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GRUPO MAPFRE

MAPFRE and THE COMMERCE GROUP havecompleted the agreement by which MAPFREacquires 100 percent of the US insurance

company’s share capital. Valued at 2.21 billiondollars, the operation was announced in October2007 and represents a decisive step in the SpanishGroup’s international expansion and is also thelargest investment in its history.

“The acquisition of COMMERCE is not only thelargest operation in the history of our Group, but isalso perfectly suited to our strategy of growth andour aim to become a global insurance company. Italso represents a decisive step in the Group’s inter-national expansion and our commitment to the USmarket”, explained José Manuel Martínez, Chair-man of MAPFRE. “We would like to welcome all theCOMMERCE staff, agents, clients and providers toour Group and encourage them to continue trustingand believing in the shared values which havebrought our companies together”, he added.

COMMERCE’s Chairman Gerald Fels said that:“becoming a part of the MAPFRE Group benefits allof COMMERCE’s stakeholders. We are proud that wehave grown our company from a small start-up in1971 to a 2 billion dollar business that today beco-mes part of one of the world’s leading insurancegroups. This transaction underscores the commit-ment of our founder, our shareholders, directorsand employees over the last thirty-seven years tobuilding a world-class business”.

As planned, and once all the appropriate authorisa-tions have been received, COMMERCE’s sharehol-ders will receive 36.7 dollars per share. MAPFREwill maintain COMMERCE’s current managementteam and no changes are expected to the insurancecompany’s staff of around 2,400 employees who willretain all their rights when they join the MAPFREGroup. COMMERCE’s headquarters will remain inWebster (Massachusetts), from which the companywill continue its business in the geographical areasin which it currently operates and will also analysepossibilities for gradually extending its business toother states. “The commitment, strength and inde-pendence of COMMERCE’s agent network were criti-cal considerations in our decision to acquire thecompany”, said the Chairman of MAPFRE.

THE COMMERCE GROUP is ranked as the twentiethlargest US Automobile Insurance Company, andclosed 2007 with premiums of around 1.21 billioneuros (1.9 billion dollars). In Massachusetts,COMMERCE is the leading company in Non-lifepersonal insurance lines. The group also has subsi-diaries in California, Ohio and New York and iscurrently carrying out an expansion plan outside itsState of origin, with licenses to operate in the 50 USstates. COMMERCE and its subsidiaries are rated A+(Superior) by A.M. Best.

MAPFRE is the largest Spanish insurance group andhas a presence in 43 countries worldwide, especiallyin insurance, reinsurance and assistance markets inLatin America, where the Group is the largest Non-life insurer. MAPFRE, which celebrates its 75th anni-versary in 2008, has more than 31,000 employeesand 13 million clients around the world. In 2007,MAPFRE achieved a net profit of over 730 millioneuros, with revenues in excess of 15.2 billion.

Completes the acquisition ofCommerce and consolidates itscommitment to the USA

José Manuel Martínez, Chairman ofMAPFRE

SIAM NEWS - Second quarter 2008 / pag 7

MAPFRE has reached an agreement to acquire60 percent of ATLAS COMPAÑÍA DE SEGU-ROS, the tenth largest insurer in Ecuador.

With this operation, to be undertaken through itssubsidiary MAPFRE AMÉRICA, the Spanish Groupwidens its presence in the country where it startedoperating in Assistance in 1995 and Direct Insurancein 2007. The acquisition, with a value of 3.8 millioneuros (6 million dollars), is subject to the relevantregulatory authorisations.

ATLAS, a multi-line insurer founded in 1984, issuedpremiums in 2007 for a value of 14.2 million euros(22 million dollars), an increase of 6.6 percent over

the previous year. Its portfolio focuses mainly onGeneral and Motor insurance. The company’s head-quarters are located in Guayaquil and it has anetwork of over 110 brokers and agents.

