• The Company was included in the index after obtaining a rating higher than 98% of companies within the Diversified Financial Services and Capital Markets industry, in the corporate sustainability assessment performed by S&P in 2023.
• This year's assessment highlighted the sustainability efforts of the SURA Business Group in areas such as business ethics, the attraction, retention and development of human talent, and the carbon footprint management. 

Grupo SURA was included by S&P in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI), thereby completing 13 straight years having been featured in this index, thanks to the management and performance of its subsidiaries Suramericana and SURA Asset Management, along with their Latin American operations. Consequently, Grupo SURA continues to be the only Latin American company from the Diversified Financial Services sector to be included in the World Index; it also remains in the Emerging Markets and Pacific Alliance MILA indexes.

"We greatly appreciate having been admitted yet again in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, because this kind of external evaluation allows us to identify the strengths and challenges on which we should focus our work in striving towards greater levels of sustainable profitability. This inclusion recognizes the performance of the Suramericana and SURA Asset Management companies and their contribution to ensuring a more harmonious level growth in Latin America," commented Gonzalo Pérez, CEO of Grupo SURA.

Our inclusion in the DJSI 2023 World Index, announced this past Friday afternoon, was based on the results of the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) in which S&P rates the performance of organizations in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions against standards that evolve year by year. 

For 2023, Grupo SURA obtained a rating that was higher than 98% of the organizations from its specific industry, with a total score of 67 out of 100, taking into account S&P's methodological changes, which make this measurement more demanding for the companies evaluated.

Some of SURA Business Group’s efforts supporting its inclusion in the DJSI 2023 World Index

While the fact of being admitted to the DJSI was based on the performance reported for the previous year, we would like to share some of the more recent advances in the sustainability performance of our Companies in 2023:

Grupo SURA concluded the quantification of the baseline of financed emissions  for both the Company and its subsidiaries in order to advance with designing its decarbonization strategy; the strategy for attracting and retaining human talent with special emphasis on our labor flexibility practices, benefits programs, a work environment conducive to diversity as well as preventive measures in applying our Sexual Harassment Policy; likewise, a sound Ethics and Corporate Governance System establishes rules and instances that guide our decisions and behavior towards stakeholders, accompanied by awareness and training programs for both our employees and suppliers, while  providing our Ethics Helpline as a confidential and secure means for managing potential questionable behavior within the scope of the SURA Business Group.

Suramericana, with its Seguros SURA insurance companies throughout the region, has made progress with the different dimensions through measures such as approving and implementing its corporate sustainability policy, a methodology for measuring its carbon footprint as part of its operating model, its capital management and value proposition, as well as in its organizational design in terms of its sustainability management. As for its social dimension, it has strengthened its strategy together with its regulatory compliance as relates to aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

In the case of Seguros SURA Colombia, this Suramericana subsidiary shall end this year with 33% of its portfolio solutions embracing specific ESG underwriting criteria; more than 50% of its investment portfolio integrating ESG criteria, taking into account factors such as carbon footprint measurement and the more relevant sectors for climate change management, and sustainable investments (thematic, impact) increased to 4.5% of the total value of portfolios. Likewise, 2.2% of the underwriting already corresponds to sustainable businesses based on energy efficiency solutions, sustainable construction, electric mobility, among others.

For its part, SURA Asset Management, with its subsidiaries specializing in pensions, savings and investments, has made progress in developing a sustainable investment framework, which includes aspects such as analyzing the exclusion of certain sectors from its investment decisions and has drilled down on integrating ESG factors in its portfolio management, along with directly and indirectly investing based on ESG issues. As for the social dimension, it is to be noted the efforts made in favor of a more formal labor market, specific employability initiatives, closing pension and income gaps for women, migrants, young people and people over 50 years of age. As for thematic investments, SURA AM upholds a Sustainable Investment Taxonomy.

Protección, SURA Asset Management’s pension fund management subsidiary in Colombia, on the other hand, made further progress this year in identifying risks arising from climate change as well as training the teams that manage client resources in responsible and sustainable investments. In 2023, it has allocated USD 124 million to bonds helping to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and USD 142 million to thematic sustainability investments, thereby tripling the value of these types of investments over the last 3 years. Also, investments pertaining to funds under management amounting to USD 10,750 million were subject to an ESG integration process.

Furthermore, in 2023, all companies belonging to the SURA Business Group have made headway with implementing the TCFD reporting framework for the climate-related handling of all their lines of business.

With the results obtained in these and other external sustainability evaluations, the companies belonging to the SURA Business Group continue to identify opportunities for strengthening their performance in terms of the global standards applicable to financial services, not only for developing the responsible management and sustainable growth of their different lines of business, but also for continuing to help ensure a more harmonious level of development for Latin America.