Under his presidency, which lasted until 2001, the intense internationalization of the company took place, beginning in the mid-1980s.
The Mapfre company has announced that Julio Castelo Matrán, honorary president of the company and promoter of its internationalization, has died this Tuesday in Madrid. Mapfre’s management team has conveyed its condolences and has highlighted that Castelo has been “a great reference for Mapfre”, who made “a decisive contribution” to understanding the current global nature of the company.
«Julio Castelo has been an essential figure, personally and professionally, for the global Mapfre that we know today. His values, his knowledge, his enormous capacity for work and his extraordinary generosity leave an unforgettable mark on all of us who were lucky enough to know him and work with him”, said the president of Mapfre, Antonio Huertas.
Castelo was linked to Mapfre for more than 40 years, in which he held different responsibilities until he became president of the Mapfre System in 1990, taking over from Ignacio H. de Larramendi. He joined the company in 1961 and in 1970 was appointed general manager of Editorial Mapfre, the entity that was set up to spread the insurance culture in Latin America and that promoted the beginnings of the company’s internationalization.
Among other milestones, it promoted the creation of the Personal Injury Valuation Scale, laid the foundations for the first bancassurance alliance in Spain and created the Commission for the Defense of the Insured. At Mapfre, he also promoted the creation and subsequent internationalization of Cesvimap, promoted the Fundación Mapfre Road Safety Institute and created the International Training Center for Managers and the Mapfre Code of Good Governance.
Under the presidency of Julio Castelo, which lasted until the year 2001, the intense internationalization of the company took place, beginning in the mid-1980s. During his period are the acquisitions of, among others, the operations in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Philippines, Peru, El Salvador and Venezuela. The first reinsurance office was also opened in London, as well as the entry into Ireland and Turkey as operations of Mapfre Asistencia.