Balance Sheet at 31 December 2010 of BBVA

22. PENSION AND OTHER COMMITMENTS
The Bank has defined Employee Welfare Systems that include both defined-benefit and defined-contribution
post-employment commitments with its employees; the proportion of the latter benefits is gradually
increasing, mainly due to new hires and because pre-existing defined-benefit commitments have been
mostly closed.
The main Employee Welfare System has been implemented in Spain. Under the collective labor agreement,
Spanish banks are required to supplement the social security benefits received by employees or their
beneficiary right-holders in the event of retirement (except for those hired after March 8, 1980), permanent
disability, death of spouse or death of parent.
The employee welfare system in place at the Bank superseded and improved the terms and conditions of the
collective labor agreement for the banking industry; the commitments envisaged in the event of retirement,
death and disability cover all employees, including those hired after March 8, 1980. The Bank outsourced all
its commitments to serving and retired employees pursuant to Royal Decree 1.588/1999, October 15. These
commitments are instrumented in external pension plans, insurance contracts with a company unrelated to
the Bank and insurance contracts with BBVA Seguros, S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros, which is 99.95%
owned by the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Group. This employee welfare system includes defined
contribution commitments, the amounts of which are determined, on a case-by-case basis, as a percentage
of certain compensation and/or as a pre-established fixed amount. Defined benefit commitments are funded
by insurance contracts.
22.1. PENSION COMMITMENTS THROUGH DEFINED-CONTRIBUTION PLANS
The commitments with employees for pensions in post-employment defined-contribution plans correspond to
current contributions the Bank makes every year on behalf of working employees. These contributions are
accrued and charged to the income statement in the corresponding financial year (Note 2.9). No liability is
therefore recognized on the accompanying balance sheets.
The contributions to the defined-contribution plans in 2010 and 2009 were €33 and €39 million, respectively
(see Note 40.1).
22.2. PENSION COMMITMENTS THROUGH DEFINED-BENEFIT PLANS AND OTHER LONG-TERM
BENEFITS
The following table shows the commitments under defined-benefit plans and the long-term post-employment
benefits, which are recognized under the heading "Provisions"” in the accompanying balance sheets (see
Note 21) for 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006:
Millions of Euros
Commitments in Defined-Benefit Plans and Other Post-
Employment Commitments
2010 2009 2008 2007 2006
Pension and post-employment benefits 5,657 5,924 6,119 5,705 6,145
Assets and insurance contracts coverage 480 498 468 521 622
Total net liabilities 5,177 5,426 5,651 5,184 5,523
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