Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA

MAD:BBVA

Earnings Call Transcript

[Carlos Torres Vila, executive]

2023 was a very positive year for BBVA. We increased lending by 8% and added more than 11 million new customers, helping more families and companies meet their goals and carry out their projects. In addition, decarbonization has clearly exceeded our expectations as a business opportunity. In 2023, we channeled EUR 70 billion in financing related to climate change and inclusive growth. Thanks to all this activity, our profit surpassed EUR 8 billion for the first time.

These results allow us to extend our positive impact on society throughout our footprint and to create value for all of our stakeholders, clients, shareholders, employees and society as a whole. We allocate EUR 4 billion, which is 1/3 of our pretax profit to corporate income tax, a direct contribution to the well-being of society. Another EUR 4 billion to significantly increase our distributions to our shareholders, almost 800,000 shareholders, many of them small savers through a EUR 0.55 dividend per share and a new share buyback program of EUR 781 million.

And the remaining EUR 4 billion of pretax profit is reinvested in the business so we can increase lending in the future. We expect 2024 to be once again a year of growth for BBVA, thanks to the strength of our franchises and the progress in the execution of our strategy, focused on innovation, digitization and sustainability. This growth will allow us to have a greater impact on people's lives.