Mapfre, S.A. (MAP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This Annual General Meeting 2021 is now in session. Before I give the floor to the secretary, so he may read the agenda, I'd like to remind you that as a result of the still extraordinary circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of emergency established by Royal Decree 956/2020 on November 3, this Annual General Meeting is to be held exclusively via telematic means, through the electronic platform that has been established for the purpose on the corporate website, a platform enabling shareholders to exercise their attendance representation and voting rights. Also and as recommended by the Court of Good Governance of the CNMV, this Annual General Meeting is being broadcast live, so that all stakeholders can follow it from anywhere in the world. If the electronic platform or systems were to crash, we will temporarily suspend this Annual General Meeting, and reconvene once the systems are back up. As explained in the calling of this meeting, only the members of the Board who will be speaking in this Annual General Meeting are actually in attendance in the room as well as the notary, and the remaining members of the Board of Directors are attending remotely, including Mrs. Catalina Minarro Brugarolas; Mr. Jose Manuel Inchausti Perez; Mr. Jose Antonio Colomer Guiu; Maria Leticia De Freitas Costa; Rosa Garcia Garcia; Mr. Antonio Gomez Ciria; Mrs. Isabel Fernandez Alvarez; Mr. Luis Hernando De Larramendi Martinez; Francisco Jose Marco Orenes; Antonio Miguel-Romero de Olano; Mrs. Pilar Perales Viscasillas; and Mr. Alfonso Rebuelta Badias. Before we read the agenda of this AGM and since the day after tomorrow, we will have the first anniversary of the first state of emergency in this terrible situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'd like to share this video with you. [Presentation]

With our condolences of the humanitarian disaster that the world has experienced this last year with millions of lives lost, I'd like to conclude my referral to this situation with a special remembrance of our employees and directors, who died during this pandemic. And now the secretary will read the agenda.

Good morning. The agenda of the meeting reads as follows: first, examination and approval of the annual financial statements and the individual and consolidated management reports for the 2020 fiscal year; two, approval of the integrated report for the 2020 fiscal year, which includes the statement of nonfinancial information; three, approval of the proposed distribution of the result and dividends corresponding to fiscal year 2020; fourth, approval of the Board of Directors' management during fiscal year 2020; fifth, appointment, reelection and ratification, where appropriate, of Board of Directors, reelection of Mrs. Ana Isabel Fernandez Alvarez as independent Board Director, reelection of Mr. Francisco Jose Marco Orenes as Executive Director, reelection of Mr. Fernando Mata Verdejo as Executive Board Director; sixth, amendment of Article 11 of the bylaws regarding attendance to the Annual General Meeting through telematic means; seventh, amendment of the regulations of the Annual General Meeting to include a new Article 8B, concerning the possibility of attending the Annual General Meeting by a telematic means through a remote connection in real time; eighth, authorization to the Board of Directors so that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 146 and pursuant to the Recast Text of the Spanish Corporations Act, the company may proceed directly or through subsidiary companies to purchase treasury stock; ninth, annual report on Board Directors' remuneration for fiscal year 2020; 10th, extension of the appointment of the account auditor; 11th, report the amendments made to the regulations of the Board of Directors in 2020; and 12th, delegation of powers to execute and record as public deed the resolutions passed at the Annual General Meeting. In accordance with the provisions of Article 203 of the Recast Text of the Spanish Corporations Act, the Board of Directors has resolved to request the presence of Madrid Notary Public, Mr. Jose Maria Prada, to minute the annual General Meeting. We have present -- or represented shareholders owning 2,512,244,136 shares, which is 81.58% of our total share capital. And therefore, we have sufficient quorum for this general meeting to be validly held on first call. We are now going to cut the floor to the notary so that he can read out the required text.

Good morning. As established in Article 101 of the regulations of the mercantile registry, I would like to let the shareholders or the representatives know that they can send in their reservations or comments with respect to the number of shareholders present or share capital present, sending in an electronic message through the link, questions and comments on the platform on the corporate website. And now the Secretary will let you know about the documentation that has been made available to you about the voting procedure for the proposed resolutions.

We have made available to shareholders since the calling of this general meeting the full text of the proposed resolutions. We've also included the reports of the Board of the audit and appointment and remuneration committees on the different proposed resolutions that will be presented for your approval. Those shareholders, who wish to vote against or abstain on any of the proposed resolutions, may do so up to the moment when we finish reading the proposed resolutions through the voting link on the electronic platform that has been made available on the corporate website. The shareholders who wish to speak should send their questions or comments in writing through the questions and comments tab on that platform following the instructions on that platform. If you want the minutes to reflect the text of your comment or question, you should say so expressly and clearly in the heading of your question or comment. All the questions that will be coming in will be either read out and answered during this general meeting or within the next 7 days in writing. We will now hear from Mr. Ignacio Baeza Gomez, who is first Vice Chairman of MAPFRE, who's going to tell us about highlights for the group in 2020.