MAPFRE is the leading Non-life insurer in LatinAmerica. With the acquisition of the majority stakein ATLAS, MAPFRE will integrate its operations inthe country and will change the company’s name toMAPFRE ATLAS. The current General Manager ofATLAS, Markus Frey Keller, will continue to run thenew company’s operations. This acquisition reaf-firms MAPFRE’s commitment to an expandingmarket with a large growth potential.

MAPFRE has received the Prince Felipe Awardfor Business Excellence 2008 in the Interna-tionalisation category in recognition of its

“leadership in foreign expansion of the servicessector, especially in America, in a field traditionallydominated by British and US companies”.

The Award, which is bestowed by the Ministry ofIndustry, Trade and Tourism, was presented on 19June by Prince Felipe to José Manuel Martínez, theChairman of MAPFRE, in an act presided over by thePrince and Princess of Asturias. Other public figurespresent at the event included the Minister ofIndustry, Trade and Tourism, Miguel Sebastián; theExecutive Chairman of the Company Madrid Espa-cios y Congresos, Luis Blázquez; the Secretary ofState for Tourism, Juan Mesquida Ferrando, and theSecretary of State for Trade, Silvia Iranzo Gutiérrez.The Prince Felipe Awards for Business Excellencehave come to represent the most prestigious awardsin their category and form part of the general policydeveloped by the Ministry aimed at furthering andstrengthening competitiveness of Spanish compa-nies and their access to new markets. The Interna-tionalisation category of the Prince Felipe Awardstakes into particular consideration dynamism and

internationalisation of exports, commitment toforeign promotion, the level of foreign investmentand the existence of stable establishments abroad.Specifically, the Awards jury, chaired by GerardoDíaz Ferrán, Chairman of the CEOE (Confederationof Employers and Industries of Spain), and formedby leading Spanish business and industrial persona-lities, also stated that MAPFRE “has overwhelmingrevenues and its foreign business in growing cease-lessly”.

Acquires 60 percentof the Ecuadorian insurance company Atlas

Receives the Prince Felipe Award for Internationalisation

MAPFRE ASISTENCIA uses two channels forentering new countries: opening a subsidiaryor marketing its products through a local

company. Since 2006 the company has been usingthe second option to distribute its travel insuranceproducts in Sub-Saharan Africa, with which its inter-national expansion plan now reaches around twentycountries and approximately fifty client insurancecompanies.

After almost two years, the company has accumula-ted sufficient experience to now launch a specificrange of travel insurance policies, with a view toenhancing and strengthening its travel insurancethrough policies which meet the needs of anoutbound tourism which in 2006 amounted to24.5 million travellers.

Created for African travellers visiting any part ofthe world, the key to these eight new types of insu-rance is that they have been divided into geograp-hical regions, providing the insured with flexible,specific covers for each area: Some of the additional guaran-

tees included in these newtravel insurance policies are:transport and repatriation in the event of illness of theinsured and companion,emergency dental assistan-ce, dispatch of emergencymedications, relay of urgentmessages, legal defence and location and transport of lost luggage.

In addition to strengthening and improving the travelinsurance products, another competitive advantageof these new types of policies is that they will enablethe company to expand into new countries and boostits presence in those in which it already operatesthrough new contracts with companies which untilnow did not form part of its portfolio, and introduceother MAPFRE ASISTENCIA products in thesecompanies and countries. The most recent contractsigned is with Jubilee Insurance Kenya, which beco-mes MAPFRE ASISTENCIA’s third Kenyan company.

New types of travel insurance for the

AFRICAN MARKET

DISTRIBUTION

AGREEMENTS WITH

LOCAL INSURANCE

COMPANIES

PRODUCT AREAS COVERS

Africa Basic Africa10,000 euros for medical expen-ses and 10 additional guarantees

Europe Europe30,000 euros for medical expen-ses Schengen space countries

16 additional guarantees

Hajj&Mura Basic Medina and Mecca10,000 US$ for medical expenses

and 5 additional guarantees

Hajj&Mura Plus Medina and Mecca15,000 US$ for medical expenses

and 5 additional guarantees

Hajj&Mura Extra Medina and Mecca25,000 US$ for medical expenses

and 5 additional guarantees

Worldwide Basic Worldwide30,000 euros for medical expen-ses and 16 additional guarantees

Worldwide Plus Worldwide50,000 euros for medical expen-ses and 16 additional guarantees

Worldwide Extra Worldwide100,000 euros for medical expen-ses and 16 additional guarantees

NEWS

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In 2008 MAPFRE ASISTENCIA plans to launchproducts by population segment. The first will be atravel insurance policy for students travelling for aminimum of one year to any country in the world, aproduct which does not currently exist in Africa.

