Mapfre Asistencia expands operation into the Republic

MAPFRE Asistencia, the subsidiary of the Spanish based but multinational insurance group, Sistema Mapfre, has been granted an insurance agency licence to operate in Ireland and intends to offer home and legal assistance products mainly to the corporate sector.

Mapfre, through its involvement in Ireland Assist, has been doing business in Ireland since 1991.

Ireland Assist, of Galway, provides assistance services for a number of clients, including Friends Provident Broker Services, PMPA, Guardian Direct and Woodchester.

It was also announced yesterday that Sistema Mapfre has bought out its former partner in Ireland Assist, Celtic Insurance, for an undisclosed sum.

Through its insurance company clients, Ireland Assist provided motor assistance to 130,000 in 1995, and claims to cover 13 per cent of all private cars on the road. Ireland Assist has 660 suppliers contracted for motor assistance around the State.

The Mapfre company name is not generally known as callers to the 24 hour Galway centre, which is staffed by multilingual assistance operators, have their requests dealt with under the name of the client company which has engaged Ireland Assist.

Mr Noel Quirke, general manager of the new agency, said he looked forward to developing Mapfre's interests in Ireland as the number one assistance company. "We would expect our services to extend our market share by 50 per cent in the next two years".

The company believes that its new agency status will give it more freedom to develop new products. However, the deputy general manager of Mapfre Asistencia, Mr Rafael Senen, said the agency would not be in competition with other insurers. The company's products will be aimed mostly at the corporate level.

Among the products to be developed will be home and legal assistance, whereby those covered by insurance companies buying the service will be able to call Ireland Assist and get advice over the telephone from a solicitor 24 hours a day.

The tourism sector and banking are other areas where the company hopes to develop its products. Ireland Assist provides assistance service to visitors to Ireland who are covered by policies issued by 40 companies worldwide.

It will offers services so that clients wishing to initiate claims will be able to begin the process outside their insurance company's office hours.

Ireland Assist currently employs 22 people and spends an annual £2 million on services. It hopes with new developments to employ up to 50 people within two years, and expects the amount spent on services to grow to £6 million.