Ping An receives Low Risk ESG rating from Sustainalytics Still #1 in Mainland China's insurance sector

HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, April 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An", the "Company" or the "Group", HKEX: 2318 / 82318; SSE: 601318) has again received a "Low Risk" ESG Risk Rating from Sustainalytics, ranked first in Mainland China's insurance sector. With a risk rating score of 17, this is the second time Ping An received a "Low Risk" ESG Risk Rating, confirming the superb ESG risk management capability of the Group.

Sustainalytics identified six material ESG issues as having material impact on Ping An's operations, including corporate governance, data privacy and security, business ethics, human capital, product governance and ESG integration – financials Based on an assessment of the risk exposure and risk management on these six issues, Sustainalytics awarded the Group a comprehensive score of 17, giving it a "Low Risk" ESG Risk Rating. Of the six issues, product governance and ESG integration – financials are regarded as negligible risks.

Sustainalytics said: "Ping An's overall management of material ESG issues is strong. Ping An's attainment of ISO 27001 certification, an information security best practice, underscores its commitment to safeguarding data integrity. The coordination of information security efforts by its technology development committee further enhances its privacy management. On the business ethics front, Ping An has assigned the responsibility for managing business ethics and anti-corruption to the audit and risk management committee under the board of directors, emphasizing a governance structure aligned with ethical practices." Sustainalytics also recognized the proactive measures taken by Ping An in terms of staff training and career development.

As China's population continues to age, there is growing public awareness of the importance of health management and quality of life. Ping An continues to remain customer needs-oriented, enhance its "integrated finance + healthcare and elderlycare" strategy to develop an innovative Chinese "managed care model". Besides providing traditional insurance protection, Ping An integrates premium healthcare and elderlycare resources, to manage customers' health and offer the most cost-effective healthcare and elderlycare services under unique business models. In 2023, the Company's operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached RMB117,989 million. As of the end of December 2023, nearly 64% of Ping An's 232 million retail customers also used services from the healthcare and elderlycare ecosystem. Customers entitled to service benefits in the healthcare and elderlycare ecosystem accounted for over 73% of Ping An Life's new business value (NBV).

Ping An continues to adopt the world's best corporate governance practices to be a leader in corporate governance and provide stable returns to shareholders. In 2023, Ping An distributed a full-year cash dividend RMB2.43 per share, up 0.4% year-on-year, with the total dividend increasing for 12 consecutive years. When setting the composition of the Board of Directors, Ping An considers the diversity of the members from many aspects, including, but not limited to, gender, age, cultural and educational backgrounds and skills. As of the end of 2023, the percentage of female board directors was 20%. The board directors bring a high level of professionalism and rich experience within China and globally, in areas including law, investment, actuarial science, insurance, banking, financial accounting and technology. At the same time, Ping An continues to actively provide sustainability-related training for board members in a range of areas, including digital transformation, information security, climate risk management and sustainable finance.

Ping An is also continuously improving its information security management level, to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. In 2023, Ping An completed 59 security emergency drills with its member companies, covering 9 emergency drill scenarios such as ransomware, anti-DDOS attacks, phishing emails. It also carried out database backup and recovery drills, thus effectively consolidating the Group's emergency response capability for information security. In 2023, Ping An provided over 50 information security training and educational courses to all staff and relevant parties, covering various areas such as endpoint security, data security and office security.

In terms of talent development, Ping An offered 375 training courses for employees at all levels. In 2023, Ping An's employees received 44.9 hours of training on average. To encourage long-term service among core employees, Ping An has put in place long-term incentive and restraint mechanisms and implemented the Key Employee Share Purchase Plan and the Long-term Service Plan. This provided a strong foundation for the Company's sustainable and healthy long-term development. As of the end of December 2023, a total of 103,232 employees participated in its Key Employee Share Purchase Plan and Long-term Service Plan. Meanwhile, Ping An received an overall satisfaction score of 87/100 in its 2023 employee satisfaction survey.

Sustainalytics is one of the world-leading ESG research institutions, it has developed ESG risk rating and assessment systems for various industries, to provide a comprehensive analysis of companies' exposure to industry-specific material ESG risks and their risk management capabilities. This helps institutional investors and companies to identify, understand and manage ESG-driven risks and opportunities. Its ESG risk rating is divided into five levels, namely negligible risk (0-10 points), low risk (10-20 points), medium risk (20-30 points), high risk (30-40 points) and severe risk (40 points and above), with lower score means lower ESG risk.

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