Thank you very much, Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Of course, 2020 was a year that was marked by a global pandemic that nobody could have predicted, neither in terms of its onset nor its virulence. And in addition to the terrible number of human lives lost, it has been accompanied by unprecedented paralysis of global activity with terrible economic crisis, the full scope of gravity of which we have still not had time to determine. The world has experienced the biggest GDP declines in over a century. And of course, insurance so closely linked to economic activity, has not been immune to this scenario. In addition, at MAPFRE, like the rest of the insurance and financial industry, we are suffering from a situation that did not begin this year since it has been going on for several, and that's a decline in financial income as a result of the prolonged low rates environment, which, by the way, no longer affects just mature economies. And this means that net profit this year in the group has been achieved mainly through the technical insurance business. The complications this year did not end there. Since on August 14, we experienced a cyberattack, which we managed first to contain and then to repel. Normalcy was finally recovered in just 2 weeks, particularly in the sphere of client operations, which was our biggest source of concern. But in spite of all of this, in spite of all these events, which could have seriously endangered other less robust or sustainable companies, MAPFRE had this year, thanks to its very strong capital position, an excellent technical result with profitability in almost all of our footprint. In fact, in 24 of our 26 countries, we had a positive technical profit. Later, Fernando Mata, our CFO, will give you more details of the numbers. But let me first remind you of our strategy against COVID and how the pandemic has impacted the company's balance sheet. A year ago, we left the Annual General Meeting, and on that very same afternoon, we began to design our response plan against COVID around 3 priorities. First was the people, to protect our employees, collaborators and clients. And within a few days, the company had managed to have 90% of its employees all over the world working remotely, leaving face-to-face service in place only where it was really urgently needed and with all necessary precautions. This was possible thanks to the intense digital transformation that MAPFRE has been implementing since before the pandemic and that naturally needed to be accelerated. Secondly, there was the need to protect the business and the continuity of operations and to quickly adapt the model to work in the middle of a global crisis of unknown scope at the time. And still today, let's not kid ourselves, surrounded as we are by so much uncertainty, we have served our clients with all kinds of support, with payment facilities and even premium returns. We've also helped our agents, suppliers and collaborators to maintain their collection lines, to avoid having to close their businesses. And finally, our third priority was to help society to cope with the pandemic through different initiatives, some of which mobilized over EUR 200 million and which some of which appear on the video that you've just seen. As for the impact of COVID, we have broken it down with a maximum level of disclosure, loss experience declared in lines directly affected by the pandemic, both for insurance and reinsurance, exceeded EUR 360 million extraordinary expenditure. Furthermore, lockdowns led to a temporary decrease in the frequency of use. And therefore, claims in the auto line, which has led to a decrease in our combined ratio of almost 9 percentage points, lower loss ratio, which, of course, we're passing on to our clients in our pricing policy at renewal. We also present a total of the extraordinary expenses arising from protecting our personnel during the pandemic as well as ensuring business continuity. The total amount of these expenses has amounted to some EUR 30 million. We have helped our self-employed and SME clients by reducing the cost of their insurance with expenditure close to EUR 100 million. But despite everything, it's important to highlight that the group's solvency and the solidity of our business model, even in years as complex as 2020, has allowed us to once again meet our commitment towards all of you, our shareholders, so that we can propose today that you approve a final dividend against the 2020 results of EUR 0.075 per share, a dividend which is an exercise in prudence, strictly in line with the recommendations of the relevant supervisors. We are, above all, a reliable company from all points of view, including our commitment to you despite all the adverse circumstances that we have noted. I would now like to address the 2020 integrated report, which has been published and distributed and in which we clearly summarize the financial and nonfinancial information for the group. If you have time, I invite you to consult it further to see how our financial and social commitments are evolving. I am now going to refer to some of them, starting with the one I highlighted in the Annual General Meeting last year, MAPFRE's sustainability targets for the 2019-2021 period. This is a comprehensive strategy focused on addressing the great global challenges that we all face: climate change, circular economy, inclusion and talent, transparency as a basic principle in our relationships, financial and insurance education, the challenge of the economy of the aging, the 2030 agenda of the United Nations to which we are deeply committed, our social footprint in all of our countries and our socially responsible investment policy. In all of these aspects, MAPFRE is responding. Our plan has already been implemented up to 74% of its scope, 2021 being its final year of implementation. But specifically in 2020, we have met 93% of our target and that in spite of the fact that the world was practically at a standstill for months. As for our employees, about 34,000, worldwide, we are a global and diverse workforce with 89 nationalities and 5 generations with 98% of our workers with permanent contracts, 98% of our workers enjoying permanent contracts with training, professional career and talent development programs and policies that promote equality and work-life balance. This year, we approved in Spain the right to Digital Disconnection. And we also have the Aging Project in place to make the most of our senior talent, conveying the knowledge of our most senior people with the younger generations, passing on our values and our culture through this intergenerational exchange. If MAPFRE was not a committed company, we, its employees, would find it difficult to be so. The Corporate Volunteering Program, even though the pandemic has prevented us from doing everything that we had planned, has benefited 150,000 people thanks to the social commitment of 4,750 volunteers and nearly 1,000 social initiatives. On the other hand, the quality of MAPFRE's service, which is undoubtedly the key to our corporate identity, is highly appreciated by our nearly 30 million clients. In fact, over 82% of the company's entire business which has an NPS or Net Promoter Score, which as you know is a quality indicator, that exceeds the average of the market in all the countries concerned. Let me now turn to 2 aspects of our sustainability plan that are very important for MAPFRE. The first is sustainable finance, where MAPFRE has already become an international and national benchmark. We are signatories to the Principles of Responsible Investments, or PRI. So we carry the responsibility of applying ESG criteria in all of our investment processes, not only in the funds but in everything connected with the group's balance sheet. We have pioneered the launch of a fund that invests in companies that are committed to people with disabilities. MAPFRE AM Responsible Inclusion, which has been cited by the United Nations as an example of good practices in SRI or Socially Responsible Investment. In addition, we have the Responsible Capital Fund, which also invests in companies with a high ESG profile and good governance, which shows that companies with good corporate governance make the best choices about the present and the future. Recently, MAPFRE AM became the first Spanish fund manager to receive the prestigious ISR label for socially responsible investment endorsed by the French Ministry of Finance. And we're also pioneers in measuring together with the University of Siena, the impact of our investment portfolio on the different SDGs we're working on to promote the United Nations 2030 agenda. That is we're not just doing this, but we're also measuring it, which is important. In addition and in the hardest part of the pandemic, MAPFRE made a contribution of EUR 50 million to finance the Spanish public health care by purchasing a health bond issued by the Autonomous Community of Madrid. As a global insurance company, we've participated in 2 initiatives with health professionals impacted by the pandemic, an insurance program in Spain through UNESPA and a similar one in Mexico through AMIS. Within our sustainability plan, the second aspect I wanted to refer to in our effort to protect the environment, which is structured around 3 pillars: first, the fight against climate change in the group's business; second, decreasing the group's environmental footprint; and thirdly, the promotion of the circular economy. We are fully committed to the