Ethisphere Says Aflac is a World’s Most Ethical Company for 11th Time

PR Newswire

COLUMBUS, Ga., March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance at the worksite in the United States, announced today that it has once again been included on Ethisphere's listing of the World's Most Ethical Companies (WME). This is the 11^th time that Aflac has appeared on this list, making Aflac the only insurance company to appear on the list every year since it was created in 2007. Aflac is among 124 companies being honored in 2017 and is the only company from the Accident & Life Insurance category.

"We take enormous pride in being considered a World's Most Ethical Company," Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos said. "As a company that sells a promise, it is essential that our customers can rely on Aflac to do the right thing when it comes to providing the benefits they need. We are grateful to Ethisphere for compiling this list and pleased that Aflac is the only insurance company to hold a coveted spot for 11 straight years."

To create the list of World's Most Ethical Companies, the Ethisphere Institute generates scores in five key categories and assigns a weight to each category. The categories include:

Ethics and compliance program (35 percent),
Corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent),
Culture of ethics (20 percent),
Governance (15 percent), and
Leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent).

Using this data, Ethisphere creates their proprietary Ethics Quotient, which provides a quantitative assessment of a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized format.

"Over the last eleven years, we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations, and the geopolitical climate. We have also seen how companies like Aflac, which has been honored as a World's Most Ethical Company every year since we created this distinction, respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long-termism as a sustainable business advantage," explained Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Congratulations to everyone at Aflac for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company once again."

About Aflac
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leading provider of voluntary insurance at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day Pay^SM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2017, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 19th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 16th time. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day Pay^SM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere^® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.