With these projects MAPFRE ASISTENCIA alsocontributes to the progress of a business which,until only a few years ago and still today in someareas and countries, was scarcely developed andwhere this concept of protection in the event of anyincident did not exist.

Phoenix Life Insurance visits MAPFRE ASISTENCIA

IBERO ASISTENCIA Philippines obtains the ISO 9001:2000 Certification

Ali Muhammad Katu, Underwriting and Claims Direc-tor of the Ghanaian company Phoenix Life Insurance,visited the MAPFRE ASISTENCIA headquarters from

28 to 30 May. Phoenix Life Insurance has been a MAPFREASISTENCIA travel assistance client since 2006 and holdsthe leading portfolio in Ghana, where it has five clientcompanies.

In addition to analysing the relationship between bothcompanies and new opportunities for collaboration, therepresentative of Phoenix Life Insurance also visited theMAPFRE Group’s call center in the Madrid suburb of LasRozas and the MAPFRE RE headquarters.

IBERO ASISTENCIA Philippines recently obtainedthe ISO 9001:2000 certification. The certificate,awarded by BVQi, the world’s leading independent

certification body, confirms the maturity and effi-ciency of the management and operations of the 24-hour call center of this MAPFRE ASISTENCIAcompany, which provides roadside, home and travelassistance.

The aim of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard is to strengthen the Quality Management Systems of theaudited company, in this case IBERO ASISTENCIA, byanalysing, among others, the following aspects:supplier relationships, customer focus, involvementof people and decision making.

Receipt of this certification demonstrates IBEROASISTENCIA’s commitment to apply best practices inthe development of its business activity and, specifi-cally, in the service it provides through its opera-tions centre. The MAPFRE ASISTENCIA BusinessUnits in Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, China, Spain,Tunisia and Venezuela as well as MAPFRE QUAVITAEalso hold this quality Standard.

Ali Muhammad Katu (right) together with SergePokamme, MAPFRE’s Commercial Manager for Africa

SIAM NEWS - Second quarter 2008 / pag 13

SIAM NEWS - Second quarter 2008 / pag 15

The CARIBE HONDURAS MEDICAL CENTRE hasextended its services with a new service provi-ding medical care in the insured’s home or

workplace. This is carried out by an experiencedmedical team which travels to the place requestedin one of the advance medical units purchased forthis service by IBERO ASISTENCIA Honduras, thecompany responsible for this clinic.

This is an additional activity to the services currentlyoffered in the medical centre (24-hour Emergency,General Medical Examinations and Consultations,X-rays, Check-ups and Control, Vaccinations, Labo-ratory, Supply of Medications and Nursing) andseeks to offer appropriate, quality care 24 hours aday to the beneficiaries of its client insurance

companies - Seguros Atlántida, PALIC, Interameri-cana de Seguros, HSBC Seguros (PSM), Asegurado-ra Hondureña Mundial, Equidad Compañía de Segu-ros, Seguros Cuscatlán (Citi) - as well as a numberof finance companies.

These or any other company can also benefit fromthese advance medical units to provide their emplo-yees with a quality medical service, and so reducethe percentages of lost work days or unnecessarydisabilities.

The home medical care service will be provided inTegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the two main citiesin Honduras, and can be requested personally at theclinic or by telephone.

CARIBE HONDURASMEDICAL CENTRENew service: Home medical care

Our company in Bahrain sponsored and organi-sed the inauguration act of the 27th edition ofthe General Arab Insurance Federation, GAIF,

the most important event in the Arab insuranceindustry which was held in Bahrain from 26 to 28February.