decarbonization of the economy and we have tightened our underwriting policy, with measures include the principle that MAPFRE will no longer ensure the construction of new infrastructure related to coal mines or thermal power plants. We've also stopped underwriting new risks related to tar sands or onshore or offshore projects related to oil or gas in the Arctic. We are already working on a new corporate environment footprint plan after successfully completing the previous one with a reduction of our emissions of 56%, almost triple what we had targeted. But our commitment is also to you, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. We have built a transparent and equitable value relationship through different participation channels. And we offer you a free loyalty program called MAPFRE Accionistas, MAPFRE shareholders, which entitles you to avail of a wide range of services and discounts. To conclude, I'd like to refer to another institution we're particularly proud of, the MAPFRE Fundacion, which has recently celebrated its 45th anniversary dedicated to transforming this world of ours into a more humane place and improving the lives of millions of people in over 30 countries. In the last 15 years alone, the foundation has allocated over EUR 700 million to all of these activities. And I'd like to underscore that, over EUR 700 million to all of these endeavors. We can be very proud of our foundation. Since the pandemic began, the priority has been to support and protect the most vulnerable, the most socially at risk and those who are fighting coronavirus in the front lines. And in fact, in order to combat the impact of the pandemic, the foundation has implemented a broad set of initiatives worth EUR 35 million in 30 countries along 3 main lines of action: First, research. Specifically, by funding with EUR 5 million, Spanish Higher Council of Scientific Research to boost the Spanish vaccine program; second, EUR 20 million for the delivery of medical and health supplies to fight the pandemic and protect all those who work with at-risk groups; and finally, EUR 10 million for urgent assistance actions for people in the most precarious situations. In this effort, as in many other programs, the foundation, it has always been supported by MAPFRE Fundacion in the Canary Islands. It's true that this year, the foundation has prioritized its activities to combat the pandemic, but this does not mean that we have completely stopped carrying out our usual activities, including health promotion, road safety, culture, insurance training, and very important social activities. Altogether, there have been 109 activities, which have benefited 6 million people in person, with many times that number also benefiting remotely. In conclusion, I'd like to mention that in 2020, we have held the third edition of our Social Innovation Awards as well as launched 2 very exciting projects: the Ageingnomics Research center and the KBr Photography Center, which opened in September this year in Barcelona. For my part, I'd like to thank you, once again, for your attention and for the trust that you place in MAPFRE. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Ignacio, for that excellent presentation, in which you have described MAPFRE's activities during 2020. I'm now going to give the floor to Mr. Fernando Mata Verdejo, Director and CFO, who will review the main highlights of our consolidated statements for 2020 and the group's activities for the same year.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. MAPFRE's 2020 annual statements, once again, highlight our group's ability to adapt to the most difficult contexts. We've had to manage the company in a global pandemic that has led to an economic crisis of historic proportions. In this scenario, MAPFRE has finished the year with a very strong capital and solvency position, with an excellent technical result that gives us reason to be optimistic. These are MAPFRE's strengths, which are summarized in the financial indicators shown here. Fitch and Standard & Poor's have confirmed the group's A+ rating of financial strength, based on the group's exceptional high capital levels and significant cash flows. Solvency ratio was above 180% in September with 86% of the highest quality or Tier 1 capital. Provisional end-of-year data, we're still closing the accounts, anticipate a slight improvement in this solvency ratio. The debt ratio remains at an absolutely comfortable level of 23%. We have cash on hand totaling almost EUR 2.5 billion which demonstrates the prudence of the group's liquidity management. Meanwhile, the combined ratio of the insurance business has dropped from 96.5% to 92.9%. This improvement comes on the back of both lockdown mobility restrictions and reduced economic activity as well as the technical rigor with which we manage our risk portfolio. In short, financial flexibility, solvency and liquidity are the levers of MAPFRE's resilience. We can now look in detail at the evolution of the group's revenues. Total revenues came in at EUR 25.42 billion. There are 3 very crucial factors underlying the approximately EUR 2.6 billion fall in premiums. First of all, depreciation of currencies, which accounts for over EUR 1.6 billion or 7% the premiums; secondly, the fall in life savings issuance in Iberia, a total of EUR 755 million with an effect of 3.3%; and finally, the EUR 445 million 2-year PEMEX policy last issued in 2019, which subtracts 1.9% from the premium. Taking these 3 effects into account, underlying premium growth is slightly above 1%. Non-Life premiums fell by 8.3%, but with constant exchange rates and without the PEMEX effect, they would have grown slightly. The automobile line volume dropped due to 3 effects. First, the currency impact in Brazil and the U.S.; and second, the fall in the sales of new vehicles in every country; and finally, the premium rebates applied mainly by MAPFRE in Spain and the U.S.. Life premiums fell by 20.3%, resulting from the aforementioned fall in the issuance of savings product and the currency effect in Brazil. Financial income is down 26%. There's still a sharp drop in interest rates in all markets, especially in LatAm as well as falls in dividends and capital gains in equity, all of it in the context of the COVID crisis. On the screen, you have the different elements of our profit figure, which amounts to EUR 527 million, as well as the adjusted result that, by eliminating extraordinary circumstances, would amount to EUR 807 million, very similar to the previous year. I remind you of the catastrophic events of 2020: EUR 68 million for the earthquake in Puerto Rico and EUR 80 million for COVID loss experience in the reinsurance unit, both impacting the Non-Life result. With regard to the goodwill impairment, a prudent decision was taken at the end of the fiscal year to strengthen the balance sheet and aligned with the recommendations of the European supervisors to assess intangible assets conservatively, which has resulted in the total impairment of goodwill and insurance operations in Italy, Turkey and Indonesia, amounting to EUR 132 million. This has no impact on the group's financial and solvency position, nor does it affect its liquidity. Life profits amount to EUR 464 million with a decrease in Iberia and Brazil, and due to the fall in financial results and exchange differences. Other items, including the result from other activities and holding expenses, improved, thanks to the reduction of ASISTENCIA losses as well as the operational expense savings plan. You also see the tax details here with an effective tax rate for the group of in excess of 26%. Noncontrolling interests lists the share of the results for partners in the banking and insurance subsidiaries, and the variation comes mainly from Brazil. This is the breakdown of premiums and earnings for the main business units. On the premium side, the development of MAPFRE RE, including reinsurance and global risks, stands out, reaching almost EUR 5.7 billion in premiums with a growth of 2%. With regard to profits, again, we can see the very strong contribution of the insurance unit, thanks to the good performance of the 3 main markets: Spain, Brazil and the USA. Reinsurance has been affected by extraordinary events, and it is worth highlighting the earnings figure for GLOBAL RISKS, which after several years of profitability difficulties, is now delivering positive results that reflect the wisdom of pivoting the business model. Finally, ASISTENCIA is showing a loss as a result of the effect of travel cancellation insurance related to COVID. In terms of ROE, return on equity, the ratio stands at 7.6%, slightly lower than the previous year, discounting the goodwill impairment already discussed. LatAm North's ROE stands out, which is at about 16%, and it's the group's most profitable region. Overall performance throughout Latin America is very positive. Brazil is above 11%, and LatAm South is 10%. Iberia also maintains a very strong return above 10%. Also very relevant is the improvement in the combined ratios in the insurance companies, all with a ratio of less than 100%. Brazil's 87.6% ratio stands out, with an improvement of more than 4 points, and Iberia drops to 92%. It also highlights a significant improvement, more than 30 percentage points, in the GLOBAL RISKS business. Furthermore, both COVID and catastrophic events placed the Reinsurance combined ratio slightly above 100%. If we look at the balance sheet, total assets are slightly over EUR 69 billion and show a decline