ESG at Sagen

In collaboration with mortgage lenders across Canada, the company’s goal is to help individuals and families achieve responsible homeownership through the use of mortgage insurance. We believe that responsible homeownership is a key building block towards both wealth creation, financial security and sustainable communities.

The Company’s cultural values underpin everything that we do including the values of Heart and Integrity.

ESG Art

The following table summarizes our approach to ESG.

Objectives Highlights
Responsible homeownership
  • Our underwriting guidelines are prudent and ensure that qualified borrowers from different socioeconomic backgrounds in communities across Canada have access to homeownership. In 2019, 13% of our transactional new insurance written was in rural areas.
  • Our New to Canada mortgage insurance product supports recent immigrants accessing homeownership.
  • We educate homebuyers on the various stages of the homebuying process, including dreaming of homeownership, financing, budgeting, house hunting and closing the deal through online materials.
  • We publish an annual First-Time Homebuyer Survey as part of our Homeowners Education Week. The survey of Canadians between the ages of 25-40 reports insights into Canadian attitudes on homeownership and the financial fitness of today’s first-time homebuyer.
  • We utilize a commonsense underwriting approach that ensures a wholistic and equitable approach to assessing mortgage insurance applications.
  • We work collaboratively with lenders, industry participants and government agencies to develop and promote loss mitigation programs as evidenced by the coordinated mortgage deferral programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • We proactive leverage our Homeowner Assistance Program to assist borrowers who experience temporary financial difficulties to avoid foreclosure and stay in their home by offering creative workout solutions.
Supporting sustainable communities across Canada
  • We encourage the growth of our employees through ongoing training and learning opportunities and encourage active volunteerism in the community.
  • We work with national and local charities focused in the areas of affordable homeownership, financial literacy, wellness and homelessness.
  • We are the Founding sponsor of Habitat for Humanity’s Meaning of Home Contest since 2007 to help raise awareness of the importance role that a home plays in communities.
  • We have contributed over $3.3 million to a variety of Canadian charities over the past 5 years.
  • We are committed to inclusion and diversity including signing the BlackNorth pledge to combat anti-Black systemic racism in Corporate Canada.
Operating with an environmentally sensitive business model
  • We leverage a fully digital mortgage insurance underwriting process to increase the speed of decisions and to reduce the use of paper.
  • We primarily utilize digital options for marketing and communications.
  • We offer incentives to aid in energy efficient homes by offering a mortgage insurance premium discount for homes that meet the current government standard for energy efficiency.
Mature corporate governance practices
  • We have a comprehensive Code of Business Conduct and Ethics & Whistleblower Procedures to govern the conduct of the Company’s directors, officers and employees.
  • Our Board of Directors has a diverse set of skills and experience in the important areas of strategy development, risk management, audit, mortgage lending, capital markets, investment banking as well as corporate and regulatory governance, actuarial and accounting and operations.
  • Our Lead Director is responsible for facilitating the functioning of the Board independent of the Company’s management and other non-independent directors.
  • Our Board reviews and approves our risk appetite covering insurance, operational and financial risks.
  • Our Audit Committee, responsible for reviewing the Company’s financial reporting and public disclosures including the related controls, is independent and has extensive experience in the area of financial reporting.
  • Our executive compensation programs are designed to be aligned with the interests of the Company and its shareholders.
  • We have an ongoing focus on diversity at the senior leadership team and Board.