During the presentation of the results of the first semester of the year, Fernando Mata, financial director of Mapfre, chose not to comment on aspects of the electoral result of last July 23, focusing on the economic part. However, he highlights the importance for the company of having “economic stability, a stable regulatory margin and an improvement in social conditions”, since a prosperous economy benefits Mapfre.
Mapfre reported a profit of 317 million euros in the first half, which represents 6% less, affected by the earthquake in Turkey together with the deterioration of car insurance.
Regarding the Auto insurance business, which impacted the profit of the Iberia unit (Spain and Portugal), Mata said that it was affected by the return to normality in the accident rate after the Covid-19 pandemic and by the increase in costs due to high inflation, noting that it is common throughout the sector.
Mata assures that the increase was not the result of the increase in costs
However, it has reported that a change in trend has been observed in the second quarter in this business and expects it to remain so for the coming quarters. “We hope that this trend is not a seasonal situation leading up to the summer,” he added.
Regarding the 5.5% increase in the average premium for clients with car insurance in the Iberia market, Mata has defended that this does not mean that they have raised it for all clients and that the fact that there were new increases in the cost structure and the inflationary situation.
In this regard, he pointed out that subjacent inflation for July has risen to 6.2%, while the general CPI has risen to 2.3%. “We are going to continue adapting the rates, but we are seeing a more positive scenario than the one we have seen in previous quarters,” she added.
Mata has commented on the result of the arbitration award in which the Court of Arbitration of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Madrid has upheld Mapfre’s claim by recognizing its right to receive 120% of the market value of the life and non-life that the insurer had with Bankia, and not the 110% estimated by Oliver Wyman, an independent expert appointed by both parties.
In this way, CaixaBank must pay Mapfre 53 million euros to reach 120% of the market value of these businesses from the bancassurance agreement with Bankia. Mata has stated that the insurer will have a net impact of 47 million euros that will be accounted for in the third quarter.
