MAPFRE will disburse more than 1.1 billion euros to its clients in compensation for the events that occurred in the third quarter of this year (hurricanes in the Caribbean and the USA, and earthquakes in Mexico). MAPFRE estimates that the net impact of these events on its income statement will be 176 million euros, as announced in September.
• The company reaffirmed its estimate of the net impact of these events as 176 million euros, at its Investor Day with financial experts
• Announcement of reorganization of the USA business to sharpen its focus on profitable growth
• EMEA and APAC to be integrated into a new regional area: EURASIA
• A LATAM North sub-region to be created to cover the whole of Central America, based in Panama
This is one of the messages the company’s management wished to communicate to the financial analysts and experts who took part in MAPFRE’s second Investor Day today. This initiative forms part of the firm’s focus on transparency in its activities, to enhance the quality and quantity of the information MAPFRE provides to its stakeholders.
“I’d like to highlight MAPFRE’s solvency and financial capacity to respond to our policyholders,” MAPFRE chairman and CEO Antonio Huertas declared at the event. “The specific impact of these disasters will not affect the company’s development. The organizational changes we have introduced in the USA, Eurasia and LATAM North will help us drive forward our strategy of focusing on profitable growth,” he added.
Some of the company’s top executives took part in the Investor Day. In addition to Mr. Huertas, these included: Fernando Mata, MAPFRE’s CFO and board director, who reaffirmed the company’s commitment to stable shareholder remuneration, increasing over time; Eduardo Pérez de Lema, CEO of MAPFRE RE, who highlighted the effectiveness of MAPFRE’s reinsurance protection against natural disasters, such as those seen this year; Jaime Tamayo, CEO of the International Territorial Area, who outlined the new regional structure for Europe and Asia; and Alfredo Castelo, CEO of MAPFRE North America, who described the company’s reorganization in the region. The event was hosted by Natalia Núñez-Arana, who heads up MAPFRE’s Investor Relations.
New structure for MAPFRE USA
MAPFRE will reorganize its business in the United States to optimize its structure for profitable growth and concentrate its business in fewer of the country’s states. It has identified a number of priority states where it is positioned to exploit its economies of scale, infrastructure and network of independent agents to pursue a strategy of profitable growth.
These states are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It will also continue operating in Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona, but first needs to reinforce its underwriting and distribution base before embarking on future expansion plans.
Meanwhile, MAPFRE plans to cease operating in five states: New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. This decision relates exclusively to insurance operations. MAPFRE is committed to its clients and agents, and will continue operating in these states with the same level of customer service until it completes an orderly exit of each.
MAPFRE also announced the launch of Verti Insurance in Pennsylvania, a new direct insurance company for digital clients. Verti will provide clients with a simple and easy-to-use mobile platform, and the most advanced client experience. MAPFRE Insurance will take advantage of the technological platform created for Verti, and also the experience of its digital team and its capacity for organizational transformation to improve the client experience and achieve greater operational efficiency.
EURASIA
The CEO of MAPFRE’s International Area, Jaime Tamayo, also took part in the event, presenting the new EURASIA regional area, which will be responsible for managing MAPFRE’s business in Europe (except IBERIA), the Middle East and Asia, integrating the current APAC and EMEA regional areas from January 2018. This reorganization is part of the company’s strategy of profitable growth to improve the Group’s efficiency and profitability.
The EURASIA Regional Area will be headed up by the current CEO of EMEA, Nikos Antimissaris, while the current CEO of APAC, Leire Jiménez Ayesa, has been appointed CEO of the Insureandgo and Abraxas businesses in the United Kingdom. Abraxas is Asistencia’s UK subsidiary, and Insureandgo is MAPFRE’s leading online travel insurance business in the country.
The company also announced the creation of a new sub-region in its LATAM North Regional Area, to cover all of MAPFRE’s activities in Central America (Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic. The new sub-region will be based in Panama.
MAPFRE is a global insurance company with a presence across five continents. The benchmark insurer in the Spanish insurance market, it is also the leading multinational insurance group in Latin America and one of the top ten insurance groups in Europe in terms of premium volume. MAPFRE employs more than 37,000 professionals and services approximately 37 million clients worldwide. In 2016, its revenues exceeded 27 billion euros and its net profit amounted to 775 million euros.
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