RenaissanceRe posts improved Q2 combined ratio as prior-year reserve releases offset casualty pressure

RenaissanceRe reported a Q2 2026 combined ratio of 72.8%, unchanged from the previous quarter and improved from 75.1% a year earlier, as favourable prior-year reserve development and low catastrophe losses helped offset continued pressure in its casualty and specialty business, with president and chief executive officer Kevin J O'Donnell (pictured) describing the quarter as "strong". 

This is despite its Q2 casualty & specialty combined ratio touching a dangerous 103.3% compared with 101.7% a year before. 

Overall Q2 gross premium written (GPW) fell from $3.4 million in Q2 2025 to $3 million this year with property GPW falling by 10.4% to $1.6 million and casualty and specialty GPW dropping by 14.6% to $1.4 million.  

Q2 group underwriting income was flat at $599.1 million compared with $601.7 million in the prior-year period. And net income fell to $654.3 million from $827 million a year ago.

RenaissanceRe had good news however from favourable prior-year development (past claims turning out to be cheaper than expected), saving the reinsurer $199.4 million overall, with $257.5 million of favourable development in property, offset by $58 million of adverse development in casualty and specialty.

Nearly all of that casualty and specialty adverse development was due to $54 million of loss estimates related to the Baltimore Bridge collapse being shifted from property during the quarter.

The reinsurer’s share price slightly softened after the release of the Q2 results, which president and CEO Kevin J O’Donnell maintained were “strong” in the second quarter.

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