Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services, today announced that the company has been recognized as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company®, the third consecutive year in which it has received this honor. Selected by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, this award recognizes organizations that continuously raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. Realogy is one of just 144 companies in the world honored this year and is the only residential real estate company on the list.
“We are deeply honored to once again be recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as part of this elite group of world-class companies focused on ethical leadership,” said Richard A. Smith, chairman, chief executive officer and president, Realogy Holdings Corp. “Ethics is the cornerstone of our company culture, and we are continuously striving to enhance our ethics and compliance program as part of our ongoing commitment to conducting business with integrity.”
“Among the new ethics and compliance initiatives at Realogy in 2013 was the launch of a third-party risk management platform to manage vendor due diligence and risk in connection with the company’s global anti-corruption program, which goes well beyond our annual employee training and certification process,” said Elisabeth Gehringer, Realogy’s chief ethics and compliance officer. “When we recently conducted a survey of our employees, it affirmed the importance of ethics and compliance as part of our company’s culture, showing that 99% of our employees believe that ethics goals are as important as business goals, and 98% say that they feel responsible for ensuring that the Company behaves ethically.”
“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Timothy Erblich, chief executive officer of Ethisphere. “Realogy joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at Realogy for this extraordinary achievement.”
The Ethisphere Institute assesses companies based on scores in five key categories: ethics and compliance program, reputation, leadership and innovation, governance, corporate citizenship and responsibility and culture of ethics.
The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and governance and enables organizations to improve compliance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and ethics governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World Most Ethical Companies® recognition program and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside®Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™, and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: www.ethisphere.com.
About Realogy Holdings Corp.
Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY) is a global leader in residential real estate franchising with company-owned residential real estate brokerage operations doing business under its franchise systems as well as relocation and title services. Realogy’s brands and business units include Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, The Corcoran Group®, ERA®, Sotheby’s International Realty®, NRT LLC, Cartus and Title Resource Group. Collectively, Realogy’s franchise system members operate approximately 13,700 offices with 247,800 independent sales associates doing business in 103 countries around the world. Realogy is headquartered in Madison, N.J.
