MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company^®. This marks the third consecutive year U.S. Bank has earned this recognition.

“It is truly an honor to be named a World’s Most Ethical Company for the third consecutive year,” said Richard Davis, chairman and chief executive officer of U.S. Bank. “As a financial institution, we understand the importance of building and maintaining trust with our customers, communities, and shareholders. And, we are very proud of how the U.S. Bank team strives to be the most trusted choice and how their efforts impact the lives of our customers. I congratulate all of our employees and thank them for their commitment to the highest level of ethics and integrity.”

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those organizations that understand their role in society to influence and drive positive change, consider the impact of their actions on their employees, investors, customers and other key stakeholders, and use their values and culture as an underpinning to the decisions they make every day.

“We help customers build financially secure futures every day – and those relationships are built on trust,” said Andy Cecere, president and chief operating officer for U.S. Bank. “We know we are successful in earning that trust when we collaborate, act responsibly, do the right thing and treat everyone with respect and dignity. We are proud to be on Ethisphere’s list because it validates our employees’ commitment to our customers and our communities.”

U.S. Bank is once again the largest U.S.-based bank being honored by the Ethisphere Institute this year. Being an honoree underscores U.S. Bank’s commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices ensuring long-term value creation for key stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, regulators and investors.

The World's Most Ethical Company 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 way. 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%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.

“Over the last 11 years we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations and the geo-political climate,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich. “We have also seen how companies honored as the World’s Most Ethical respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and implement sustainable business practices. Congratulations to U.S. Bank for its third consecutive recognition as a World's Most Ethical Company."

Honorees

The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

Best practices and insights from the 2017 honorees will be released in a series of infographics and research throughout the year (view or download the 2016 insights). Organizations interested in how they compare to the World’s Most Ethical Companies are invited to participate in the Ethics Quotient.

About U.S. Bank

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $446 billion in assets as of December 31, 2016, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,106 banking offices in 25 states and 4,842 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.

About 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.

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