PartnerRe 'well positioned' to capitalise on hardening market, says Bonneau

PartnerRe reported a modest decline in its third quarter 2020 profits due to "exceptional" cat loss burden and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said it was well positioned to take advantage of the improving reinsurance market conditions.

The Bermuda-based reinsurer generated a profit of $206 million in Q3 2020 on the back of net unrealised investment gains of $218 million. The net profit was slightly down from $216 million it made in the same period of 2019.

Net profit for the nine month period came in at $2 million, down from $998 million for the first nine months of 2019.

PartnerRe reported gross written premium of $1.6 billion for Q3 2020, slightly down on the $1.7 billion reported at the same point in 2019. For the first nine months of the year, its gross written premium was $5.2 billion, also slightly down from the $5.7 billion reported in 2019.

The combined ratio for the non life segment was 101.6 percent for Q3 2020, having been 96.4 percent in Q3 2019. For the first nine months of the year, its combined ratio was 109 percent in 2020, compared to 95.5 percent for the first nine months of 2019.

PartnerRe president and chief executive officer Jacques Bonneau said: “This year has brought many unprecedented challenges, with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and significant financial market disruption. This has been compounded by exceptional levels of catastrophic events for the industry, with the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record.

"Despite this challenging operating environment, PartnerRe has emerged with an increased focus on providing valuable capacity and solutions to our clients and broker partners to assist them in growing their businesses. We are committed to being a strong and responsive reinsurance partner - at a time when it is needed more than ever.”

Bonneau added: “With our strong capital, liquidity and solvency positions, I am confident that PartnerRe is well positioned to take advantage of the improving reinsurance market conditions.”