BBVA Asset Management: Best Global ESG Strategy Spain 2022

BBVA Asset Management is committed to integrating sustainability into all aspects of the organization, prioritizing sustainability as a key driver of long-term impact, and have begun to integrate ESG criteria in the investing process.

BBVA Asset Management has incorporated Sustainability as one of their key strategic priorities, as evidenced by the recent signature of the Principles for Responsible Investment promoted by the United Nations and the Net Zero Asset Managers commitment, which covers the whole of their business globally. These commitments come after an intense work that began two years ago to design their own strategy.

The first step was the design of a plan to incorporate extra-financial criteria in the process of investment decisions and risk control of all their mutual and pension funds and portfolios, with the conviction that this improves their profitability and risk profile.

This has resulted in the development of an internal ESG rating for the instruments in which they invest, with a rating for around 93% of the assets in their portfolios. Also portfolio managers have other tools as sustainability metrics and scorings for all the instruments in which they invest, so that they can make more informed and complete investment decisions.

Another key of the strategy is engagement with the companies and influence on their strategic decisions, among other means through the exercise of voting rights, a very useful tool for their strategy to incorporate the issues they consider most relevant for the business model to be profitable and sustainable in the long term. BBVA AM has widened the scope of its voting activities in terms of geographies and types of vehicles which exercise voting rights and as a result there has been an increased in the number of companies with which is engaging.

A further step has been the design of solutions that incorporate sustainability into their investment policies. It has a wide range of Investment Funds and Pension Plans, with assets of more than 6,100 Mills Eur and a target of broadening the product catalog to meet the needs and preferences of any client profile.

Finally BBVA AM is working in the incorporation of climate risks within the management. It is its commitment to the urgency of climate change, but it is also a decision aligned with the interests of its clients.

BBVA Asset Management has done an important work over these years, but its Global Sustainability Plan goes much further with new developments that makes them lead the industry transformation.