Prensa/SURA completes a consecutive decade among the most responsible organizations with the best corporate governance practices in the country according to the Merco Colombia survey

SURA completes a consecutive decade among the most responsible organizations with the best corporate governance practices in the country according to the Merco Colombia survey

Publicado el 26 February 2025

In the most recent Merco ESG Responsibility survey, SURA was chosen as the most responsible company in the insurance sector while ranking 5th overall out of the top 100 organizations.
This reflects the firm commitment of our SURA Companies to the highest standards of corporate responsibility and our integrated handling of economic, human, natural and social issues.
Bancolombia, an associated company of Grupo SURA's portfolio, and Protección, the Colombian subsidiary of SURA Asset Management, also stood out in this ranking.

This past Wednesday Merco Colombia, the Corporate Reputation Business Monitor, published its latest Annual Merco ESG Responsibility ranking, in which SURA maintained first place in the insurance sector while scoring 5th place overall, thereby reaffirming its leadership in its handling of environmental, social and corporate governance issues for the last ten years running.

The Merco ESG Responsibility Study surveys the perceptions held by different groups of people such as businessmen, financial analysts, journalists, public officials, corporate responsibility experts, among others. This year, the study was based on the results of 83,369 surveys that took into account aspects such as commitment to the environment and climate change, ethical behavior, contribution to the community, transparency and good governance.

"SURA's inclusion in this ranking comes at an important time for our Company, in which we are celebrating 80 years of a way of doing business in which results are just as important as the way these are achieved. It is precisely our ethical stance, our sound corporate governance and our principles that have allowed us to build long-term relationships based on trust with the thousands of people who have believed in us," stated Ricardo Jaramillo Mejía, Grupo SURA’s Chief Executive Officer.

In addition to its general ranking, Merco evaluates and prepares sub-rankings of the most responsible companies in the three ESG components, namely the environment; the internal environment, customers, society and the level of ethics and corporate governance. Here, SURA ranked in 11th, 3rd and 2nd places respectively.

Bancolombia, belonging to Grupo SURA´s portfolio, was recognized as the most responsible company earning first place in the overall ranking as well as in the financial sector category, this in addition to earning outstanding positions in the environmental (3rd), social (2nd) and ethics and corporate governance (1st) sub-rankings. Also participating was Protección, a subsidiary of SURA Asset Management in Colombia, a leading player in the Pension and Severance Fund Management sector, which earned 59th position in the overall ranking.

Highlights of the SURA Business Group's performance

SURA's inclusion in the Merco ESG ranking acknowledges the performance of Grupo SURA, its subsidiaries Suramericana and SURA Asset Management, as well as its companies in 8 Latin American countries.

With respect to environmental issues in 2024, the SURA companies drilled down on their commitment to sustainable investment. The Board of Directors of Grupo SURA approved updating our Policy Framework, which provides guidelines for both the Company and its subsidiaries in terms of handling their investment portfolios based on ESG criteria. In this respect, both Suramericana and SURA Asset Management recorded COP 34.2 trillion in the amount of thematic investments in their portfolios these having a positive environmental and social impact.

On the social side, we are prioritizing initiatives that not only build trust among our different stakeholders, but also broaden our knowledge of the business environment, strengthen institutions and improve the living conditions of people and territories. In this regard, in 2024, we staged the fourth annual #PensarconOtros call for building citizenship and democracy in a total of 11 countries throughout the region. In total, 823 proposals were received, 10 of which were selected to be implemented this year. Furthermore, the SURA Foundation impacted more than 700 thousand people and around 1,800 entities in 9 countries, through multiple alliances and an investment of close to COP 35 billion by the end of 2024.

Finally, in the area of corporate governance Grupo SURA updated its Code of Good Governance and this year shall be making progress in updating the main documents of its internal rules and regulations, in line with the highest standards in this regard. Also, priority was given to training and awareness programs in ethics and corporate governance for all employees of the Business Group. Likewise, the leadership of the Boards of Directors in the succession processes established for Senior Management was a key factor, and to conclude, one of the most outstanding management issues in 2024 was the follow-up and support of the corporate governance bodies in everything relating to advancing Grupo SURA's ownership structure.