Joe Duggan (Reporter)
WHEN Arturo Maria Capurro set up his insurance company in 1876, he little realised he was laying the foundations for one of Gibraltar’s most enduring businesses.
Gibraltar’s oldest insurance company, over the past 140 years, Capurro Insurance & Investments has grown from strength to strength.
The intermediary insurance firm specialises in everything from commercial insurance and professional indemnity to motor and marine insurance.
And 140 years on, MD Patrick Sheppard-Capurro (Arturo’s great grandson) underlines the company’s core value which remains the same.
“Doing the right thing,” says Patrick. “Eating it for breakfast. It’s probably the reason Capurro’s still going today and probably the reason we are thinking ahead to the next hundred years.
“It is the client we are always looking after. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients. If the insurer does not want to pay the claim we will fight our client’s corner.”
The exceptional all-round knowledge of Capurro’s team of 20 is underpinned by their individual expertise in niche sectors of the market.
Operating in Gibraltar, Spain, the UK, Portugal and Malta, the business has grown hugely since the 1980s when just two staff catered for the Rock’s population.
Patrick, who joined the family firm in 2000, underlines the importance of taking care of the client.
“I always stress to the staff, we have to make ourselves different in some way,” he says.
“People could go straight to the insurer, so why go through a broker at all?
“But what happens when you have a claim? Guiding someone through that process isn’t easy at all. That’s probably the more difficult part of the business. And that’s where we come in.”
It is very much a family-run business, with three out of four directors sharing the Capurro surname.
And with thousands of Gibraltarians choosing that name for their own insurance, the company is set to remain a pillar of the Rock’s economy for the foreseeable future.
• Visit www.capurroinsurance.com or call (+350) 200 40850
Like father like great grandson
PATRICK Sheppard-Capurro joined the family firm Capurro Insurance & Investments in 2000.
The born-and-bred Gibraltarian was schooled in the UK before studying business and marketing at university. But, in the end, the lure of the Rock eventually proved too much.
“I tried my hand at a career in the UK, then realised the lifestyle here has too much to offer,” says Patrick.
“Gibraltar’s a great place to live and a good place for doing business. A friendly place,” he says.
Initially he decided not to work for the family business and got a job with the Bland Group, gaining valuable business experience.
“But after a few years I ended up being swayed and joined the family firm,” he concludes, some 16 years on.
A keen yachtsman, Patrick initially worked at Sheppard’s, a marine company, where he combined business with pleasure – his love of the sea!