Over 1,400 delegates of 60 nationalities took part inthe opening act of GAIF 2008, in which GULF ASSISThad an opportunity to inform all those present onthe company, its business activities, its position onthe market and also on its parent company, MAPFREASISTENCIA. With headquarters in the capital ofBahrain, Manama, GULF ASSIST is the leader inroadside assistance in the Middle East and hasextended its assistance business through serviceand reinsurance agreements to the countries of theGulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria,Yemen, Iran and Pakistan. Its clients include insu-rance, finance and auto production companies.

The GAIF conference focussed on the theme“Towards a more integrated Arab insurancemarket“.

GULF ASSIST sponsors the GAIF

Advance medical units

The Iñaki Márquez flamenco group gave a performance during theinauguration

New advertising image for the home and shop assistance service of MAPFRE ASISTENCIA’s Greek company

MAPFRE ABRAXAS receives the Automotive Insurance Solutions Provider award from the Institute of

Transport Management

MAPFRE ASISTENCIA’s British company hasreceived the Automotive Insurance SolutionsProvider award from the British Institute of

Transport Management, the most prestigious insti-tution in its sector in the UnitedKingdom.

Commenting on the Award,Patrick Sheedy, PR Director forthe Institute said, “We aredelighted to welcome MAPFREABRAXAS to the Awards tableto take its place among suchprevious winners in the insu-rance sector as AON, NorwichUnion, Accident Exchange andBritannia Assist”. He also explained that the rangeof insurance solutions offered by the MAPFRE ASIS-TENCIA company will be particularly relevant to thechallenges facing fleet managers and owner opera-tors in the coming months, when the long-awaitedduty of care legislation comes into effect. The

impending legislation has highlighted the need forcompliance and as a result a more responsible atti-tude to driver training and safety as well as a betterinformed and equipped fleet manager.

Mr Sheedy went on to say, “MAPFREABRAXAS supplies a range of software solutions, including regu-latory reporting functions, bespokeF&I control logs, ICOB (InsuranceConduct of Business) manager, onli-ne regulatory support systems suchas web-based training systems, aswell as a robust paper trail. Thesesystems, backed by the internatio-nal connections and resources of

the MAPFRE Group, will strengthen MAPFRE ABRAXAS’s hand in the domestic market. Whiledoing so we have no doubt that the company willmaintain the highest levels of customer service andsatisfaction for which it is already renowned.”

NEWS

MAPFRE ASISTENCIA’s Tunisianbrand has taken the opportunity togrow and gain weight in Assistance

with the launch of Mediphone and Assistan-ce Vitrage, two products which the companyhas designed to meet the current needs ofits local market, of which it has an in-depthknowledge as it has been working for theTunisian business sector since 1991.

The first of these products is a 24-hour telephone medical advice service which enablesthe customer to contact a doctor to advise themin the event of any health-related matter. It inclu-des a wide range of services such as home visitsby a doctor or nurse and dispatch of medications tothe home.

Assistance Vitrage is also a 24-hour service whichreplaces car windscreens and glass in the event ofbreakage.

A specialist andleader in the Assis-

tance business in Tuni-sia, the company’s assistance solu-

tions provide AFRIQUE ASSISTANCE’s clientswith competitive, differentiated products which, asthey are services which make everyday life easier, achieve user loyalty.

AFRIQUE ASSISTANCE launches Mediphone 24 and Car Glass

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From 21 to 24 February the 12th InternationalTourism Fair – Bolivia (FIT-Bolivia) was held inSanta Cruz de la Sierra. This is the sector’s

leading event in this country and ASISTENCIA BOLI-VIANA took this opportunity to announce its entryinto the travel insurance business with the launch ofSegurviaje.

The formula used for this product in Bolivia will bedistribution through the network of MAPFRE ASIS-TENCIA associate travel agencies or through “clienttailored” corporate agreements, which identifiesMAPFRE ASISTENCIA’s travel insurance productsworldwide.

