DIALOGUE WITH THE CHAIRMAN
Corporate Responsibility Report 2008
6
out at the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.
From there on, we'll see the beginning of a slow
recovery. Whatever happens, though, that recovery
will take the form of small spurts of growth; it won't
be like before. What we are doing is de-leveraging the
economy and that is a process that takes time. That
will mean we'll see smaller, but more stable, growth
and a more prudent and more realistic financial system.
G.H.: From the perspective of Corporate
Responsibility, an area in which BBVA is one of the
world leaders, what impact has the crisis had within
your Group and how does this affect the strategic
plan that you presented in May 2008?
F.G.: Naturally, the crisis is affecting BBVA, but in
relative terms, the Group is one of the clear winners in
this situation. We now have the third-highest profits of
any bank in the world and we’re seventh in terms of
capitalisation (based on data at 30 December 2008),
so in relative terms we've taken a giant step forward.
We need to use the crisis to bolster the concepts
underpinning corporate responsibility. Clearly some
companies will fall by the wayside, either because
they don’t have the resources or because they didn’t
start out with the right vocation. But BBVA has both,
a permanent vocation and sufficient resources; not
only to do things the way we planned, but to do them
a bit better. Society is going to demand more and
more from us; increasingly it's going to demand more
collaboration, more proximity, better principles,
better practice, long term relations, and so on.
As for our corporate responsibility plan, we are
clearly making progress because there is a larger team
of people working in the area in BBVA than before
and we have a much greater understanding and much
more involvement than in the past. So the crisis
should not work to the detriment of all our corporate
responsibility plans, but quite the opposite.
G.H.: Over the coming months, are you going to be
able to stick to the objectives you set with regard to
Corporate Responsibility for 2008?
F.G.: We’ve met the targets we set ourselves for 2008
and I have no doubt we’re going to go on meeting
them. There is no reason why we shouldn't. Last year
we launched our Eco-efficiency Plan and we have also
consolidated a plan which I think is really fabulous; the
Community Investment Plan for Latin America, where
we now have over 47,000 children with scholarships.
We’ve been working in the area of socially responsible
investment, too, and making progress. In other words,
the Group has more resources than it did before; we
have a lot of faith in the management staff who are in
charge of this specific area. A company like ours, with
global aspirations, has to be in very close contact with
society. It has to try to provide solutions that make
society more just and ways in which companies can
create more value for all stakeholders.
G.H.: We have been observing that the creation of a
new paradigm in corporate responsibility is coming
into being, whereby objectives of social value creation
are being internalised and are being aligned with
strategic corporate objectives; what you at BBVA call
strategic harmony, if I am not mistaken. How do you
see the co-existence of these two phenomena of value
creation, economic value, on the one hand, and social
value, on the other, simultaneously?
F.G.: Not only do I think they can co-exist well,
I think it's vital that they do. Making money is not
incompatible with being socially responsible. On the
contrary, I think you can make money by facing up
to society, not by turning your back on it. In this
respect, we’re absolutely convinced in the BBVA
Group that the more you do for society, the more you
get back from it. I think you can say the same thing
about social responsibility as about ethics: not only
is it desirable; it is also very profitable.
G.H.: Some time ago I had an opportunity to have
a talk with one of your executives in Latin America.
One of the vehicles that have proved effective in
combating social problems and, at the same time,
generating economic value is that of microfinance.
We were talking about the BBVA Microfinance
Foundation and he remarked that the aim for 2012
is to have more microfinance customers in Latin
America than traditional commercial banking
customers. Do you feel this is an attainable target?
F.G.: I don’t know. Right now we have 47 million
customers around the world, and in microfinance
we've reached a figure of 350,000; so we've still got
a long way to go. What I do know is that the BBVA
Microfinance Foundation can set a milestone in this
area. Why? Because it's not just trying to have
resources; it's got something that is essential in any
area in the twenty-first century, the intelligent use of
technology. One of the foundation's key points will
be to provide itself with a technological platform
that can be transferred from one country to another,
which means that it can offer microloans at a much
lower unit cost than heretofore. So this is probably
this foundation's most important strategic point.
We're also bringing in the team that worked in the
bank, which has a very good understanding of risks
and procedures, and we're signing agreements with
a large number of international institutions.
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