Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA)

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues is assigned to different board- level committees. BBVA links the remuneration of its executive team to sustainability performance criteria and publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. In terms of its approach towards impact management, the financial institution acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts. Additionally, the financial institution reports according to the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) covering its retail banking, business banking and corporate and investment banking activities. The bank has set targets for its prioritised impacts and tracks progress against them. The financial institution also discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including sustainability- and non-sustainability-related organisations.

As a founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, BBVA has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The financial institution also discloses that it provided EUR 846 million of finance to renewable energy projects.

BBVA has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the ILO core labour rights and describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and covering its own operations. The financial institution also has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders to raise concerns around human rights and bribery and corruption. Furthermore, the financial institution has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption. It also discloses a global tax strategy, income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions and its lobbying expenditures. The financial institution discloses the amount of finance it directs towards female entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises.

In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only 5 out of 15 board members are women. The bank also has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. While the financial institution discloses the total ratio of basic salary to men and women for some of its locations, it could provide a breakdown per employee category. Furthermore, the financial institution has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees across its financing activities.

BBVA discloses interim emissions reduction targets, but not for all its financing activities. The financial institution also has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. The bank could also align its renewable energy projects with internationally recognised frameworks. The financial institution is committed to mobilize EUR 100 billion between 2018-2025 to green finance which includes sustainable infrastructure and agribusiness, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship amongst others. However, it remains unclear how much will specifically be devoted to climate solutions. In addition, there is no evidence that the financial institution is committed to minimising the negative impacts it has on nature and biodiversity.

BBVA describes a process for identifying its human rights risks, but it could clarify if this covers all its financing activities. The bank discloses the ages of its board members but has an opportunity to disclose this information for each employee category. Furthermore, BBVA has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards low-income developing countries.