in currency depreciation of almost 5%. With regard to shareholders' equity, the improvement continues from the low of EUR 7.86 billion at the end of the first quarter, just as the market suffered a strong correction due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Among the elements impacting the reduction in shareholders' equity, what is notable here is a decrease of EUR 675 million due to currency conversion differences, in other words, currency depreciation, and a decrease of EUR 416 million due to the dividend paid in 2020, equivalent to EUR 0.135 per share. Among the positive factors, in addition to the profit for the period, there's the increase of EUR 275 million in unrealized gains in the available-for-sale investment portfolio, resulting both from the active management of the portfolio and from the decrease in interest rates. Investments are, of course, also affected by negative currency developments, although in this case, a significant decline is caused by an accounting reclassification. The investment portfolio of Bankia MAPFRE Vida, which exceeds EUR 7.4 billion, is not included under the investment heading of the balance sheet, but on the line related to assets held for sale in accordance to the NIF rules and the current status of the subsidiary. The largest element of the portfolio is fixed income and other similar assets with 81% of the total. The cash position stands out at 5% and also includes fixed income investments with maturities of less than 3 months. On the right, you have the position of MAPFRE in terms of public debt, which stands at more than EUR 23 billion, of which EUR 12.76 billion is invested in Spanish public debt. Once again, the decrease from EUR 18 billion the previous year corresponds to Spanish public debt held in the balance sheet of Bankia MAPFRE Vida. Here, you can see the capital structure, which is similar to that of previous years. The debt ratio stands at 23%, a comfortable level for the group. And with regard to Solvency II, we are at 180%, as per September data. 86% of the capital elements are Tier 1, in other words, of the highest quality. The ratio maintains strong and stable. It is still within the MAPFRE target rate, which is 200%, with a margin of plus/minus 25 tolerance points. Next, I will refer to MAPFRE's stock structure, dividend policy and stock exchange information. As on December 31, 2020, MAPFRE had 219,341 shareholders, owners of the 3.08 billion shares outstanding. Of these shares, MAPFRE held 30.3 million units in treasury stock at fiscal year-end, equivalent to 0.98% of total equity. With regard to financial indicators, earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.17. The price-to-book value ratio of the stock stood at 0.58, meaning that MAPFRE's market capitalization at the close of 2020 is equivalent to 58% of its shareholders' equity. As you know, MAPFRE's majority shareholder is Fundacion MAPFRE with 69.8% of equity. Of the rest, approximately 19% belong to institutional shareholders, mainly foreign shareholders, while private shareholders which represent 10.2%, are held practically entirely by Spanish investors. Finally, the treasury stock is just below 1%. I would now like to refer to the dividend situation. COVID has not modified our commitment to our shareholders based on a cash dividend and with a payout of more than 50%. In 2020, MAPFRE disbursed EUR 416 million, a much-needed cash injection at the time. There are tens of thousands of small shareholders who trust MAPFRE and for whom our dividend is an expected and necessary income stream. The strength and solvency of the group enables us to make good our commitment and only the uncertainties of circumstances and the prudence recommended by the supervisors has led us to propose a slightly lower remuneration than in previous years. Dividend yield, calculated on the 2020 average stock market quote, is above 8%, and payout is 73%, both of which are among the highest in the market. We are a company that shows great commitment to our shareholders. And in the past 5 years alone, you can see that we have paid almost EUR 2.2 billion in dividends. I would now like to address the behavior of the markets. It has been a year of uncertainty, and the stock market was the first to recognize, with sudden declines, the difficulties of the moment. We have continuously communicated to the markets the known impacts and conveyed confidence in the strength and sustainability of our business model. MAPFRE's exposure to COVID and asset valuation risks has always been limited and has never compromised our business bases. In addition, in the second half of the year, we have shown great stability in generating recurring profits and cash. And all this, while maintaining an excellent financial equity and solvency position with very slight variations in their values, but far from the market capitalization value that they see on the screen, EUR 4.9 billion, representing 58% of our equity value. Our business model is strong even at times as difficult as this, and we trust that the market will eventually recognize this potential of the group. And that is all I have to say. Thank you very much for your attention and for your confidence in MAPFRE.

Thank you very much, Fernando for this very clear intervention on our accounts of the year 2020 and for the references you made to our share and markets. On the corporate web page, you will find the text of the proposal for resolutions that are submitted to this general meeting. Nevertheless, prior to that, I'd like to refer very briefly to some of these proposals. On the subject of appointments, we proposed to the meeting the reelection of Ana Isabel Fernandez Alvarez as independent director for a new 4-year term. This proposal has been raised to the Board of Directors by the Appointments and Remunerations Committee. Additionally, we propose to the meeting, the reelection of Francisco Jose Marco Orenes and Mr. Fernando Mata Verdejo as Executive Directors for a new 4-year term. These proposals also have a favorable report from the Appointments and Remunerations Committee. The referred proposals will be taken as approved, as the case may be, notwithstanding the compliance of bylaw provisions and rules of good governance. We also submit to the approval of the meeting the integrated report of the year 2020, which includes the non-financial information statement. We also propose a payout of EUR 0.075 per share. With the current number of outstanding shares, the disbursement put for final dividend of 2020 would amount to EUR 230.8 million. The sum of the interim and final dividend will be EUR 0.125 per share, and the total amount paid will be EUR 348.8 million charged to the earnings of 2020, EUR 61.6 million less than in 2019. The payout will be 73.1% in 2020. Pursuant to the dividends policy, the Board of Directors has considered convenient to make this proposal to distribute the dividend of more than 65% of the attributable profit, given the extraordinary nature of the goodwill impairment and catastrophic loss events in the year. We also propose to change the company bylaws and the regulations of the general meeting to allow attendance to the meeting through telematic means in real time. We also proposed to renew the authorization to the Board of Directors to acquire our own stock and the reelection of KPMG as account auditors for a new 3-year period. Next and according to the third recommendation of the code of good governance of listed companies, I will present the reasons why the institution has not fully complied in 2020, some of the recommendations contained in it. First of all, with regards to the powers of the lead director, it does not include that of coordinating the succession plan of the Chairman, because that is the competence of the Appointments and Remunerations Committee, nor of having contacts with shareholders and investors because it is the Board of Directors that is responsible for establishing and supervising the right communication mechanisms with the shareholders. To this effect, it approved the communication policy with shareholders, institutional investors, proxies, solicitors and advisers of communication, of several types of communication, nonfinancial, corporate information, et cetera. With regards to the recommendation of separating the Remunerations and Appointments Committee, we think we're going to keep it in the same committee because both subjects are interrelated. With regards to the recommendation to attribute to delegated bodies of the Board the functions of monitoring the policies and rules in the field of environmental and social aspects, we have already a committee that deals with that. Fourthly, with regards to the recommendation for the directors to keep for a minimum of 3 years, shares options or financial instruments that stem from the remuneration system, the Board approved the midterm incentive plan 2019-2021. And the Executive Directors are part of that plan. And in it, there is an obligation to keep shares for a maximum period of 2 years from the date of payment. Fifth, with regards to the termination -- or the recommendation on the payment when there is a termination of contract, well, if there is a prior removal -- there is a removal of suspension and unless there is a justified cause for fair dismissal, there is a compensation under the terms established by the workers' statue with regards to unlawful dismissal. And this -- we come to the end of the period to ask for -- to intervene by part of the shareholders.

