Bermuda-based reinsurer RenaissanceRe (RenRe) reported underwriting revenue of $669 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 and $1.3 billion in full-year underwriting revenue, with all three of the company’s major profit drivers performing strongly.
RenRe performed strongly in 2025, with net profit of US$752 million in 4Q25, compared with a loss of US$199 million in the same period last year, and operating income increasing from US$407 million to US$601 million.
Gross written premiums (GPW) decreased slightly from $1.9 billion to $1.8 billion, net written premiums (NPW) fell from $1.8 billion to $1.6 billion, and net written premiums fell from $2.5 billion to $2.3 billion.
Underwriting revenue increased from $209 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to $669 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, as the combined ratio increased from 91.7% to 71.4%.
Strong underwriting performance was driven by the Real Estate business in 4Q25, which generated $719 million in underwriting revenue, an increase from $267 million in the prior year. The real estate segment’s total gross profit margin fell 11% year-on-year to $346 million, with net net income falling 11% to $333 million and NPE falling 2% to $919 million. RenRe said total premiums in the catastrophe category increased by $16.7 million, or 113%, excluding the impact of recovery premiums, while recovery premiums decreased by $63.4 million in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the net claims and claims expense ratio improved by 56.7 percentage points to 21.3% due to the relatively small impact of the huge losses in the quarter. The real estate segment combined ratio improved significantly by 49.8 percentage points to 21.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Q4’25 did include a 10.6 percentage point impact from Hurricane Melissa, although this was offset by a 13.6 percentage point favorable development from the California wildfires, mostly at the catastrophic level.
Additionally, the net claims and claims expense ratio – prior accident years also fell 9.7 percentage points to 27.4%, driven by net favorable development of $178 million in the catastrophe category and $74 million in net favorable development in the other property categories.
In casualty and specialty care, GPW in Q4’25 reached $1.5 billion, down 2% year over year, while NPW fell 8% to $1.3 billion and NPE fell 11% to $1.4 billion. RenRe noted that decreases in the general casualty and special categories were partially offset by increases in the credit category.
The segment’s underwriting loss in 4Q25 was US$50 million, compared with US$58 million in the same period last year, and the combined ratio improved by 0.2 percentage points to 103.5%.
RenRe’s other profit driver is fee revenue, which increased by nearly $25 million to $102 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the growth in performance fee revenue more than offsetting a small decline in management fee revenue.
The third driver of profits is investment income. In the last quarter of 2025, net investment income increased by US$18 million year-on-year to US$447 million.
When it comes to full-year results for 2025, RenRe achieved net profit of $2.7 billion, up from $1.8 billion the previous year, and operating income totaled $1.9 billion, down from $2.2 billion in 2024.
Group-wide, total gross margin was flat at $11.7 billion, NPW was flat at $9.9 billion, while NPE fell from $10.1 billion in 2024 to $9.9 billion in 2025. Underwriting revenue was $1.3 billion in 2025 compared to $1.6 billion in 2024, and the combined ratio increased to 87.2% from 83.9%.
Strong performance in the property segment is more than enough to offset challenges facing casualty and special forces in 2025. Total real estate gross margin increased 3% year over year to $4.9 billion, net income increased 6% to $4.0 billion, and net income increased 3% to $4.0 billion. Property underwriting revenue fell slightly to $1.5 billion in 2025 from $1.7 billion in 2024, and the combined ratio fell 4.2 percentage points to 61.4%.
On the growth front, RenRe highlighted a $321 million, or 11%, increase in the catastrophe category, driven by a $146 million, or 5% increase excluding the impact of reinstatement premiums, driven primarily by strong mid-year renewals, existing customer growth, and new underwriting opportunities.
In 2025, net claims and claims expense ratio increased by 12.4 percentage points to 63.3% in the current accident year, with 2025 contributing 36.1 percentage points due to the greater impact of large loss events in 2025. Net Claims and Claims Expense Ratio – Prior accident years reflect net favorable development of 27% in 2025, driven primarily by $581 million of net favorable development from large loss events across the 2017 to 2024 accident years.
In casualty and specialty care, GPW fell 2% to $6.8 billion in 2025, NPW fell 5% to $5.8 billion, and NPE fell 5% to $5.9 billion. The segment generated an underwriting loss of $263 million, well above the $25 million loss reported in 2024, and the combined ratio increased to 104.4% from 100.4%.
RenRe attributed the decline in GPW to declines in the casualty and other specialty categories, partially offset by increases in the credit category, primarily due to growth in the company’s existing mortgage business.
Fee revenue in 2025 increased from $327 million to $329 million as management fee revenue declined slightly year over year and total performance fee revenue increased.
On the balance sheet asset side, net investment income increased to $1.7 billion from $1.65 billion, and total investments increased to $3 billion from $1.7 billion in 2024.
During 2025, RenRe raised $943.9 million in third-party capital, primarily through the firm’s new catastrophe bond management accounts Stratos ($260.4 million), Medici UCITS ($259.0 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 by 2025 Our book value per common share increased 26.2% and the change in tangible book value per share plus cumulative dividends increased 30.8%, and each of these metrics has more than doubled over the past three years. We have accomplished this by continuing to execute on our strategy and maximizing returns on our three profit drivers (underwriting, fees and net investment income) while optimizing our capital base by delivering substantial returns to investors.
“At renewal on January 1, we retained our targeted product lines and built an underwriting portfolio designed to generate returns well in excess of the cost of capital. Looking forward to 2026, we expect that the combination of an attractive underwriting portfolio, strong fee and investment income, and solid capital management will continue to create long-term value for our shareholders.”