head of U.S. Compliance Solutions Carolyn Veizaga leads BBVA USA’s Compliance team in the management and execution of global projects, relying on her more than 17 years of experience in financial services, project management, and consulting. We took a moment to get her perspective on motherhood, mentorship, and diversity as a female leader at BBVA.