PartnerRe Ltd

The company’s net result was heavily impacted by the financial crisis in 2008. The impact, however, was greatly accentuated by Partner Re’s decision to adopt more transparent accounting rules which meant that unrealised net investment losses or gains on equities and fixed maturities are now recorded directly in the net income statement rather than in shareholders’ funds. Indeed, of the $531.0mn in investment losses suffered by the company in 2008, well over half (around $296.0mn) were unrealised losses which previously would have been discreetly posted to shareholders’ funds. The 93.5% reduction in the company’s bottom line result was also due to natural catastrophe losses. The latter was almost entirely the result of the damage caused by Hurricane Ike as it swept through the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the US

Two thousand and eight, as it was for most reinsurers, proved a challenging year for the Bermuda based reinsurer, Partner Re. Although the company managed to post a positive net profit result, it was much reduced compared with the previous year. Partner Re’s net profits fell from $717.8mn in 2007 to a profit of only $46.6mn last year. This deterioration in the company’s bottom line result was due to a significant increase in investment losses as a result of the crisis in the financial markets and, to a lesser extent, an increase in the company’s catastrophe losses.