PartnerRe saw a strong jump in net income during the 2021 second quarter, backed by strong rate increases and reduced impact from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

The Bermuda-based reinsurer booked net income of $314 million during the quarter, compared to $229 million for the same period in 2020. Similarly, PartnerRe said it produced $248 million in net income for the first half of the year, compared to a $204 million loss in the first six months of 2020.

PartnerRe President and Chief Executive Officer Jacques Bonneau said in prepared remarks that the results were a positive development, with an annualized return on equity of 8.8 percent. He also noted stellar performance from the company’s P/C insurance business.

“Our Non-life combined ratio of 88.6 includes improvements in the current accident year loss ratio from business mix changes and overall favorable pricing conditions across most lines of business, as well as improvements in prior years’ reserve development as older underwriting years run off,” Bonneau said.

He added that the company’s life/health segment also saw significant improvement to its underwriting profit versus the previous year.

“These underwriting results, combined with good investment performance, helped produce solid profitability for the second quarter of 2021,” Bonneau said.

PartnerRe said its non-life net premiums written grew 37 percent during the quarter versus the 2020 second quarter, and rose 20 percent for the first half of 2021 compared to the same period a year ago. What drove this: a 47 percent increase in the P/C segment, which included premium hikes, versus adverse premium exposure adjustments due to the economic downturn last year.

Non-life underwriting profit reached $150 million for the quarter, versus a $260 underwriting loss in the 2020 second quarter.

PartnerRe’s P/C Segment produced a 93.5 combined ratio for the second quarter, versus 113.5 a year ago. Its specialty segment produced a 79.5 combined ratio, compared to 132.8 in the 2020 second quarter.

PartnerRe’s total non-life net loss estimate of $371 million for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 remained unchanged. PartnerRe said its P/C segment saw some increase in COVID-19 losses during the 2021 second quarter, due mostly to “refinements of estimates for business interruption exposures” after more information came in from cedants. This was offset somewhat by a dip in estimated losses for Specialty financial risk lines for credit-related exposures.

Net investment income came in at 93 million during Q2, up $23 million during the same period in the 2020 second quarter.

Source: PartnerRe