Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe (RenRe) generated underwriting income of $669 million for the fourth quarter of 2025 and underwriting income of $1.3 billion for the full year, with a strong performance across the firm’s three drivers of profit.
RenRe ended 2025 strongly with net income of $752 million for Q4’25, compared with a loss of $199 million a year earlier, as operating income increased to $601 million from $407 million.
Gross premiums written (GPW) fell slightly to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion, while net premiums written (NPW) decreased to $1.6 billion from $1.8 billion, and net premiums earned fell to $2.3 billion from $2.5 billion.
Underwriting income increased to $669 million in Q4’25 from $209 million in Q4’25, as the combined ratio strengthened to 71.4% from 91.7%.
The strong underwriting performance was driven by the property segment in Q4’25, which generated underwriting income of $719 million, an increase on the prior year’s $267 million. Property segment GPW decreased by 11% year-on-year to $346 million, as NPW fell 11% to $333 million, and NPE decreased 2% to $919 million. RenRe states that GPW in the catastrophe class increased by $16.7 million, or 113%, without the impact of reinstatement premiums, while reinstatement premiums decreased by $63.4 million in the quarter.
The property segment combined ratio strengthened by a considerable 49.8 percentage points to 21.8% for Q4’25, driven by a 56.7 percentage point improvement in the net claims and claim expense ratio – current accident year to 21.3% as a result of a comparatively lower impact from large losses in the quarter. Q4’25 did include 10.6 percentage points from Hurricane Melissa, although this was offset by favorable development on the California Wildfires of 13.6 percentage points, primarily within the catastrophe class.
Further, the net claims and claim expense ratio – prior accident years also came down by 9.7 percentage points to 27.4%, driven by net favorable development of $178 million in the catastrophe class, and net favorable development of $74 million in the other property class.
In the casualty and specialty segment, Q4’25 GPW hit $1.5 billion, a decrease of 2% year-on-year, while NPW fell by 8% to $1.3 billion, and NPE decreased by 11% to $1.4 billion. RenRe notes decreases in the general casualty and specialty classes, partially offset by an increase in the credit class.
The segment produced an underwriting loss of $50 million for Q4’25 compared with a loss of $58 million a year earlier, as the combined ratio improved by 0.2 percentage points to 103.5%.
Another of RenRe’s drivers of profits is fee income, and during Q4’25, this increased by almost $25 million to $102 million, with growth in performance fee income more than offsetting a slight dip in management fee income.
The third driver of profit is investment income, and during the final quarter of 2025, net investment income increased by $18 million year-on-year to $447 million.
Turning to the full year 2025 performance, RenRe achieved net income of $2.7 billion, an increase on the prior year’s $1.8 billion, as operating income totalled $1.9 billion, down from $2.2 billion in 2024.
Group-wide, GPW were flat at $11.7 billion, as were NPW at $9.9 billion, while NPE fell from $10.1 billion in 2024 to $9.9 billion in 2025. 2025 underwriting income amounted to $1.3 billion, compared with $1.6 billion in 2024, as the combined ratio increased to 87.2% from 83.9%.
The property segment’s strong performance more than offset a challenging 2025 for the casualty and specialty division. Property GPW increased by 3% year-on-year to $4.9 billion, while NPW rose 6% to $4 billion, and NPE increased by 3% to $4 billion. Property underwriting income fell slightly to $1.5 billion in 2025 from $1.7 billion in 2024, as the combined ratio weakened by 4.2 percentage points to 61.4%.
In terms of growth, RenRe highlights an increase in the catastrophe class of $321 million, or 11%, driven by an increase of $146 million, or 5%, without the impact of reinstatement premiums, driven by strong mid-year renewals with growth on existing clients as well as new underwriting opportunities.
For 2025, the net claims and claim expense ratio – current accident year increased by 12.4 percentage points to 63.3% as a result of a higher impact from the 2025 Large Loss Events, which contributed 36.1 percentage points in 2025. Net claims and claim expense ratio – prior accident years reflected net favorable development in 2025 of 27%, driven mostly by net favorable development of $581 million from the large loss events across the 2017 to 2024 accident years.
Within the casualty and specialty segment, GPW decreased by 2% to $6.8 billion in 2025, while NPW fell 5% to $5.8 billion, and NPE fell 5% to $5.9 billion. The segment produced an underwriting loss of $263 million, much steeper than the loss of $25 million reported in 2024, as the combined ratio increased to 104.4% from 100.4%.
RenRe attributes the decrease in GPW to decreases within the casualty and other specialty classes, partially offset by an increase in the credit class, principally due to growth on the company’s existing mortgage book of business.
Fee income for 2025 rose to $329 million from $327 million, driven by higher total performance fee income as management fee income fell slightly year-on-year.
On the asset side of the balance sheet, net investment income increased to $1.7 billion from $1.65 billion, with a total investment result of $3 billion, up from 2024’s $1.7 billion.
During 2025, RenRe raised third-party capital of $943.9 million, primarily through Stratos ($260.4 million), the firm’s new catastrophe bond managed account, Medici UCITS ($259 million), Medici ($208.2 million), Fontana ($129.2 million), and DaVinci ($69.7 million).
Kevin J. O’Donnell, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to report that we grew book value per common share by 26.2% and tangible book value per common share plus change in accumulated dividends by 30.8% in 2025, and that each of these metrics has more than doubled over the last three years. We have accomplished this by consistently executing our strategy and maximizing the returns on each of our Three Drivers of Profit – underwriting, fee and net investment income – while optimizing our capital base through significant capital return to our investors.
“At the January 1 renewal, we retained the lines that we targeted and built an underwriting portfolio designed to generate returns well in excess of the cost of capital. Looking forward to 2026, we expect the combination of our attractive underwriting portfolio, strong fee and investment income and robust capital management will continue to generate long-term value for our shareholders.”
