S&P\u2019s upgrade of Spain\u2019s sovereign rating to A+ with a stable outlook on Friday, September 12, has prompted a more positive view of BBVA\u2019s rating. The agency underscores that \u201cBBVA\u2019s financial strength is now in line with that of larger and more diversified European and global peers.\u201d It also points to the bank\u2019s solid volume growth, a competitive advantage from its leading position in the markets where it operates, growing margins, and strong digital capabilities \u2014 all of which contribute to the bank\u2019s ability to deliver sustainable positive results over time.<\/p>\n
S&P values BBVA\u2019s profitability levels, with an ROE of 19.5 percent as of June 2025 \u2013 well above the 14.3 percent average for comparable European banks. \u201cWe think BBVA\u2019s strategic focus and consistent execution will enable it to maintain robust profitability\u00a0 over the next couple of\u00a0 years, albeit moderately lower amid lower interest rates. We expect the group\u2019s performance to benefit from sustained business growth, strong pricing power, and an advanced digital proposition. We expect a strong digital focus to contribute to the bank\u2019s better-than-peers efficiency, with cost to income\u00a0 below 45 percent.\u201d The agency also underscores the BBVA Group\u2019s diversification, with a presence in both developed and emerging economies, as it will help strengthen the bank across different economic cycles.<\/p>\n
Finally, the rating agency\u00a0 stresses\u00a0 BBVA\u2019s credit quality, which \u201chas proved remarkably resilient,\u201d with an NPL ratio of 3.2 percent, \u201cthe lowest in the past decade.\u201d \u201cWe expect asset\u00a0 quality to remain resilient due to the bank\u2019s overall prudent credit risk culture. In this context, we anticipate BBVA\u00a0 capitalization to remain robust,\u201d S&P adds.<\/p>\n
S&P believes that the proposed acquisition of Banco Sabadell would provide BBVA\u00a0 \u201cthe opportunity to increase its scale in its home market, strengthen its\u00a0 franchise within the small and midsize enterprise segment, and moderately rebalance the group\u2019s footprint toward more stable economies.\u201d Despite the Spanish government\u2019s condition to maintain independent management of both banks for at least three years, the agency views the deal as an \u201copportunity to boost efficiency and returns.\u201d<\/p>\n
BBVA ratings by major rating agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S&P\u2019s upgrade of Spain\u2019s sovereign rating to A+ with a stable outlook on Friday, September 12, has prompted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[148],"class_list":{"0":"post-2542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bbva","8":"tag-bbva"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}