Three shareholders have sent their interventions, and we will now proceed to read their interventions and provide an answer to these. I will begin with Mr. Shareholder, [ Jorge Orten Tudela ]. Mr. [ Orten Tudela ] asks the following question. Since yesterday, we read news on the potential sale of the stake of MAPFRE in ABDA Indonesia. What can you say about this? Well, obviously, I'm not going to say anything about news or rumors that there are regarding any MAPFRE transaction, but I would like to refer to the MAPFRE project, the reinsurance project that you allude to. MAPFRE Reinsurance is a company with experience of 40 years with an incredible record. It has turned into one of the reference reinsurers in the world. It is a leading reinsurance company in Spain. It is a leading reinsurance company in Latin America, and it has a very relevant presence in the whole of Europe, the United States and Asia. Obviously, the Reinsurance business, as you all know, is a volatile business. You cannot see it from the perspective of the short term. You can't see it on the short term, it is a business that has to be seen much more on the longer term. It's based on the long term. It is a business where that is what we need to do. And I can guarantee to you, Mr. [ Orten Tudela ] that the results of MAPFRE Reaseguros have been very satisfactory, very satisfactory, particularly in the past 10 years and more so in the past 2 years because there have been more catastrophic events and because of the situation of COVID, that has affected it. So MAPFRE Reaseguros is a strategic unit, and we fully -- have full confidence on this unit. The second intervention is very long, I'm going to read it. And our financial director will respond to this. It has to do with interest rates. This intervention is from Mr. [ Jose Antonio Cabizo Alonzo ]. Mr. [Cabizo Alonzo ] says the following. My intervention refers to interest rates and their possible normalization given the huge fixed income portfolio that we have in our balance sheet. I know that on the short term, it doesn't seem very likely that interest rates will go back to normal, particularly after the last announcement made by the ECB regarding its intention to continue to buy large amounts of public funds. But this abnormal situation of negative rates, for example, the 1-year Euribor, cannot remain forever because it is absurd. In fact, in May, they were about to enter into to become positive. I'm still referring to the 1-year Euribor. If it hadn't been for the massive purchase of financial assets by part of banks to use them as collateral lines of TLTRO that have been extended by the ECB. This is why, as has happened with the pound and the dollar, the one for the euro will go back to normal and an increase in interest rates could really hurt us. So I'd like to ask, are you thinking about this possibility? And what measures are you adopting regarding this?

Yes. Thank you, Juan Antonio. Now first of all, MAPFRE, is continuously analyzing the different impacts that there might be on interest rates move. In the first 2 months, we've seen that there is an increase in rates, particularly in the American market, but this is also accompanied by the situation in Europe. As I said during my presentation, most of the fixed income portfolio, MAPFRE has classified as available for sale. That means that an increase in interest rates, which would reduce the valuation, would not have impact on the P&L; it has an impact on equity. In 2020, as we've seen in the presentation, the fall of interest rates increased equity by EUR 250 million, and it will be the contrary effect we believe in 2021. But always an amount that is manageable, particularly because of the situation of our portfolio because more than 50% of the MAPFRE portfolio is matched with life operations. In other words, the volatility of markets and variations in value are immediately transferred to the liabilities. So the impact on our equity is practically null. An increase in interest rates also has an impact on the P&L, which is that we have financial results that are greater, MAPFRE's financial business. And all financial institutions don't find themselves comfortable with negative rates nor with 0 rates. In other words, we'll feel much more comfortable when interest rates rise, when we can increase our financial income and when we can prepare life savings products that will allow for a normal situation in MAPFRE, which has -- which is developing this product. So in the P&L, very low impact in terms of valuation. It will have an impact on our equity, but it's quite manageable and contained. And of course, it is contemplated in our long-term scenarios.

Thank you very much, Fernando. The third shareholder that has asked to intervene is Mr. [ Ignacio Molina Fernandez Elorrios ]. And he has 2 questions. Let me answer the first one, and Fernando will answer the second question. The first question is very short and simple. It has to do with the value of the share. We already referred to that. Mr. [ Molina ] says we continued to lose 25% of the value of the share for 1.5 years now. What do you -- do you think that it can gain value again? Well, we think there are many possibilities for revaluation. As we said during our intervention so far in this meeting, we believe that the valuation of the market is not the right one. We believe that MAPFRE's capability is a reality of our business, the consistency of our earnings, the strength of our balance sheet. And our presence and international diversification give -- make us very optimistic regarding our development. Now it is true that if the market does not appreciate this or understand it, we will have to continue to work to make sure that the value is understood. We are a stock that is very much affected by the financial system, sometimes with low interest rates, insurance companies, which is part -- are part of the financial sector. We are a purely insurance and reinsurance company. We're not in the same situation, in the situation of low interest rates. Much to the contrary, the insurance business in situation of crisis maintained their clients, they allow them to continue to develop their activities. And if we've done things well, as I think we have, in terms of our investment policies with very prudent and professional actions, taking into account scenarios, different scenarios and the stress situations that we have overcome very well and our situation of Solvency II, will make us very optimistic. And in the Life business, we don't have any risk or any relevant risk. This is why we believe, and later on, I'll talk about this in my speech, we think that -- we hope that after this meeting, the market will appreciate the effort, not only the financial effort that we have made but also the strategic effort, the transformational effort that we're making. And as our Vice Chairman said, working in all the countries, areas where we actually are very strong, and we're acting in a very responsible fashion in order to try to help those that need us the most. And the other question asked by Mr. Molina is the following: high -- these such losses of the business, we haven't had those losses, but Mr. Mata will give you more details of EUR 1.7 billion because of the exchange rate, why haven't these been hedged?

Yes, Mr. Molina. These are not losses. They're not in the P&L. They are a part of the DNA or risk profile of MAPFRE. We have invested in LatAm in the past. And LatAm, is a market made up mainly of emerging countries and subject to volatility. Now MAPFRE does have a diversified portfolio, and we have strengthened our balance sheet by making acquisitions in mature markets and lately in Europe. Guaranteeing or ensuring investments in currencies other than the euro is something that nobody does in the financial market. What we do is to protect the financial flow of the year. In other words, if we have a future investment, we hedge that flow and all the dividends that we receive from the important countries throughout the year, we hedge the exchange rate in the best moment of the year to do it. That is the way in which MAPFRE protects itself against exchange rate differences in the current year.

Very well. Thank you, Fernando. Now we will submit to the approval of the AGM the proposals for resolution that the secretary is about to read.

The full text of these proposals have been available to all the shareholders and delivered to the notary. So since they are very long, I will read them, I will just read the summary. Examination and approval of the annual financial statements and the individual and consolidated management reports for 2020 fiscal year. Approval of the integrated report for the 2020 fiscal year, which includes the statement of nonfinancial information. Approval of the proposed distribution of the result and dividends corresponding to fiscal year 2020. Approval of the Board of Directors' management during fiscal year 2020. And for dividends, we're going to give [ EUR 334,904,356 ]. Total distributed EUR 665,783,801.43. Appointment reelection and ratification of appropriate of Board of Directors. Reelection of Ms. Ana Isabel Fernandez Alvarez as independent Board Director; reelection of Mr. Francisco Jose Marco Orenes as Executive Board Director; reelection of Mr. Fernando Mata Verdejo as Executive Board Director. Amendment of Article 11 of the Bylaws regarding attendance of the Annual General Meeting through telematic means. Amendment of the regulations for the Annual General Meeting to include new article 8 bis concerning possibility of attending the Annual General meeting via telematic means. Authorization to the Board of Directors to buy our own shares. Annual report on the Board of Directors' remuneration for fiscal year 2020. Extension of the appointment of the account auditor KPMG for the annual individual accounts as well as for consolidated accounts for the years 2021, '22 and '23. And finally, delegation of powers to execute, record as public the resolutions passed at the Annual General Meeting. [Voting]

We have now completed the voting for the proposed resolutions, and they have all been approved. The result of the votes, as usual, will be posted on the corporate website within the legally established time frame.

