One more year, the Platform against BBVA has made a protest action taking advantage of the fact that the BBVA Shareholders' Board was to be held. The action has taken place at the gates of the Euskalduna Palace, where a group of activists have been dressed in suit and have thrown red paint above their heads. They wanted to denounce that the benefits of BBVA “are stained with blood, its benefits come from pain in thousands of wars and conflicts, deepening the social gap, climate change, environmental destruction.”

Furthermore, they have denounced that the bank has made continuous attempts to legitimize unacceptable practices. “It has crushed its activities with the new ‘sustainability indicator’, with its social responsibility, with the Ecuadorian Principles, etc. or with the funding of actions that can give a negative or positive picture,” they said. However, the platform has published a number of practices that hide behind the good image that the Basque bank wants to give.

According to the data provided, BBVA leads the investments in the Spanish arms industry and between 2013 and 2018 has allocated EUR 4.2 billion to arms companies, “these weapons are used, they kill, destroy villages and cause wars, refugees, etc.”, they have denounced. Together with the arms industry, they have also stressed that it finances macro-projects with a high social and environmental impact at global level. In addition, they have warned that it is responsible for thousands of evictions and that it is part of the banking lobby that puts pressure on the further privatisation of pensions.

In addition to denouncing all these erroneous practices, they have recalled that BBVA is being prosecuted because “for 13 years he hired Commissioner Villarejo for 10.28 million to do dirty work.”