PartnerRe reports Q3 profits despite cat losses

PartnerRe, which last month  announced an acquisition by France’s Covéa, has reported a $70 million profit for the third quarter. That was down on the $206m for Q3 2020, but, for the first nine months, net income was $317m compared to just $2m in the same period last year.

The results come despite heavy cat losses for the Bermuda reinsurer: $297m for Q3 and $417m year to date, including the impacts of Winter Storm Uri, Hurricane Ida and the European floods. Its non-life combined ratio for the third quarter was 99.8%, compared with 101.6% in Q3 2020.

Gross written premiums for non-life were up from $1.2 billion to $1.5bn, and from $1.6bn to $1.8bn, including life and health segments.

PartnerRe president and chief executive officer Jacques Bonneau said: “Despite an active quarter for catastrophic activity, we delivered positive operating income during the third quarter of 2021, demonstrating the continued positive financial impacts of our portfolio optimization, especially on the current accident year attritional loss ratio.

“With a profitable underwriting result across all of our segments for the first nine months of 2021 and the strength of our capital and liquidity positions, we are well-positioned for the renewal season. As we look forward to 2022, our strong capital base along with over $1 billion in third-party capital assets under management leaves us poised to remain a valuable, responsive reinsurance partner.”