Yes. We have now, therefore, formally approved all the proposed resolution of this Annual General Meeting. I'd like to thank you on behalf of the Board for your trust. Ladies and gentlemen, I will begin my closing statement of this Annual General Meeting by reminding you that on the same occasion last year, we announced the official beginning of the pandemic, of which we knew practically nothing, but which only 2 days later, led to a lockdown being imposed in this country and in many others, as we began to suffer the effects of this tremendous tragedy in which we are still immersed today. Taking stock now, we can see that the consequences have been much more far-reaching than we would have expected. The number of cases globally has exceeded 118 million with over 2.5 million deaths. Fortunately, vaccination programs are underway intensively around the world. And very soon, we will return to a state, at least from a health and social point of view, of relative normalcy. This is probably the first time in history when all countries throughout the world and at the same time, have lost family, coworkers, friends, neighbors. There is no doubt that we are experiencing a huge global calamity. However, we have to get on with our lives, with all possible precautions and all care and attention. MAPFRE, as you will have seen from what we have shared with you so far, has continued to develop its activities around the world throughout 2020 in spite of everything and our strategic deployment has continued to move forward. Although as I anticipated last year, our priorities were very much defined by the evolution of the pandemic itself. I would therefore now like to start with a brief overview of MAPFRE's strategic development during 2020, which was the second year within our current 2019-2021 3-year plan. With respect to the profitable growth targets, although the main data have already been reviewed by our CFO and Board Director, I'd like to point out the figure of the group's consolidated revenues with EUR 25.42 billion with a drop of 10.7% with respect to 2019. At constant exchange rates in like-for-like terms, premiums would have dropped only by 2.2%. As for the creation of sustainable value for shareholders, the group's adjusted ROE, without considering goodwill impairment, reached a very reasonable 7.6% in a year of a global growth paralysis. We've also strengthened the development of our digital business, improving our digital customer management processes. Throughout 2020, we continue to develop and implement strategies and tools to improve the company's capacity to attract, convert and retain digital clients well as evolving our client knowledge through digital data management. We have also continued to optimize the technical management of our digital business for our VERTI and MAPFRE.com brands and to expand distribution agreements. Premiums for the digital business already amount to EUR 1.13 billion. That's about 7% of the total, and we have over 4.8 million clients around the world using digital self-directed features and processes with some frequency. In '21, we will continue to grow our number of digital clients through the deployment of a more advanced customer service model, the expansion of our digital offerings and the standardization and systematization of our relationship with our digital partners. MAPFRE must also continue to diversify its portfolio. That is why we intend to further expand our Life business. We have finalized the definition of the new management model for underwriting, issuing and claims purchases in Life insurance. In 2020, with respect to the quality perceived by clients, as mentioned by the NPS, MAPFRE beat its peers in 82% of markets measured, comfortably exceeding our annual target. In 2020, we also completed the NPS transactional monitoring, which measures this perceived quality at key client touch points mostly for the automobile line in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Puerto Rico as well as Spain, where we already had that. Analysis of client experience is also enabling us to develop and implement actions to increase clients' loyalty to the company by improving retention and cross-selling. Thanks to the company's high level of digitization in 2020, we were able to maintain superb customer service quality through our intermediaries. And we've also launched a project to evolve our own network towards hybrid digital and face-to-face model. In 2021, we will continue our efforts in the same direction with the idea of bringing the introduction of this client strategy on a massive scale to all our geographies, focusing on increasing retention levels and furthering our growth. With respect to auto insurance, our main line in the world, during 2020, we developed solutions in areas such as the incorporation of ADAS or advanced driver assistance systems into pricing calculator models; pay-as-you-go propositions, depending on driving styles and differentiated offers for electric vehicles, amongst other things; also different functionalities are being developed in the on/off insurance segment based on activating and deactivating coverages, cybersecurity in connected vehicles or developing integrated mobility and safe driving platforms. In 2021, we will continue to develop solutions in this line, combining new technologies with rigorous technical management. The momentum of innovation in MAPFRE is still key in our strategy. To date, almost 700,000 clients have benefited from solutions originating from MAPFRE Open Innovation, our open innovation platform. And also just a relevant highlight, we've analyzed over 2,500 start-ups since 2018, of which 36 have already gone through our acceleration and adoption programs, thus consolidating MAPFRE's relationship with entrepreneurs in our sector, which has turned us into benchmarks in the insurtech world. During 2020, amongst others, we've developed projects based on the application of artificial intelligence to document management and the processing of P&C claims. As for technical and operational management, the combined ratio of Non-Life lines had an excellent performance as we've seen of 94.8% due both to reduced mobility as well as to lower general economic activity, but also to the technical and business control improvements implemented in many countries. To improve efficiency and productivity, in 2020, we obtained very positive results on our performance, digitization and flexibility metrics that have allowed us to offer very agile responses to the challenges of the pandemic. Our client service centers achieved teleworking rates of over 90%, handling in the year over 60 million calls from clients with a very high level of service quality. And all of this was possible because we had more standardized and better integrated processes within the different technology solutions, thanks to the progress made in recent years, in self-direction, shared service centers and automation. In 2021, we will continue to focus on improving productivity and reducing operational costs, further driving this digital self-service capabilities. Also, our management of advanced data analytics has evolved very positively in 2020 through the development and implementation of a greater number of predictive models as well as a substantial increase in the economic impact. In the United States and Spain, algorithms were developed with very satisfactory results in the detection of fraud in claims, the identification of risks that facilitate safer driving, the optimization of the workforce at contact centers and the improvement of scripts and protocols to attend and retain clients. In technology, we already have new platforms up and running in the U.S., Italy, Germany, Turkey and Malta. And we also have our new Life management software in Peru and our reinsurance software in Brazil. In 2021, Brazil and Mexico will also be launching new products within the framework of this new corporate insurance solutions. In addition, I must mention that our security and technology teams made a huge effort this year at the beginning of the legal lockdown periods, enabling remote work in all the countries for over 90% of our employees, a challenge that was achieved in just a few weeks. This success was the result of our globalization and technological transformation strategy in recent years, which has enabled us to react to and manage this crisis in a very flexible, agile and coordinated fashion. In the area of cybersecurity, I also want to highlight the enormous effort of our technical teams, as our Vice Chairman pointed out, in paralyzing and repelling the cyberattack we suffered last August, which was definitely the biggest we have ever experienced. It was possible to minimize the impact, thanks to the preparatory work that enabled the rapid response of the teams involved and the implementation of our business continuity plans, which, in the face of attack, have amply proved their effectiveness. And I would like to give you some great news. Yesterday, we received the result of the investigation conducted by the Spanish Data Protection Agency into this attack. The report not only ratifies and underscores MAPFRE's preparedness against this type of risk, but it also highly values the company's diligent action and its commitment to transparency in the