Suramericana provides its clients with a competitive edge through more comprehensive risk management
The Company has become a pioneer in terms of the comprehensive risk management model it is currently implementing, the purpose of which is to provide its clients with a competitive edge by means of specialized advisory services and well-differentiated, value-added insurance solutions.
“2014 was an exceedingly good year for us performance-wise, with our clients now reaching the 10 million mark” stated Gonzalo Alberto Pérez, Chief Executive Officer of Suramericana. The Company continues to lead the Colombian insurance market with a 24% share.
Suramericana, Grupo SURA's specialized insurance and social security subsidiary, also celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2014. Since it was first founded, the Company has given rise to a corporate philosophy which has transcended borders while consolidating itself as the leading Spanish-speaking player on the Latin American insurance market.
Medellin, February 17, 2015. With a clear focus on comprehensive risk management as a way of impacting the quality of life and competitiveness of our clients, Suramericana S.A., upon celebrating its 70 years of corporate life, continues to set trends in its own particular industry while maintaining its leadership of the Colombian market. It now has a total of 10 million clients in all four countries where present, becoming one of the major players in the Latin American insurance industry.
With regard to the results obtained for 2014 FY, the Company showed a 15% YoY growth in revenues posted by its insurance and social security subsidiaries reaching USD 7 billion, with total subsidiary earnings amounting to COP 586.861 million.
Shareholders´ Equity came to COP 2.4 billion, showing an increase of 12%, while reserves, which back the Company’s commitments to policyholders, totaled COP 6.6 billion, which were 13% higher than those recorded for 2013.
In this respect, Gonzalo Perez Rojas, Suramericana´s Chief Executive Officer stated: "Our results for 2014 FY were truly outstanding from the financial and overall business performance standpoints. However much more important than this are the benefits we bring to companies, private individuals and the country itself through a comprehensive handling of risk exposure which is our way of providing a competitive edge. This focus clearly sets SURA apart from the rest of the market, drawing on an extensive track record going back 70 years in the insurance sector."
According to the Fundación Mapfre, which ranks local insurance groups in Latin America, SURA´s insurance operations within the region makes it the leading Spanish-speaking insurance group in Latin America.
THE BEST INVESTMENT
Given an ever-increasingly demanding market, Suramericana through its insurance and social security subsidiaries, offers a customer service that goes far beyond merely selling a policy, providing solutions based on a comprehensive management of risk exposure, advising our policyholders on how to achieve a more specialized handling of their own particular exposure so as to reduce losses, accidents, disasters and other negative incidents. Today the insurance sector represents 2,7% of Colombia´s GDP, 3,2% of the Latin American GDP and 6,3% of that of the global economy, based on information published by the reinsurance firm Swiss Re. On this basis, the Company is facing certain critical challenges for extending market penetration as well as transforming the industry and ensuring its ongoing sustainability.
In this sense, strategies are being drawn up to develop new markets, reach new segments of the population and produce more innovative solutions to tackle new risks as well as setting up new distribution channels to facilitate access to the Company’s products in keeping with the latest technological trends.
To this effect, in 2014 and 2015, the Company invested COP 200,237 million in new physical infrastructure and market development projects amongst others. Thanks to all of this, last year the Company’s was able to inaugurate its new Health Care Regional Headquarters, SURA Chipichape, in Cali. Equipped with leading-edge technology and the latest infrastructure, it shall be providing a top-quality service to our local clients along with added value health care attention. Also the Company inaugurated its new SURA Motorcycle center in Medellin, offering services such as mechanical and pre-trip checks, sales advice for buying and selling motorcycles as well as risk prevention training programs, amongst others. We also have our on-line insurance sales, via suraenlinea.com, which is another of our growth initiatives via new distribution channels.
The purpose of these new endeavors is to increase market penetration through a comprehensive risk prevention and management model and respond to new consumer patterns by taking full advantage of the latest technologies available.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
In December 2014, Suramericana celebrated 70 years of having first been founded. This was the genesis that gave rise to what today is known as Grupo Empresarial SURA, present in a total of 9 countries in Latin America, of which Suramericana is the Group´s specialized insurance and social security subsidiary. Out of the 10 million clients that the Company now has, 4.7 million of these correspond to the Colombian insurance segment, another 4.3 million are attended by Suramericana´s social security subsidiaries and the remaining 1 million clients correspond to Suramericana´s operations in El Salvador, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
SURA leads the Colombian insurance market with a 24% share. As for property and casualty insurance, the Company held a 17.3% share of the market at year-end 2014, along with a 29.6% share of the life insurance market. General speaking, SURA´s growth on the insurance market comes to 12.8%, outstripping the 9.0% industrial average.
As for the social security sector, ARL SURA, the Company’s occupational health subsidiary, posted an 18.9% growth compared to a 14.3% market average, with which it maintains its leadership over the Colombian market. On the other hand, EPS SURA's membership base rose by 25.4% having included 93.996 former members of Comfenalco Antioquia.
At year-end 2014, the Company provided a total of 470.314 medical assistance services, 23,9 million medical consultations and 4,2 million disease prevention and health care checks.
Finally in 2014, besides being named the "Best Insurance Company in Latin America" for the second year running by the British publication Reactions , Suramericana´s subsidiaries (life insurance, property/ casualty insurance and occupational health) received an international BBB rating along with a stable outlook from Standard &Poor’s Rating Services. S&P´s subsequent report stated that the rating given to each of the Suramericana subsidiaries was based on their strong competitive position underpinned by their well diversified business mix, sound leading position on the Colombian insurance market, as well as strong brand name.
About SURAMERICANA
With more than 70 years of experience, SURAMERICANA S.A. is today one of the main insurance groups in Latin America. This Company, a subsidiary of Grupo SURA in which the German reinsurance company, Munich Re, also holds a stake, is in turn the holding company of a group of different companies in Colombia, Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, all of whom offer insurance and social security solutions. These companies offer a well-differentiated and comprehensive assistance in handling risk and have set themselves apart with the innovation and added-value they provide their clients in terms of insurance protection.