Latin America's best bank for sustainable finance 2019: BBVA

Latin America’s best bank for sustainable finance this year is BBVA. 

At the beginning of last year the bank pledged to mobilize €100 billion in green finance, sustainable infrastructure, social entrepreneurship and financial inclusion through to 2025, and Latin America is already becoming a large recipient of those efforts. 

In September, under Gonzalo Mañón, head of credit in México, BBVA led subsidiary Bancomer’s green bond deal – the first such bond in Mexico that finances energy efficient projects, sustainable transport, water and waste management, and renewable energy. 

A month later the bank placed the sustainable agriculture green bond of Fondo Especial para Financiamientos Agropecuarios.

The bank has also been active in the growing green loans market in the region, which started in earnest last year. BBVA led the financing, acting as sustainable agent and coordinator for the first sustainability-linked project in Peru for Ferreycorp Group linked to the company’s performance on environmental, social and governance criteria.