communication of the cyberattack from the outset to all stakeholders. But, of course, we cannot become complacent. In 2029 (sic) [ 2021 ], our new cyber resilience plan will be implemented, which will integrate and update our action plans incorporating lessons learned and with which we will be better prepared in the face of increasingly frequent threats. As for the development of our culture and internal talent, we are promoting a more inclusive, more diverse and better equipped organization to address the new challenges. With respect to gender equality, in 2020, 46.3% of our vacancies in decision-making positions were occupied by women, exceeding our 3-year target of 45%. And as for our constant commitment to diversity and inclusion, MAPFRE signed in 2020 its global commitment to the principles of UN Women. And as a partner of the Spanish network of the UN Global Compact, we have joined the Target Gender Equality Accelerator program. In addition, the internal indicator we use to measure the degree of cultural transformation and talent development exceeded 84% in 2020, widely exceeding all our targets, thanks to the implementation of professional development plans, promotion of mobility and internal promotion and the overall measure of employee satisfaction. Furthermore, MAPFRE is a very inclusive company, constantly generating employment opportunities for people with disability. I'm particularly proud to say that we already have 1,025 people with disabilities working for MAPFRE, which is 3.3% of our workforce worldwide, exceeding already the target we had set of 3% for this 3-year period. For 5 years now, we've been working on our Digital Challenge initiative, which was instrumental in preparing us to be ready to work from home during long lockdown periods, a new entirely digital collaborative environment. We've now moved to a new phase, which will allow us to increase productivity, agility and commitment and to better manage our capabilities with flexible structures, multi-purpose job positions and project-based management as well as improving employee experience. Also launching the Aging Project with the aim of establishing a workplace in which all available talent is put to the best use regardless of the age of the worker. In 2021, we'll be implementing the first initiatives in our older employees. Now let's briefly look at our outlook for the business in the regions and areas in which we operate. Let's start with Iberia: Spain and Portugal, our largest business unit. In our country, economic activity will be highly dependent on the progress of the vaccination process. Of course, this is no news to anybody. Once this happens, we hope that the European Union's aid program will enable a quick recovery, although this will not be the case probably for all sectors at the same pace. As for the insurance business, over this past year, premiums for the Non-Life business slowed their growth, whilst Life premiums fell significantly, due mainly to the loss of client interest in savings products due to low interest rates. In order to assist our clients, intermediaries and providers during the lockdown, last year, we launched 10 action plans with over 200 measures regarding payment facilities, repayment of premiums and prepayment lines to help them keep their cash flow and their collection and payment chains. It's quite remarkable that concern over health has greatly increased for Spanish households and companies during this health crisis. And our online health services platform, Savia, showed strong growth in 2020, offering its services and products openly to hundreds of thousands of people and to many companies and their workers. As part of our constant concern to continue to improve our relationship with our clients, we have also continued to enhance projects to offer the best coverage and the best care, increasing cross-selling and strengthening customer loyalty with new benefits added to the MAPFRE teCuidamos program. All of these actions have allowed us to exceed the total of 7 million clients in MAPFRE Espana, and to have over 280,000 households identified who are already enjoying our benefit programs for integrated family packages. We must also highlight our value proposition for SMEs and the self-employed, particularly in the year in which these groups were suffering so much from the consequences, both economic and legal, of the pandemic. We offered significant advantages to these client segments, including loyalty discounts, the launch of teCuidamos services and the first version of the client area in our Internet office. In addition, as we always say but we truly believe, our network of agents and delegates is still this company's greatest asset because of its size, its capabilities and quality of service, which allows MAPFRE to continue to grow each year and gain the trust of our insured. In 2021, the big challenge for Iberia will continue to be to grow more than the market and our main peers. Clients will always be at the heart of our strategy, and we will continue to provide the best service. Let's now move to Brazil. The economic crisis in the country had less of an impact on our business than we expected initially and good growth prospects remain for 2021. Of course, now they're in a more difficult phase with a new surge in the pandemic, and we'll have to wait and see what happens with the vaccination programs. But in Brazil, in local currency, we grew strongly with attributable profit above our expectations in 2020 with a great improvement in technical indicators. I must highlight the excellent performance of the business that comes from our partner, the Bank of Brazil, and we are committed to continue to grow together and to lead the country's insurance market. 2021 in Brazil presents great challenges due to the worsening of the situation with COVID and progress in the vaccination process. Drop in interest rates has been significant, and we need to continue to improve our technical result. These are our main challenges, particularly for the automobile line, as well as the development of the more profitable products and channels. In LatAm North, last year, we exceeded our profitability targets in all the countries. In 2021 in Mexico, we have set very ambitious growth targets on products with more premium retention, productivity improvement and process digitization. And we will continue to develop our management network, agent networks and take advantage of the opportunities of the new banking agreements we have signed in the last few years as well as those with big brokers and the digital business. In Central America, the priority will be to develop synergies through the implementation of a shared technology platform, the optimization of the shared services center and the development of regional life and health operations and the drive of our own networks will help to strengthen our business model and to balance the weight of distribution channels on the result. In the Dominican Republic, we will take advantage of the synergies generated by joint support -- common support areas between MAPFRE BHD and MAPFRE Salud ARS, the company we acquired last year, together with our partner, the Grupo Financiero BHDL. LatAm South, in 2020, we also met our earnings target, thanks to a demanding cost-adjustment plan and technical improvements, which made it possible to offset the fall in the business resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. In 2021, we will base growth in LatAm South on greater momentum in the digital business. We'll try and improve our penetration in the broker and bancassurance channels by developing new distribution agreements. And we will work to improve profitability bolstered by adapting our structures to the new business realities in these countries. Moving on to the United States. I can say that we achieved excellent results in the Northeast region, mostly in the State of Massachusetts. In addition, in 2020, we successfully completed the deployment of the new technology platform, which is helping us to better serve our intermediaries and clients to improve our technical control of business. The challenge in 2021 is to grow again with a good level of profitability. And to do so, we will continue to focus on a limited number of states and strengthen our relationship with the Triple A Motor Club. In addition, I can announce that VERTI will cease operations in the State of Pennsylvania in order to strengthen our digital presence in Massachusetts. In the case of Puerto Rico, the result, as you know, was greatly affected by the 2 earthquakes that hit the island last year. This company should have no problems this year to grow again and to achieve good results. And the most notable development in 2020 in Eurasia last year were: in Turkey, we continue to implement a demanding technical improvement plan for the business; in Germany, we grew with good financial results and expanded our distribution routes with agreements with new car manufacturers; in Italy, we continue to improve technically and obtained positive earnings last year already; and Malta, which once again showed strong results, began to market corporate pension plans, together with our local partner, Banco de Valletta, and is immersed in an ambitious technology transformation project. Our insurance