• Transfer to investors that it is not possible to calculate the impact of the crisis beyond reputational damage

BBVA is immersed in a crisis in which “it is not possible to predict at this time its possible results or implications for the group, without prejudice to the possible reputational risk” associated with its recent imputation in the judicial case investigating Cenyt's activity, the company linked to the retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo .

This is the last message sent by the bank to national and international investors through a booklet for issuing fixed income securities sent this week to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The entity explains that on July 29 he received notification of the order of the central Court of Instruction No. 6 of the National Court by which the group is declared as an investigated party for its connections with Villarejo. The judge analyzes whether the bank incurred in espionage practices constituting bribery crimes, discovery and disclosure of secrets and corruption in business during the presidency of Francisco González to try to stop a shareholding assault by the construction company Sacyr. In addition, the judge investigates espionage and the intervention of telephone calls to different executives and journalists by the retired police.

BBVA details potential investors who have maintained a "proactive" role in clarifying these actions and that they have already sent the judge the first conclusions of the investigation carried out by the Pwc consultant and the law firms Garrigues and Uria . This is an internal analysis launched by Torres a few months after entering the presidency to accelerate the resolution of the crisis, although it was the president himself who months later relegated him to the background by ensuring that « the important one was the one that the judicial authorities were carrying out. The internal procedure, in which dozens of people work, is not completed and "continues its course", but the entity emphasizes that "it is not authorized to publicly disseminate the information given the requirement not to interfere in the investigation of justice."

The CEO, Onur Genç, acknowledged in the last presentation of quarterly results that the bank's continued appearance in the media has affected its reputation, although he added that for now this impact had not been transferred to the entity's accounts . A scenario that is no longer ruled out because “the criminal procedure is in an incipient phase within the investigation phase and under summary secrecy,” concludes the report, which adds more information to the base prospectus for issuing fixed income securities. published last June.

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