​ Upon receiving due authorization from the Brazilian Regulators, Suramericana S.A. has duly completed the requirements for acquiring the RSA operations in this part of the world and consequently has taken over Royal & Sun Alliance Seguros (Brasil) S.A. as of March 1st .   In addition to formally announcing its entrance on the Brazilian market, the Company also confirmed that the members of its current staff, headed by Thomas Batt., shall continue to manage SURA´s new Brazilian subsidiary.   Regulatory approvals are still being sought in Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia, as part of the acquisition of RSA´s Latin American operations. ​     Suramericana S.A. (SURA) , a company with 71 years of experience in the insurance and trend/risk management industry, has successfully completed all the required legal formalities before the Brazilian Superintendency of Private Insurance ( SUSEP in Portuguese), thereby culminating the transfer of shares in Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance (Brasil) S.A. to Suramericana S.A. Following the announcement of this regulatory authorization, and aware of the importance of being able to rely on the best possible human talent for deploying its business strategy and having corroborated the personal and professional attributes of RSA's staff, the Company confirmed that its current administration and employees shall continue in their current positions, headed by Thomas Batt, who has been appointed CEO of Seguros SURA Brasil. These 345 employees and 938 consultants in Brazil have now joined forces with the rest of the SURA team in Latin America. "We are very pleased to have successfully completed this process and for Seguros SURA to begin operating in Brazil. This is the first of RSA´s former subsidiaries that we have received to date, as part of the acquisition of its entire regional platform as announced in 2015. The Brazilian people can now count on us as their long-term ally in maintaining and driving our newly-acquired operations in this part of the world. In particular, we welcome the new members of our team and look forward to their contributions to our Organization in terms to the knowledge and skills they bring to the table, as well as our new clients to whom we shall provide the same added value as we do in other parts of Latin America, thus ensuring their ongoing well-being and competitiveness," ​ stated Gonzalo Alberto Pérez, Chief Executive Officer of Suramericana S.A. Now that the Company, a subsidiary of Grupo SURA,  is making its debut in Brazil, it is taking an important step with its ongoing expansion strategy as it seeks to consolidate its complete range of insurance and trend/risk management solutions besides harnessing important synergies in terms of business knowledge and practices. Parallel to this, the Company underscored the fact that despite the economic situation affecting the region in general, including Brazil, this country remains one of the most attractive and developed markets in the Latin American insurance sector, accounting for 50% of the increase in premiums on a regional level. Furthermore, the Brazilian economy continues to command substantial weighting within Latin America, accounting for more than 40% of the region´s GDP. It also has the largest population within the region, with over 200 million inhabitants, more than 50% of whom are under the age of 40 with a significant portion of which belonging to the middle class. "We are pleased to now form part of this important insurance group, given its experience within the sector, as well as its financial strength and the strategic business vision required to consolidate a leading position on the Latin American market. We know that major challenges lie ahead in further strengthening our operations in Brazil and continuing to provide added value to our clients," ​ stated Thomas Batt, CEO of Seguros SURA Brasil . Our New Brazilian Subsidiary Seguros SURA Brasil has  345 employees and 938 consultants all of whom attend more than  1.4 million clients, who now have joined forces with more than 11,000 employees belonging to SURA in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama and its client base now joins more than 11 million clients attended in all four of the latter countries. As some may recall, after the Company announced in September 2015 that it had signed an agreement to purchase the assets belonging to RSA in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Uruguay, for USD 614 million, it immediately began to request regulatory authorizations from the corresponding authorities in each country and as such has been complying with all legal requirements in obtaining the necessary authorizations so as to take control over the acquired subsidiaries. Regulatory authorizations currently remain pending in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina.   About Suramericana S.A.  With over 70 years of experience, Suramericana S.A. is the leading insurance and risk management company in Colombia and Central America, with a total of 10 million clients. It recently signed an agreement to acquire RSA´s operations in Latin America, through which it shall obtain another 5.6 million clients in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. This Company, whose shareholders are Grupo SURA (with a 81.1% stake) as well as the German reinsurance firm, Munich Re, with the remaining 18.9%, provides its clients with the SURA brand of property and casualty, life as well as workers´ compensation insurance as well as mandatory and complementary health plans, among others.​ ​