World's best bank for financial inclusion 2019: BBVA

The first of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals is ‘no poverty’, and financial inclusion is a vital step on that journey. 

One bank has committed itself to making that goal a reality through its microfinance foundation, its own responsible banking activities and a dedicated research centre: BBVA, which wins the award for the world’s best bank for financial inclusion.

BBVA’s microfinance foundation was established in 2007 and it has already disbursed $12 billion to five million people in five Latin American countries. By 2030 it expects to have granted more than $25 billion to reduce poverty. 

But early on, financing loans was seen as not enough and the foundation and the bank more broadly started focusing on financial education.

It required a different approach in different countries. 

“In Peru and Mexico, we saw people coming from rural areas to the city to find work, and when accessing the financial system, they were being offered credit cards but did not understand how to use them responsibly,” says Lidia del Pozo, director for community investment and social projects.