BBVA has always prided itself as being an active community participant in the countries in which it operates in Latin America. However, the bank’s recent efforts to deepen the integration of its Latin American banks have increased the value of the combined efforts in this area.
In 2021, the Spanish bank expanded its programmes to boost financial education in the region and allocated €6.9 billion to financial inclusion and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Specifically, the bank has a target – led by its foundations in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela – of supporting more than five million entrepreneurs by 2025, as well as training one million people in financial education and sponsoring the high-quality education of three million more.
BBVA, under the stewardship of Antoni Ballabriga, global head of responsible business at BBVA, has also adopted three main areas of action in Latin America: reducing social and economic inequality by providing access to basic goods and services throughout the region; closing the digital education gap; supporting research into the drivers of inequality and finding solutions to enhance social and wealth mobility.
In 2021, the bank estimates that it impacted more than 22 million Latin Americans through these three areas of focus alone.
BBVA also scores highly in sustainability indices. Notably, it is the highest ranked of the 19 global banks that comprise the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and it is a driver of corporate momentum towards decarbonization through its efforts with clients in many Latin American markets.
The bank also increased its gender performance in the region, according to the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, increasing its score from 73.2% to 77.29%.
