BBVA

Is BBVA safe?

Yes, for ordinary deposits. BBVA had a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 12.90% at 30 June 2026 against a requirement of 8.98%, a group liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary of 145%, and senior ratings of A+ from S&P and A from Fitch. We score it 78/100, one point above Santander and four above Intesa Sanpaolo. Its weak spot is conduct: the bank itself, not only former executives, is now on trial in Spain over spying contracts with a former police commissioner.

Which entity holds your money

In Spain your money sits at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., and the Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos (FGD) covers it up to €100,000 per holder per bank. Joint accounts are split between holders.

BBVA is also a group of separate banks abroad, and that matters for protection:

Where	Entity	Protection
Spain	BBVA, S.A.	FGD, €100,000
Italy, Germany (digital)	Branches of BBVA, S.A.	FGD, €100,000
Mexico	BBVA México	Mexican scheme (IPAB)
Turkey	Garanti BBVA	Turkish scheme (TMSF)

About half of deposits in Spain and Mexico fall under insurance limits, BBVA says. That is a reasonable share for a retail bank and makes the deposit base less prone to sudden withdrawals than at banks with many corporate accounts.

Capital, ratings and the emerging-market question

Measure	30 June 2026
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	12.90%
CET1 requirement	8.98%
Leverage ratioLeverage ratioA bank's Tier 1 capital divided by its total exposures, without adjusting for risk. It is a simple backstop to risk-based capital rules.More in the glossary	6.00%
LCRLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary, group / BBVA, S.A.	145% / 180%
Customer deposits	€533 billion
Net loans to customers	€509 billion

A large share of BBVA's profit comes from Mexico, Turkey and South America. Readers sometimes worry this makes the Spanish bank riskier. In practice the foreign units are separately capitalised banks that fund themselves locally, so a crisis in Turkey hits BBVA's profits and capital ratio, not the deposits of Spanish customers directly. The ratings agencies take that view too: Fitch upgraded BBVA to A in May 2026, and S&P rates it A+, a notch or more above UniCredit and Intesa, which are held down by Italy's rating.

The CET1 buffer of about four points is in line with Santander's and above Intesa's. We score capital 80.

The Villarejo trial

Prosecutors allege that between 2004 and 2016 BBVA paid companies run by José Manuel Villarejo, then a serving police commissioner, for jobs that included spying on business rivals, among them the construction group Sacyr. In 2024 the investigating judge ordered the bank to be tried as a legal entity, and in February 2026 the National Court rejected appeals against that decision. On 9 July 2026 the investigating judge sent BBVA, former chairman Francisco González and 14 other people to trial. The court's criminal chamber had not set a start date when BBVA last reported on the case at the end of July 2026.

The bank is charged with bribery and 52 counts of discovery and disclosure of secrets. Prosecutors seek a €181 million fine. The judge also set a €1.17 million bond to cover possible civil liabilities.

After the July decision, bank sources told Europa Press that BBVA "has always maintained" that the facts investigated do not make it criminally liable. In its SEC filings the bank says it has cooperated with the courts since the investigation began, including sharing the findings of an internal investigation it commissioned in 2019, and that any fines or civil liabilities would not be material. BBVA has not been convicted, and the money at stake is small next to its capital. We still score conduct at 60, because the allegations concern decisions at the top of the bank over more than a decade.

Data protection cases add to the record. Spain's data protection agency (AEPD) fined BBVA €5 million in 2020 over the consent form customers had to sign, a penalty the Supreme Court upheld in 2024. In 2023 the AEPD fined it €1.18 million after a fraudster impersonated a customer.

Digital security

BBVA approves logins and payments inside its app. We found no major breach of BBVA's own systems in Spain. In March 2026, Colombian media reported that customer data of BBVA and Nu in Colombia had leaked through an outside debt collection supplier, not the bank's servers. Digital security scores 76.

How to stay safe as a BBVA customer

1. Keep deposits at BBVA, S.A. within €100,000 per person, and remember that a joint account is split between holders.
2. If you also bank with another lender, check whether it is a separate bank. Two banks of different groups give you two limits.
3. BBVA bonds, shares and funds are not deposits. Ask what you are buying before signing in a branch.
4. Approve payments only in the app, and hang up on callers who ask you to move money to a "safe account" or read out a code.

How we scored it

Stability history (88) and liquidity (84) are BBVA's strongest factors, with deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (82) and capital (80) close behind. Conduct (60) is the weakest because of the pending Villarejo trial and the data protection fines.