operations in Asia, finally, where we have a very low appetite for growth, have also continued to gradually improve their performance and results. Our main priorities in this region in 2021 will be: to continue to prioritize technical profitability in Turkey, mainly in the auto and health lines; in Germany, we will have to continue with the growth pattern of previous years and complete the technological transformation process; and in Italy, we will focus on developing a purely digital business as well as the continuous improvement of our operations will make a significant effort to reduce our costs. Let's now move to the other business units. MAPFRE RE that I referred to in one of the questions earlier had to deal with the significant economic impacts of the Puerto Rico earthquakes as well as the loss deriving from COVID-19. As I said, volatility is one of the essential characteristics of the reinsurance business. The company has once again demonstrated its ability to absorb extraordinary events. Therefore, by this year, we hope that it will be, once again, a major contributor to the group's results. I can also inform you that recent treaty renewals have incorporated pricing and coverage conditions adjustment in those markets, which will help us meet this goal. MAPFRE GLOBAL RISKS, which is another very important business unit for MAPFRE, consolidated its new business model in 2020, aimed at essentially MAPFRE's large industrial clients, achieving excellent results. The portfolio has grown in an environment of improved market conditions which we expect to continue during 2021. And MAPFRE ASISTENCIA in 2020 continued its restructuring process. It ceased operations in the U.S., Canada and Taiwan, bringing to 13 the number of countries that the business has exited since 2016 in that effort to focus on the markets where we can operate profitably. This year, it will intensify its focus on MAPFRE's strategic markets, complementing our insurance offering and moving forward in the development of simple, client-centered products, which are highly digital and usable. And finally, Solunion, our credit and surety insurance joint venture with Euler Hermes, closed a magnificent 2020 with a very healthy loss experience, thanks to a very prudent risk control. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, in summary, I'd like to point out that 2020 was marked by the impact of the pandemic with lockdowns and restrictions to mobility throughout the world, which conditioned our revenues due to the reduction in economic activity, lower interest rates and currency depreciations. But we should underscore the extraordinary cost-reduction effort implemented throughout the year in order to mitigate the impact of this decline in business volumes. All of this led us to present excellent results in practically all countries, highlighting once again Spain for its major contribution to the group's profit, but also Brazil and the U.S. and superb results throughout Latin America and Europe. In addition, we've been able to comply very satisfactorily with the objective of paying a magnificent dividend to you, our shareholders, despite market and supervisory circumstances, whilst maintaining a high level of solvency and adequate liquidity control in all of our operations. I truly believe that now we have a healthier balance sheet, an excellent solvency position, better performing technical foundations and an operational transformation well underway, all of which should enable us to grow steadily and profitably in the coming years. In addition, the actions in our strategic plan for the 2019-2021 3-year period have progressed well. During last year, from the beginning of the pandemic, we prioritized in order to focus on what was really important within the portfolio of strategic initiatives, postponing everything that was not so relevant or urgent, given the very critical environment that began from last March. This year is the last year in the current strategic plan. Last year, in the same meeting, we didn't dare modify our strategic commitments, even though they had been formulated a year earlier in a completely different scenario. Having said that, we have made very positive progress. And with this year's objectives, which I'm going to share with you now, we believe that we will attain all of our strategic objectives, as we announced last year, except for the one related to revenues. With that, let me now share with you the most relevant objectives that we have established for this year 2021. First of all, our commitment to continue to create value for our shareholders. We would like to obtain an ROE of around 8.5% for the year 2021, so that our net operating earnings, excluding any large extraordinary effects, should exceed EUR 700 million in the year 2021. In the current environment, we will grow prudently, and we understand that we will end the year with income similar to that of 2020, although we estimate that insurance premiums will grow by around 3%, if our main operating currencies behave in a stable manner. Our expectation is once again to deliver a combined ratio of around 95%. As far as the objectives of the 3-year period 2019-2021 go, we are therefore maintaining our aspirational objectives related to profitability, ROE, combined ratio, client orientation culture, talent and sustainability. I would like now to briefly review our results to February, which confirm that we are making steady progress towards those objectives. Premiums reached EUR 4.23 billion, with growth of 2.3% at constant exchange rates. The combined ratio stood at 94.6%, and the net attributable earnings reached almost EUR 99 million, with an improvement of EUR 29 million compared to the previous year. As you can see, these are excellent data that do confirm that if we continue along these lines, we will be able to fulfill our commitments and targets in 2021. But we have to recognize that 2021 will still be a year in which uncertainty, volatility prevail. So our prudence in managing the business will lead us to maintain a path of moderate growth, in which improvement in technical profitability must prevail. Still, we will continue with the digital and cultural transformation underway, which is absolutely necessary to prepare the company for the challenges ahead. I would like to refer now to the value of the MAPFRE share as Fernando Mata already indicated. In our opinion, it does not reflect the real and intrinsic value of the MAPFRE group. We understand that it is sometimes difficult to unravel this value and truly understand the economic and strategic dimension of a company like MAPFRE. The market, in general, did not recognize this over the course of last year and has been penalizing us with a valuation with which we cannot be satisfied. All I can do at this point is insist that we will continue to work hard, so that you, ladies and gentlemen, can see our efforts and results in a transparent manner, and that in this way, we can lead them to transfer their appreciation into the value of the share. MAPFRE's results will remain good in the coming years. We are seeing the results up to February and our commitments. And we hope that you will continue to invest more in our company, which will allow us to recover appropriate levels of market cap. With regard to our social commitment, which we call Playing Our Part, this is quite simply the heartbeat that moves us. There is no sustainable business or profitable business in the medium and long term if we do not work every day to improve the environment and quality of life of the communities in which we operate and live. We have shown you our sustainability plan, the achievements and the goals we aspire to. Every employee of MAPFRE, every volunteer, every intermediary or collaborator, every company, our own foundation, we all move as one to produce a social impact. By developing sustainable businesses, we help growth and prosperity, but at the same time, our commitment to the environment, to the most needy, to the disabled, to the least favored environments, to the development of sustainable development objectives with the objective of having a more inclusive and equal company, these are all efforts that we consider essential for MAPFRE to remain not only a good company, which it is, but also a real Company with a capital C, in which human beings and their personal development are the main drivers of our action. With your trust, I am sure we will succeed. I would like to sincerely thank our employees, clients and distributors, partners and providers and our directors, too. Sincerely thanks to all of you. In the most difficult year of our lives, we have felt the encouragement, support and commitment of each and every one of them. Unfortunately, we have lost 15 colleagues of MAPFRE in different parts of the world as a result of this pandemic, 13 employees and 2 directors. There are very few months still to come before the generalized threat starts to disappear as the vaccination process progresses. For the moment, I can only ask everyone to remain prudent and vigilant. We will soon return to life as we knew it before, together with our loved ones, friends and colleagues. I wish you all good health. Thank you very much, and good afternoon. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]