Social welfare

In the last year, the bank has stepped up its efforts to improve the wellness and health of its employees. These initiatives are already proving their worth by helping employees in areas as wide-ranging as sleep quality, early detection of genetic diseases and mental health.

Following the introduction of new ways of working, the bank is rolling out a range of corporate wellness initiatives aimed at caring for employees' physical and emotional health.

BBVA placed €1.04 billion through two social bonds in 2020, the funds of which were mainly used to help micro- and small companies through ICO-guaranteed loans, in the case of Spain. In total, 15,175 companies with a total of 207,628 employees have benefited. This is shown in the 'BBVA 2020 green and social bond report'. The report highlights that, since the 2018 publication of the framework for issuing bonds linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the emission of more than 2.3 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere has been avoided, through the projects financed with BBVA's green bonds in 12 countries; a figure that is equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly 913,000 cars.

Garanti BBVA launches ‘Garanti Portföy Temiz Enerji Karma Fon’, an innovative fund that invests in capital market instruments tied to Turkish and international companies in the sector of clean, renewable and alternative energy technologies.

BBVA’s practices in support of human rights have been assessed and recognized as one of world’s best in ‘The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark 2019’ a industry benchmark report published Banktrack. BBVA’s overall mark - 7.5 points, after improving 4 points with respect to the 2016 edition, the highest increase by any of the 50 banks analyzed – placed the bank fourth in list released by the NGO, behind ABN AMRO and Rabobank (Netherlands) and Australia's ANZ.

For years Garanti BBVA has spearheaded projects that give back to society. Now the bank is kicking-off a new initiative: helping its customers celebrate their birthdays by making a contribution to a local charity.

The City of Birmingham last week celebrated the opening of phase one of the new $79.6 million Villas at Titusville housing community and the groundbreaking of phase two, slated for completion in 2020.

Banks, with their array of financial service offerings and bottom-line image, may not seem like natural cheerleaders for sustainable corporate practices. Your banker, after all, doesn't make a living sourcing fair-trade chocolate for candy bars or producing renewable biomass fuel. Banks, however, play an increasingly significant role in promoting sustainable activities that support a clean environment, vulnerable populations and human rights, among other goals through their internal practices and through the enterprises they finance.

In 2018 BBVA invested €12.4 million in initiatives supporting social enterprises, encouraging volunteer activities, and promoting corporate responsibility. This amount totals €43 million for the 2016-2018 time period.

The Montrose Center broke ground Tuesday on its affordable senior independent living center in Houston, as part of the organization's mission to empower primarily LGBTQ individuals and their families, to enjoy healthier and more fulfilling lives.

The main goal of volunteering is to help others. But it turns out volunteers also benefit from their charitable activities. Over the years, many studies have shown volunteers experience greater fulfillment, better health, and improved overall well-being.

Kathy Fennell works at BBVA US and wants you to know one thing: She’s passionate about volunteering, and she thinks you should be, too. “Volunteering is so rewarding,” says Fennell, a Relationship Support Specialist for the Commercial and Real Estate Group in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Investors who want to put their money where their ethics are — to realize potentially attractive returns while supporting environmentally sound and humane business practices — may choose from a variety of financial instruments that align with these goals.

Sustainable businesses benefit the environment, their people and the community around them. But a focus on sustainability isn't just about giving back; it also makes good business sense.

BBVA Compass received a perfect score of 100 on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.  The bank joins the ranks of over 570 major U.S. businesses that also earned top marks this year.

In February 2019, BBVA Compass announced that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta rated it “Outstanding” for CRA performance for its most recent examination period. This three-part series will take a detailed look at the key efforts behind that rating in lending, investment and community giving.

Access to the arts can play a major role in a city’s quality of life, its tourism efforts and its overall cultural and economic health. Because most organizations that offer that access -- through art museums, symphony orchestras, ballet companies and others -- are typically non-profit, they must rely heavily on the support and collaboration of patrons and corporate donors who share their vision.

Two young friends on a surfing trip to Bali, shocked by the heaps of plastic they found washed up on the beach, returned to the United States with an entrepreneurial vision to clean the ocean. Their company, 4Ocean, promises to remove one pound of trash from oceans and coastlines with the sale of every one of its $20 bracelets, which are made from recycled plastic and glass bottles. In roughly two years, the venture, which now employs more than 150 people around the planet, reports that it has recovered over 4 million pounds of trash.

BBVA Group Executive Chairman Francisco González thinks it is necessary to establish “a new global regulation," one that could benefit society as a whole with all the opportunities the digital era has to offer.  “We are living an unprecedented revolution, that could bring a never-before-seen level of well-being if we manage to make progress in a new legal architecture," he pointed out during a meeting at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Brussels.

Human rights are an essential element of BBVA's purpose: “to bring the age of opportunity to everyone.” Its Commitment to human rights, approved in 2018, sets the foundations for further progress in that direction, involving all the people who work in BBVA’s ecosystem.

BBVA Compass clients and Dallas community leaders gathered downtown Thursday night at Café Momentum, where the former juvenile offenders who power the restaurant prepared and served attendees a haute-cuisine meal and gave them a firsthand look at social entrepreneur Chad Houser’s ambitious venture to rehabilitate the youth and help them reenter society.

Fair-trade coffee, quality guarantee, ecological tomatoes… consumers read the labels on the things they eat. But is there any way of checking that what they say is correct? In order to do so, you would need a register of the processes to which the product has been submitted, something blockchain can do.

BBVA Compass and Opportunity Finance Network are putting out the call to dedicated leaders at community development financial institutions and inviting them to apply to the Opportunity Fellows Program, their joint initiative to boost the CDFI industry’s leadership ranks and spur greater access to capital in under-resourced communities.

Your ability to build strong relationships with colleagues is critical to the success of your career. It opens doors to key projects, personal development, mentoring opportunities and promotion.

Goodwill Central Texas will open a new hub for financial education as part of the future Goodwill Career and Technical Academy, with funding generously provided by the BBVA Compass Foundation. The BBVA Compass Center for Financial Education will break ground in late 2018.

Sustainable Development is essential to achieving more peaceful and just societies and the United Nations counts on the private sector to help in this effort. The BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) has contributed its experience in the finance sector to the report entitled “Business and SDG 16: contributing to peaceful, just and inclusive societies,” drawn up by the Sustainable Development Goals Fund and the University of Pennsylvania.

Chad Houser of Dallas-based Café Momentum, a restaurant training platform for juvenile offenders, won the top prize of $50,000 last week as the BBVA Momentum program for social entrepreneurs closed out its inaugural season in the U.S.

All organizations operate at what is known as the edge of chaos. It is a transition space between order and disorder, a region of bounded instability, where forces both progressive and conservative battle for control. A manager may have a three-year strategy, and the protocol, teams and departments in place to deliver it, but realizing that strategy means contending with countless disruptive events; a new competitor entering the market, a shift in consumer behavior – even, perhaps, the manager’s own desire to retire to a quiet village on the countryside.