PartnerRe reports 15% increase in net written premiums for Q2

Reinsurance firm PartnerRe Ltd. released Monday its financial results for the second quarter, reporting a 15% year-to-year gain in net written premiums and a net loss of $175.6 million, while providing detail on how it was affected by the record flooding earlier this summer in Alberta.

Pembroke, Bermuda-based PartnerRe reported net written premiums of $1.309 billion in the three months ending June 30, up 15% from $1.136 billion for the same period in 2012. All figures are in U.S. currency.

The firm said its loss ratio for coverages other than life was 70.3% while the combined ratio for non-life was 97.8%. Out of $1.09 billion in net premiums written, $232 million, or about 17%, was in life and health.

In non-life, the combined ratio included 11.7 points – or $112 million net of reinstatement premiums and retrocession – related to the European floods in June and the Alberta floods. Within its catastrophe sub segment, PartnerRe reported net written premiums were up 3% year over year, “primarily due to reinstatement premiums related to the European and Alberta floods.”

The technical ratio of 72.6% for the sub segment included 11.9 points, or $67 million, of losses related to the Alberta and European floods. PartnerRe defines technical ratio as the sum of the loss ratio and the acquisition ratio, which in turn is calculated by dividing acquisition costs by net premiums earned.

Earlier this month, PartnerRe estimated the net loss of the European floods at $50 million to $60 million pre-tax and net of retrocession reinstatement premiums while it estimated losses for the Alberta floods at $45 million to $60 million.

In late June, widespread flooding in Alberta resulted in dozens of states of emergency, resulting in the evacuation of numerous areas including High River and downtown Calgary. BMO Capital Markets estimated total economic losses of up to $5 billion while A.M. Best Company Inc. estimated insured losses at $1 billion to $3.75 billion.

Within the North American sub-segment of its non-life business, PartnerRe said the technical ratio was 90.7%, and that included 2.2 points, or $8 million, of losses related to the Alberta floods. Broken down by geography, 38% of the firm’s gross written premiums in the second quarter of 2013 were from North America.

PartnerRe has 17 offices worldwide, including Toronto and Montreal. In Canada, the firm offers treaty products including auto, casualty, multiline and property.

In North America, PartnerRe reported net written premiums of $360 million for the second quarter, compared to $270 million in the second quarter of 2012. This 34% increase was “driven by new business in the casualty and agriculture lines of business.”

The net loss of $175.6 million for the second quarter of 2013 included net after-tax realized and unrealized investment losses of $230 million.