Responsible banking

At BBVA we have a differential banking model which arises from our purpose: to bring the age of opportunities to everyone. This purpose leads our strategy, inspires our culture and values and moves us to create opportunities, not only for our shareholders, but also for our customers, our employees and society as a whole.

The four pillars of BBVA's responsible banking model are as follows:

Balanced relationships with its customers, based on transparency, clarity and responsibility.
Sustainable finance to combat climate change, respect human rights and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Responsible practices with employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Community investment to promote social change and create opportunities for all.

BBVA seeks to maintain a balanced relationship with its customers and with this aim, many advances were made towards improving transparency and clarity in recent years. The emphasis in 2019 was on promoting financial health, defined as the dynamic relationship between health and personal finance, which is achieved when the individual makes decisions and adopts behaviors, routines and habits that allow him or her to be in a better financial situation to overcome crises and achieve their objectives. With the aim of focusing on financial health, BBVA included a financial health indicator (Net Financial Health Score -NFHS-) among the indicators that measure the degree to which customers perceive BBVA as a transparent and clear bank compared to its peers. As of December 2019, BBVA ranked first in the NFHS indicator in four countries: Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, and second in Turkey and Argentina.

In 2019 BBVA focused on making advances to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mainly through its 2025 Pledge. The pledge is a commitment based on three lines of action:

To ﬁnance: Since the launch in 2018 of the 2025 Pledge in which BBVA committed to mobilize €100 billion in 5 years, €30 billion have been mobilized in sustainable ﬁnance, of which 18 were mobilized in 2019. Additionally, BBVA published the ﬁrst monitoring report on its ﬁrst green bond, issued in 2018, which has contributed to reduce around 275,000 tons of CO 2 in its ﬁrst year and generate 558 gigawatts/hour of renewable electricity in its ﬁrst year. In June 2019, the Group issued a second green bond for €1 billion and an excellent feedback among investors.
To manage the environmental and social risks associated with the Group's activity in order to minimize its potential direct and indirect negative impacts.
- With respect to direct impacts, BBVA continued to work in 2019 to reduce its environmental footprint through the Global Eco-eﬃciency Plan (GEP) and reach the objectives established in the 2025 Pledge: on the one hand, to reduce by 68% its CO2 emissions, on the other, to contract 70% of the energy production from renewable sources in 2025, and 100% in 2030.
- Regarding indirect impacts management, BBVA developed sector-specific norms that allow to provide guidance for decision-making in relation to customers operating in sectors such as: defense, mining, energy, agriculture and infrastructure. BBVA is committed to gradually align the bank’s portfolio with the Paris Agreement, being the first bank disclosing its CO2 emissions-related assets.
To engage all stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers and society) to collectively promote the financial sector's contribution to sustainable development. In 2019, BBVA signed the principles for responsible banking promoted by UNEP FI, the United Nations Program for the Environment and Financial Entities. These principles are a collective response of 131 global financial institutions and the UN with the aim to deal with climate emergency and sustainability challenges that society faces nowadays. In the frame of these principles BBVA joined the Collective Commitment to Climate Action launched by 31 international financial institutions in the United Nations climate summit in New York. BBVA also had an active role in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) hosted in Madrid.

Regarding responsible practices with employees, BBVA helps to achieve the SDG number 5: gender equality. In 2019, Talent & Culture area launched several initiatives to support gender diversity:

Levelling the playing field in order to balance the professional possibilities between men and women, for which a new model for conciliation was promoted, policies regarding maternity and paternity were reviewed, and collaboration with external communities was encouraged.
Making female talent more visible, with the aim of identifying and supporting high-potential women more effectively through training, networking, coaching and mentoring programs. An Employee Resource Group (ERG) was also launched to support gender diversity, made up of male and female Group employees.
Eliminating biases in key processes, through online and face-to-face training on unconscious biases and analysis of internal and external interview processes and promotion processes.

BBVA’s efforts to promote diversity have earned it a place in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, a ranking of the top 100 global companies in terms of gender diversity, and in the Equileap Global Report on Gender Equality, which selects the 200 best companies in the world in terms of gender equality. BBVA is also a signatory of the Diversity Charter at European level and of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles.

In 2019 BBVA continued to promote the main lines of action established in the Community Investment Plan to foster social change and bring the age of opportunities to everyone. In 2019 €113,8m were allocate to the following areas:

Financial education, as a means to improve people’s financial health through training in financial skills and competencies, through face-to-face and digital channels.
Social entrepreneurship, by supporting the most vulnerable entrepreneurs and those who generate a positive social impact via their companies, as well as raising the visibility of their initiatives.
Knowledge, education and culture, through support for initiatives that promote the sustainable development of societies and enable the creation of opportunities for people.