ABOUT US
• 1920, the Porto Rican and American Insurance Company began operations in Puerto Rico, the first insurance entity organized as a Puerto Rican company.
• 1960, the Company was sold to the Woolnor Corporation and resold a year later to International Investment Company, Inc. In 1965, J. Walter Thompson, the world’s largest advertising agency, acquired the entity, and nine years later, in 1974, the insurance group Continental Corporation of New York purchased and integrated it.
• 1990, MAPFRE, an international insurance group with its origin in Spain, acquired the Company. MAPFRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY was originally the Security National Life Insurance Company of Puerto Rico, a life insurance company founded in 1984 which operated until 2004 under the name Puerto Rican American Life Insurance Company.
• 2001, MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION acquired MAPFRE CORPORATION OF FLORIDA, a holding company comprising two insurance entities licensed in Florida since 1990. On January 1, 2004, three years after developing a profitable organization, MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION sold its 100% interest in MAPFRE CORPORATION OF FLORIDA to MAPFRE MUTUALIDAD. With the continued support and assistance of MAPFRE PRAICO, MAPFRE Florida has assumed the responsibility for developing direct insurance markets for MAPFRE in the United States.
• 2003, MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION acquired Canada Life Insurance Company of Puerto Rico, Inc., a health insurance carrier with a long standing presence in Puerto Rico as successor of Crown Life Insurance. Immediately after the acquisition, Canada Life Insurance Company was merged with MAFPRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY in 2004 to form a single life, health and disability insurer. MAPFRE LIFE has continued to grow as a significant player in the health insurance market in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
• 2005, MAPFRE LIFE was authorized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to sponsor the Medicare Advantage Program for Medicare-qualifying citizens in Puerto Rico.
• 2006, MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION acquired all shares of the Baldrich & Associates, Inc. general agency, and of Auto Guard, Inc. and Profits Solutions, Inc., providers of automotive services, including extended warranties. With this acquisition, MAPFRE increased its automobile-related services and insurance offerings in the Puerto Rico market.
• 2007, MAPFRE reached an agreement for the acquisition of The Commerce Group in the United States. THE COMMERCE GROUP ranks as the 20th largest motor insurer in the U.S., with premiums close to €1,210 million ($1,900 million). COMMERCE is the leader in non-life insurance lines in Massachusetts, and also has subsidiaries in California, Ohio and New York. It is currently undertaking an expansion plan outside of its home state, as it holds licenses in all 50 states of the union. COMMERCE and its subsidiaries are rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best.
• 2008, MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION relaunched MAPFRE FINANCE OF PUERTO RICO CORP. a premium financing company.
• As of the closing of year the 2009, MAPFRE had 31 branches around the island, 831 employees and more than 11,000 health service providers.
• Today, the successor to the original Porto Rican and American Insurance Company is part of an insurance group known as MAPFRE PUERTO RICO, consisting of four insurance companies: MAPFRE PRAICO INSURANCE COMPANY, MAPFRE PREFERRED RISK INSURANCE COMPANY, MAPFRE PAN AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, and MAPFRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. The Group is also comprised of one insurance agency, a premium financing company, an extended warranty company for automobiles and a company that is engaged in the sale and distribution of vehicle stencils (“Etch”) through auto dealers.
• All the companies are organized under MAPFRE PRAICO CORPORATION, a holding company wholly owned by MAPFRE AMÉRICA S.A., with headquarters in Madrid, Spain. MAPFRE S.A. owns 89% of MAPFRE AMÉRICA S.A. The controlling shareholder of MAPFRE S.A. is FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, a non profit oriented foundation, which carries out activities of general interest. This shareholding is held through CARTERA MAPFRE, a unipersonal Company, wholly owned by FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE.
• All the companies in Puerto Rico continue to share common administration and business policies, and to integrate operations, allowing them to benefit from the organization’s technological expertise thus, reducing operational costs.