Jesús de las Heras

Wind turbines in hard-to-reach areas or solar panels located in large semi-desert regions. How do we monitor these facilities without having to move human teams to remote areas?

On September 25, 2015, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, representatives from 193 countries approved the Agenda 2030. Pivotal to the agenda, the UN defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets – which were announced during the signing ceremony – that address a broad range of issues, from extreme poverty to climate change, and promote both education quality and gender equality, peace or responsible consumption. To commemorate the occasion, BBVA lit up in blue (in homage to the United Nations) its flagship La Vela building in its corporate headquarters in Madrid.

Many institutions and world players have spearheaded initiatives that are pursuing a common goal: to emerge from the coronavirus crisis with a sustainable and green recovery. Manifestos, letters, commitments, institutional statements, and calls to action have proliferated as the impacts of the crisis have worsened. Many of these initiatives are supported by the European Union; its leaders have approved a historic agreement to address the deep recession caused by COVID-19. It’s the era of green partnerships, and BBVA is an active participant.

Money isn’t everything; supporting communities, visibility, training, and strategic support are the key pillars of the BBVA Momentum program. This is one of the conclusions coming out of the panel, ‘BBVA Momentum: Support for Social Entrepreneurs,’ organized by The Next Web in collaboration with the Financial Times, and in which BBVA's social entrepreneurship support initiative has been featured for best practices. María Erquiaga, global head of BBVA Momentum and Arancha Martínez, founder of Itwillbe.org and participant in the 2017 Momentum program, shared an online platform to stress the growing importance of sustainability in entrepreneurial ventures and the value of social innovation with an impact.

Saving lives and preventing the collapse of intensive care units (ICUs). That is the priority for Spanish hospitals (and those around the world) during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report by the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid, which analyzed one of the non-invasive ventilators from China (Yuwell 730), concludes that “its use is expected to delay or even prevent the need to transfer patients to the ICU, and therefore help to relieve their saturation.”

Twenty experts discussed the future of social entrepreneurship at the closing event of BBVA Momentum’s most international year yet. The event in Madrid brought together entrepreneurs from Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Turkey. BBVA Momentum 2019 closed its most recent edition with an event where participating social entrepreneurs showcased their projects and sustainability played a central role.

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, warns that his asset management company (the world's largest) will take action against investee companies that do not consider sustainability. "We will be increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress," he warns in his annual letter to the CEOs of the world's leading companies.

BBVA and its community investment program has once again been recognized as a world leader in corporate social responsibility, according to the latest edition of ‘Giving in Numbers’ released by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP). BBVA appears in the upper quartile — among the 25 percent most prominent companies in the world — out of the 250 surveyed, thus sealing its position in community investment and social commitment. Specifically, in 2018 BBVA allocated more than €104 million to social programs benefiting eight million people.

“We need a massive change and digitalization can not only radically accelerate the pace at which we mobilize funds for sustainable development, but also improve the use of these funds by enabling a better management of their social impact,” explained BBVA Global Head of Responsible Business Antoni Ballabriga, during the European Banking Summit, held in Brussels on October 2 and 3.

“The financial sector’s Collective Commitment for Climate Action is an important step toward working as a true global coalition. It is the industry’s most ambitious commitment to the climate,” explained Antoni Ballabriga, the Global Head of Responsible Business at BBVA, during his presentation at one of the round table discussions taking place in parallel to the climate conference held in New York this week.

Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA’s Global Head of Responsible Business, was recently appointed Co-Chair of the Global Steering Committee for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The UNEP FI is the global partnership established between the UN and the financial sector to promote sustainable finance, a cause that will keep Antoni Ballabriga busy well after the summer holidays. His calendar features a trip to New York on September 22 when BBVA, as one of the founding banks, will sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking.

Antoni Ballabriga received a B.A. in Business Administration and an MBA from ESADE Business School. He completed postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School where he focused on strategy and corporate social responsibility.  He chairs the European Banking Federation’s working group on sustainable finance. He has also chaired the Spanish Forum for Socially Responsible Investment (SpainSIF) and the Spanish association of executives for corporate social responsibility (DIRSE).

Ballabriga reports directly to the bank’s management board. His avowed mission is “to ensure the bank systematically positions people at the heart of its decision-making processes.”

Behind an event like the 2019 EduFin Summit, the global summit on financial education organized by BBVA’s Center for Financial Education and Capability, is a great team making sure that everything runs like clockwork. Their work is essential to ensure that the audience, from 23 different countries, enjoys this important event. An event where anecdotes and a sense of humor have their place. This is the backstory of the 2019 EduFin Summit.

