The Company has been ranked for the last 9 straight years among the top ten best-performing organizations in the country in the Merco ESG Responsibility ranking.

This past Thursday, the Merco Colombia Corporate Reputation Monitor published the results of its annual Merco ESG Responsibility ranking, which recognizes the 100 most outstanding companies in the country for their best governance and corporate responsibility practices. Here, SURA was ranked in first place in the insurance sector and sixth overall, thereby completing the last 9 consecutive years among the 10 best-evaluated organizations.

The Merco ESG (environmental, social and governance) Responsibility study surveys the perceptions held by different actors such as businessmen, financial analysts, journalists, public officials, corporate responsibility experts, among others. This year’s ranking was based on the results of 80,472 individual surveys.

 “At SURA our strategic objective is sustainable profitability, which recognizes the importance of creating added value for our shareholders while helping to drive a more harmonious level of development for society. We are committed to accompanying both individuals and companies, through our different lines of business, in the face of present and future uncertainties and to drive levels of well-being and development in all those territories where we are present; having been included in this ranking is a token of recognition as to the relevance of this strategy," said Gonzalo Pérez, Chief Executive Officer of Grupo SURA.

This survey also highlighted the performance of Bancolombia (1st place) and Grupo Argos (10th place), both associated companies belonging to Grupo SURA’s investment portfolio.

Highlights of the SURA Business Group's activities

SURA's inclusion in this year's ranking recognizes the performance of both Grupo SURA as well as that of its subsidiaries Suramericana and SURA Asset Management, along with their own subsidiaries in Latin America.

With regard to social issues, specific actions aimed at inspiring trust and working in conjunction with others towards common objectives deserve special mention. In 2023, Suramericana and SURA Asset Management subsidiaries reached more segments and territories with their solutions, products and services, which meant the financial inclusion of 1.6 million individuals and companies throughout the region.

Finally, the direct social outreach investments on the part of the SURA Companies in Latin America contributed to the well-being of 1.9 million people and to the sustainability of 1,115 social, educational and cultural entities, among others.

Also, Grupo SURA launched, in alliance with the Bolivar Davivienda Foundation, the third annual call for proposals on the part of Pensar con Otros (Thinking with Others) the purpose of which is to build democracy and instill a sense of citizenship in Colombia. Here, 474 proposals were received from 29 departments, with 5 of these selected to be carried out in 2024.

As for environmental issues, it is to be noted that we included the carbon price variable within the value of our portfolio companies this as part of our climate risk quantification analysis. We also made headway with methodologies for analyzing and managing nature-related risks, this being part of a pilot program corresponding to the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) sustainability reporting standard.

In 2023, Suramericana and SURA Asset Management increased the amount of thematic investments in their portfolios by 27% and 14%, respectively, thereby producing a positive environmental and social impact. Furthermore, both subsidiaries implemented the processes inherent to the TCFD (Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) reporting framework.

Likewise, premiums corresponding to insurance solutions that take into account environmental criteria totaled USD 63.6 million and with this same focus, SURA Asset Management recorded USD 124.3 million in Assets under Management invested in products incorporating ESG criteria.

Finally, in terms of corporate governance, it is worthwhile mentioning our Ethics and Corporate Governance System and its proper functioning in all the Companies belonging to our Business Group. This system is based on our corporate principles and is an enabling tool for furthering our strategy in terms of ensuring our ongoing sustainable profitability.