The ASISTENCIA BOLIVIANA sales team distributedall the information on Segurviaje to the tourismprofessionals present at the fair, with a view tointroducing and promoting this product. In order tobuild relationships and gain potential clients, thecompany also participated in some of the businessnetworking meetings and held conversations withexecutives from a number of companies. The expe-rience proved highly positive.

FIT-Bolivia is the most important tourism exhibitionin Bolivia. Last year it received over 8,000 visitorsand more than 700 professionals from the touristsector in the continent of America and the rest of theworld.

On 11 March PERÚ ASISTENCIA participated inthe workshop Visit USA promoting its travelinsurance. This event is organised by the orga-

nisation Visit USACommittee Perú, andaims to support andpromote the UnitedStates as a tourist desti-nation, in this caseamong Peruvians.

In addition to the usualmeetings and conversa-tions with the participa-ting companies, thisPERÚ ASISTENCIApromotional activityincluded the organisa-tion of a lunch sponso-red by the company at

which it gave a detailed explanation of the possibili-ties this product offers and its excellent features incomparison with the competition’s products.

Set up in 1989, Visit USACommittee Perú is one ofthe most important VisitUSA groups in Latin Ameri-ca and currently has over 50members, including whole-sale and retail travel agen-cies, airlines, vehicle rentalcompanies, assistancecards, specialist media, UStourism offices, cruises,global distribution systemsand language institutes.

ASISTENCIA BOLIVIANAlaunches Segurviaje at FIT-Bolivia

PERÚ ASISTENCIA Visit USA

Gonzalo Marambio, Segurviaje Director of SUR ASISTENCIA(left); Pablo Fernández Bonilla, General Manager of SUR ASIS-TENCIA; and Miguel Ángel Vega, Operations and TechnologyManager of the Bolivian company.

Pablo Fernández Bonilla, General Manager of SUR ASISTEN-CIA, talks to the companies who attended the lunch organi-sed by the MAPFRE ASISTENCIA company

SIAM NEWS - Second quarter 2008 / pag 31

From 15 to 17 February the Portu-guese company took part in the firstedition of the Aveiro Motor Show, a

trade fair held in this Portuguese city 50kilometres south of Oporto. A 75,000 m2space in the city centre was home to thelargest sports and commercial exhibitionaimed at all motor-related segments tobe held in Portugal.

MAPFRE WARRANTY Portugal had a space at thefair where it exhibited its commercial offer for theMechanical Breakdown Warranty (with the Ultra,Standard, Confort and Evolution products) as well asGAP Insurance to the various sales networks andprivate individuals visiting the fair.

MAPFRE WARRANTY Portugal participates activelyin motor industry events, at both a regional andnational level, to promote its products. These eventsare one of the most powerful and effective marke-ting tools, as well as one of the most economical andefficient formulas for gaining market share bycommunicating with current or potential clients.They also help to reinforce the company’s image.

MAPFRE ASISTENCIA wants to strengthen itsleadership position in the vehicle mechanicalbreakdown warranty business in Latin

America and has just signed a new contract tolaunch this product in Paraguay. The contract is withthe country’s Cámara de Distribuidores de Automo-tores y Maquinaria (CADAM) for an automatic inclu-sion programme which will commence on 1 August

and which, according to IBERO ASISTENCIA Para-guay’s forecasts, will end the year with at least 1,200policies.

IBERO ASISTENCIA Paraguay has therefore added anew type of business to its portfolio, as until now ithad focussed on assistance services and travel insu-rance. “Our objective in Paraguay is to grow with

added value services which enable our clientsto improve their performance and allow us toadapt to market needs and opportunities”,says Daniel Klein, the company’s manager.

The mechanical breakdown warranty busi-ness has a potential for growth in LatinAmerica and MAPFRE ASISTENCIA is expan-ding with this product. Since 2005 it is sold inArgentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico,Panama, the Dominican Republic andUruguay.

Aveiro Motor Show

IBERO ASISTENCIA Paraguay, The Mechanical Breakdown Warranty expands

in Latin America

The product was presented to the country’s leading auto brands on 10April.