STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Corporate Responsibility Report 2008
20
BBVA have not been passed on to the customer
base: they have been assumed in their entirety
by BBVA and booked in the 2008 accounts.
In March 2008 the NGO Setem launched a
campaign in Spain to ‘Demand accountability
from BBVA and Santander’. The initiative, backed
by the international BankTrack network, accused
the two banks of breaching their commitments on
corporate responsibility by financing projects in
Amazonian regions of Peru and Brazil.
Specifically, BBVA was accused of financing
Tecpetrol, a company that is involved in the
project to extend the Camisea gas pipeline project
(Peru). BBVA is the only Spanish bank to have
signed up to the Equator Principles and has
standards in place throughout the Group to
ensure that all finance projects are subject to the
procedures outlined in these principles. In 2008, it
removed its $10m threshold on application of the
Equator Principles. The specific case of Camisea
is a project which has the support since 2001 of
both the Inter-American Development Bank and
Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF). Both of
these multilateral institutions use very strict
standards in assessing environmental and social
impact (For further information see the Inter-
American Development Bank’s Report
summarizing performance of environmental and
social commitments in the Camisea Project (June
2007), from the IADB).
During 2008, Justicia y Paz continued its
campaign on financing of the defence industry in
Spain. Since 20 October 2005, BBVA has had a
demanding internal regulation in place which is
enforced in all organisations in the Group, and has
been approved at the highest executive level of the
Risk Area. The Group’s policy on financing
applications from the arms and munitions industry
is under constant review to ensure it meets the
strictest criteria. The 2007 review introduced a
ban on the Group’s involvement in any operations
related to cluster bombs and weapons of mass
destruction.
In 2008 BBVA has continued holding contacts
and conversations with both Setem and with
Justicia y Paz.
Finally, one last matter of some sensitivity has
been the remunerations of the company’s senior
management in the face of the current situation.
Although BBVA has not used the instruments
made available for re-establishing the financial
system’s liquidity and solvency, in February the
board of directors has approved three measures
of major significance as regards this new scenario:
the freezing in 2009 of the fixed and variable
remuneration of senior management, consisting of
around 300 corporate managers throughout the
world, including the Chairman and COO; a 10%
reduction in the variable remuneration in 2008 of
the Chairman and COO; and a 36% cut-back in
the long-term bonus for the Chairman and COO
within the 2006-2008 incentives plan.
Finally, a media impact study of leading
newspapers in the Group’s operating countries
shows no other contentious issues of any
significance. Analyses by the foremost
sustainability analysts who report on these issues
each year and request clarifications that have
a bearing on the Group’s rating in social,
environmental and ethical matters and on issues
of corporate governance have also failed to reveal
any such issues.
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