Transatlantic Holdings...
... saw net earnings for the first half of the year jump six-fold to $615.8m from the year-earlier $103m on improved investment and underwriting results. Most significantly, PartnerRe swung to net realized and unrealized investment gains of $236.4m from year-earlier losses of $271.1m. The group also posted underwriting income of $159m, an increase of 42% that reflected a 9.2% decline in earned premiums to $1.69bn and a 14% drop in claim losses to $977.8m. The group’s year-to-date combined ratio improved to 85.3% from 89%.