Covéa’s PartnerRe turns loss to profit: ‘disciplined approach’ pays off

Bermuda-based global reinsurer  PartnerRe, which is now  owned by French insurer Covéa, is reaping the reward of “disciplined approach” to capitalising on opportunities in a favourable market, as it turned its $1 billion loss of last year into a solid profit in the first half of 2023. Its chief executive Jacques Bonneau (pictured) expects this trend to continue with “attractive reinvestment rates”.

PartnerRe, following a $1 billion loss in the first half of 2022, has now rebounded with a $782.5 million profit in the first half of 2023. This marks the reinsurer's first profit since its acquisition by Covéa was completed.

PartnerRe bounced back from a $1 billion first half loss in 2022 to post a $782.5 million profit for the first half of 2023. The reinsurer revealed its first profit since the completion of its acquisition by Covéa.

Its gross written premiums rose 6.4% to $5.3 billion from $4.98 billion in the same period in 2022 while it recorded net realised and unrealised gains of $198 million compared to a loss of $1.72 billion a year earlier.

Chief executive officer Jacques Bonneau said: "Favourable market conditions persist half way through 2023, and we remain focused on our disciplined approach to capitalising on these opportunities and making a meaningful contribution to the Covéa group.

“Our operating income of $636 million for the first half of 2023 continued its growth trend, up 24% compared to the first half of 2022.

“The fundamentals across operating segments are strong. For the non-life business we saw an improvement in current underwriting year performance for both the P&C and specialty segments as compared to the first half of 2022, though the non-life combined ratio increased marginally by 1.6 points, as the first half of 2022 benefited from favourable prior year reserve development. The contribution from the life and health business continues to be a positive source of earnings to the group as premium volume grows."

He added: “Our investment portfolio also performed well, demonstrated by 57% growth in net investment income compared to the first half of 2022, and we expect this trend to continue as we deploy our increasing cash flows from operations at attractive reinvestment rates."

Net premiums written rose from $4.25 billion to $4.5 billion while net investment income rose from $182 million to $286 million.

Net premiums earned rose 10% to $3.85 billion with 6% growth in property and casualty, 7% growth in specialty and 21% growth in life and health.

The company’s non-life underwriting result was $466 million, with a combined ratio of 83.5% while life and health had an underwriting profit of $78 million.

Losses and loss expenses rose from $2.14 billion to $2.45 billion.

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