Nortehispana Seguros joins Occident

"As from 1 January 2025, the insurer will start operating as Occident, completing the corporate simplification process undertaken by GCO to unify all its traditional business under a single brand."

With the start of the new year 2025, the corporate unification of NorteHispana Seguros in Occident has taken effect, thus completing the process of integrating the former GCO traditional business brands as part of the corporate streamlining process included in the Group's 22-24 Strategic Plan.

To achieve the unification of the traditional business companies in Occident more efficiently, it was decided to first unify the entities which had the most similar organisational, process and commercial structure; at the same time, preparations were made for the integration of NorteHispana Seguros, which has now been completed. Thus, on 1 January 2024 Seguros Catalana Occidente, Plus Ultra Seguros and Seguros Bilbao merged, giving rise to Occident, and as of yesterday, 1 January 2025, NorteHispana Seguros has also been added.

Occident now has more than 4 million policyholders and brings together close to 2,900 professionals and upwards of 13,000 brokers, who will continue to be the backbone of the relationship that the company builds with its customers. In that regard, it is worth noting that NorteHispana Seguros policyholders will continue to maintain their usual broker and their current contractual relations.

With the addition of NorteHispana Seguros, "we are completing the process of corporate streamlining that we began to usher in a single organisation which is simpler, more flexible and better prepared to adapt to changes in the environment and deliver the best service to customers," said Hugo Serra, CEO of Occident. “At Occident we continue to support and work alongside people and companies at every stage of their lives with a commitment to meeting the needs of our customers and society as a whole."

Unification of the sales network

Occident has unified its previously separate sales structures into a single channel-oriented organisation. This change seeks greater efficiency and simplicity by reaching all customer segments through three primary channels: the agency channel (which includes agents and specialised channels), the brokers channel, and the institutional, large brokers and direct channel. Under this framework, NorteHispana Seguros' agents channel is added to Occident's agency channel, albeit retaining its own distinct management due to its specialisation in funeral insurance.