MAPFRE, an insurance company founded in May 1933 in Spain is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Over these years it has gone from being a mutual insurance company created by a group of farm owners to a global multinational company, whilst maintaining the same spirit of protection towards the customer. Eight decades after its founding, the company assumes almost all kinds of risks, is present in 46 countries, has more than 23 million customers, 35,000 employees and 100,000 direct collaborators. MAPFRE has a turnover of over €25,000 million a year, more than 4 billion pesetas, the currency with which it signed its first policy in May 1933.

MAPFRE is represented in Malta by Middlesea Insurance which forms part of the MAPFRE Group.

This anniversary comes against a backdrop of economic crisis similar to when the company was set up, because when it started in May 16, 1933, the Great Depression hit the markets and the royal economy. This setting influenced but did not prevent the development of MAPFRE, which in the last 20 years has increased 10-fold in size.

When the  Mutual Insurance of the Association of Owners of Rural Properties in Spain  was set up in 1933, the goal of its founders and members was none other than to provide insurance for farm owners.

In those years the volume of premiums issued in the insurance market in Spain was around 400 million pesetas (around €2.4 million, when compared to the €665 million in premiums earned by the company in 2012). The agricultural sector accounted

for one third of the GDP and employed more than 40 percent of the workforce. However, agricultural insurance was underdeveloped, therefore having proper management was vital to its initial development. In just one year of existence, MAPFRE became the second largest mutual insurance company in the of Work Accidents sector, surpassed only by General Mutual Insurance. After the Civil War, the Compulsory Insurance Act caused MAPFRE to enter into the Medical Insurance sector in 1944 and, upon expanding its activities, owning a country estate ceased to be a requirement to be an associate. That is how the mutual insurance company was opened to any person or entity.

In 1955, when MAPFRE was a small company with 169 employees, the foundation of the organisation as it is known today were laid, extending its activity to other insurance sectors such as Life, Accident or Transport. During the 70's, it began its international strategy in Latin America with Assistance and Reinsurance activities spearheading the Insurance business. The MAPFRE foundation was set up in 1975.

Starting in 2000, the accelerating growth of MAPFRE companies was seen in Latin America, an effect which was combined with the diversification of marketing channels in Spain. In 2007, MAPFRE SA, a company that represents the sum of all activities of the Group, was listed on the Stock Exchange. Since then a commitment to geographical diversification and markets with high growth potential, such as the United States and Turkey, has driven the expansion of the Group.

In 2012, under the presidency of Antonio Huertas, MAPFRE has entered a new stage in which it is redefining itself as a global insurer. At this time, the international business already contributes more than 60 percent of the premiums and profits of the Group.