Knights of Columbus Named One of World's Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere Institute for Fifth Time

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Knights of Columbus has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2018 World's Most Ethical Companies.

The Knights of Columbus has won the distinction five consecutive years as among the world's most ethical companies and is one of only three companies in the life insurance category, underscoring the Knights' commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.

"We are grateful for this honor because it recognizes that our commitment to corporate ethics and integrity is part of our founding mission and continues to be our highest priority," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "Based on Catholic values, this commitment extends to every aspect of our work, our corporate governance, our professional agency force, our investments, and our day-to-day business operations."

The needs of widows and orphans led Father Michael J. McGivney to respond in 1882 by founding the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal benefit society that has grown into a worldwide financial and charitable organization.

The 135 honorees for 2018 span 23 countries and 57 industries. The honorees had record levels of involvement with their stakeholders and their communities around the world. Measuring and improving culture, leading authentically and committing to transparency, diversity and inclusion were all priorities for honorees.

"While the discourse around the world changed profoundly in 2017, a stronger voice emerged. Global corporations operating with a common rule of law are now society's strongest force to improve the human condition," said Ethisphere CEO, Timothy Erblich. "This year we saw companies increasingly finding their voice. The World's Most Ethical Companies in particular continued to show exemplary leadership. I congratulate everyone at the Knights of Columbus for being recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies."

Ethics & Performance
Once again, the 2018 World's Most Ethical Companies have proven that operating with integrity leads to greater financial performance. Research has found that, when indexed, listed World's Most Ethical Companies outperformed the U.S. Large Cap Index over five years by 10.72 percent and over three years by 4.88 percent. Ethisphere refers to this as the "ethics premium."

Methodology & Scoring
The World's Most Ethical Companies assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework, which offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

Scores are generated in five key categories: 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). All companies that participate in the assessment process receive their scores, providing them with valuable insights into how they stack up against leading organizations.

Honorees
The full list of the 2018 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees

Best practices and insights from the 2018 honorees will be released in a report and webcast in March and April.

About the Knights of Columbus
With one of the lowest lapse rates in its industry, the Knights of Columbus offers life insurance to its members and their immediate families that is rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, As of the end of 2016, the organization's sales have grown for 16 consecutive years, with $8.54 billion in new life insurance sold in 2016.

The Knights of Columbus is also one of the country's most active charitable groups. The 1.9 million member organization set a new all-time record for charitable donations in 2016 with more than $177.5 million in donations and more than 75 million hours of service valued at $1.8 billion.

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 and measure and improve culture. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program and provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA). More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

SOURCE Knights of Columbus