BBVA releases annual report on the remuneration of directors
BBVA has released the 2021 annual report on the remuneration of directors. For the first time the bank is applying the directors’ remuneration policy approved at the latest Annual General Meeting (AGM), which includes the best practices in the market in terms of compensation. In 2021, a year in which the bank posted its highest recurring result and the highest cash dividend per share of the past ten years, the total remuneration for the Chair and the CEO increased 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively, compared to 2019. The remuneration of 2020 is not comparable as that year both waived their full variable compensation as a gesture of responsibility during a period heavily marked by the pandemic.
The total remuneration for BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila for 2021 is €7.8 million, up 5 percent compared to 2019. In terms of fixed compensation (salary) he earned €2.9 million in 2021. Variable remuneration for the same year is €4.2 million. According to the remuneration policy, 40 percent of this amount will be paid in 2022 (half in cash and half in BBVA shares). The remaining 60 percent (of which 40 percent will be in cash and the rest in shares) will be paid over the next five years, in equal installments and subject to the achievement of multi-year performance indicators previously set. The total contribution to his retirement plan has been €0.3 million and remuneration in kind is €0.3 million.
It is worth noting that the directors’ remuneration policy approved at the 2021 AGM involved a redistribution of the different components of the BBVA Chair compensation. The amount agreed for his retirement was thus reduced from €1.6 million (about 67 percent of the annual fixed salary) to €0.4 million (15 percent of said salary, in line with the best practices in the market). The difference between both figures (€1.2 million) was distributed between his fixed and variable remuneration, keeping the existing weighing of these two components (45-55 percent, respectively), except for the annual amount of €157,000, which was waived by the Chair.
As for the CEO, 2021 total remuneration for Onur Genç is €6.8 million, up 8 percent compared to 2019. His fixed salary amounts to €2.2 million and €3.2 million in variable remuneration, the latter subject to the same conditions of deferral and payment in cash and shares as the Chair’s. The CEO gets a complementary payment (‘cash in lieu of pension’) on his fixed salary, and a mobility allowance, given his condition of high-ranked international executive, two concepts for which he received €1.3 million. Additionally, the bank paid €0.2 million as remuneration in kind.
Surpassing the goals set for 2021 (119 percent for the Chair and 121 percent for the CEO), a year when the Group achieved the highest recurring profit in ten years and proposes to distribute among its shareholders the highest cash dividend per share in a decade, has led to a total remuneration of 5 percent (Chair) and 8 percent (CEO) higher than 2019, (when said target achievement stood at 106 percent and 107 percent, respectively). The year 2020 is not comparable since both the Chair and CEO voluntarily waived their variable remuneration, as a gesture of responsibility in a period heavily marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The variable compensation is subject to the achievement of targets for a series of financial indicators related to results, efficiency and profitability; and non-financial indicators, related to transformation, customer satisfaction and sustainability.