A commitment to sustainable development is the best guarantee for a better future. All measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of renewable energy are welcome in this undertaking. This is precisely the objective of the United Nations seventh Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, an objective that BBVA is also actively supporting.

Infectious diseases, high maternal and neonatal mortality rates, illness and ineffective reproductive and sexual health are some of the problems plaguing many places in the world. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number three “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all people at all ages”, seeks to address these and other health-related challenges. BBVA also strives to promote initiatives in its field to achieve SDG 3, especially through the work of the BBVA Foundation.

As part of its commitment to the communities it serves, BBVA is contributing to the fulfillment of the UN's second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): to end hunger and promote sustainable agriculture. The 17 SDGs are a universal cry, calling for the adoption of measures to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. With this initiative, the UN appeals to businesses to take a stake in public-private alliances and join forces by uniting their efforts behind this initiative.

BBVA has a core purpose of bringing the age of opportunity to everyone. The first step toward fulfilling this purpose has to do with the bank’s contribution to attaining the first of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the end of poverty. The 17 SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The UN has called on companies to unite their efforts and initiatives in this area, with a focus on public-private partnerships.

The European Commission has warmly received the Principles for Responsible Banking. The vice president of the European Commission applauded this UN-sponsored initiative, which BBVA has actively championed since its inception. “It is truly encouraging to witness this initiative. Now is the time to implement them and truly scale up in sustainable finance. We need European banks to lead the way,” explained Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, at a European Banking Federation forum held on February 5 in Brussels.

The UN Climate Change Conference, held at the UN's annual Conference of the Parties (COP), are international meetings that aim to negotiate and and agree the activities that need to be addressed by global climate policy. On the heels of the announcement in Paris of its participation in the UN’s Principles for Responsible Banking, BBVA also joins this global initiative for a sustainable future.

The Principles for Responsible Banking were presented in Paris on November 26. These principles are the result of a joint initiative comprising 28 financial institutions and the United Nations that aims to take on the climate change and sustainability challenges facing society today.

Under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), Garanti joined 27 other global banks at the presentation of the Principles for Responsible Banking in Paris. BBVA owns a 49.85% stake of Garanti - the only Turkish bank participating in this global initiative.

BBVA joined forces with 27 other banks and the United Nations to create the Principles for Responsible Banking. This landmark initiative seeks to address the sustainability challenges facing the global finance industry, and transform the sector into a driver of a sustainable future.

BBVA was recognized as a global leader for its corporate responsibility and social investment programs in the latest report of Giving in Numbers, published by The CEO Force for Good. The report is based on the largest survey in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), gathering data from 252 of the world’s largest companies. The report placed BBVA in the top 25% of the most socially committed companies.

Garanti Bank has been driving digital banking growth for 20 years in Turkey, leading the development of mobile banking in the country. Bora Uludüz, Garanti's senior vice-president of Digital Banking, says the Turkish bank set digitization as one of the pillars of its strategy, dedicating relevant resources to the development and deployment of new technologies.

BBVA’s digitization process in South America solidly advances. At the end of January 2018, 49.9% of customers in South America interacted with the bank via digital channels. This represents an increase of 26% from last year's figures. The increase stands at 43% if we reference customers who connect using mobile devices. “BBVA's mobile banking has seen such intense growth that it indicates where the consumption habits of the bank’s customers are going. That’s where we've been headed for some time now,” explains Antonio Bravo, director of Business Development and Digital banking for BBVA South America.

BBVA's digital sales in South America now account for 32% of total sales in the region, after rising almost 16% over the past year. This growth is based on a highly diversified portfolio: 50% of insurance policies, 48% of investment funds, 40% of long-term deposits and 35% of consumer loans in the region are nowcontracted digitally.

“The images of buildings crumbling and the dust will stay with me for the rest of my life.” This is the phrase most repeated by BBVA Bancomer employees who, from the different floors of the Tower, witnessed one of the most devastating earthquakes ever to strike Mexico. One month after the quake, we discover some of the secrets that allow a 235-meters-tall colossus to stand.

The head of Country Networks at BBVA, Vicente Rodero, underscored the bank’s excellent position to face the challenges European and Spanish banks have before them.

“Our geographic diversity, universal, customer-centric banking model, our focus on risk management and the development of new digital functionalities are key elements of our strategy. We aim to lead the transformation of banks in all the regions where we have a presence,” Vicente Rodero explained at an event organized by APD (Asociación para el Progreso de la Dirección) this morning in Bilbao.

The bank in Colombia has adopted collaborative, agile work methodologies, involving dozens of people from different areas in the process.