Three Bermuda-based groups are ranked in the top 20 according to a list compiled by Reinsurance Magazine of the top 20 reinsurance groups and top 100 global reinsurance companies in 2000.

The number one spot for top reinsurance groups belongs to Switzerland based Swiss Re with net written reinsurance premiums (NWP) of $14,415.9 million, followed closely by German-based Munich Re with NWP of $13,692.9 million.

The top Bermuda-based reinsurance group was PartnerRe in the 14th spot with NWP of $1,,308.3 million, closely followed by Everest Re in 16th spot with NWP of $1,218.9 million and XL Capital in 17th spot with NWP of $1,022.2 million.

The top 20 reinsurance groups account for $82.3 billion of net premiums last year (an increase of 18 percent over 1999), and 54 percent of those were written by the top four groups alone, Swiss Re, Munich Re, GE Global (which includes Employers Re) and GeneralCologne Re, which were the same top four groups as last year.

The trend in 2000 was for the largest reinsurers to write more business, and all but three of the top groups managed to write more premiums.

The growth is certainly top-heavy, as while only three of the top 20 groups wrote less premiums, 36 of the top 100 individual companies wrote less business.

The top 100 companies include 13 based in Bermuda including Everest Re, XL Re, Ace Tempest Re, Overseas Partners, Commercial Risk Re, Scandinavian Re, RenaissanceRe, ESG Re, PXRe, Alea, Stockton Re, Latin American Re, and LaSalle Re.

The largest increase in NWP was 460 percent by Columbia Insurance (US) followed by Bermuda-based Ace Tempest Re with an increase of 379.9 percent.

Scandinavian Re was the only other Bermuda-based company to rank in the top ten for increases in NWP after posting an 82.8 percent increase.

The largest decrease in NWP was 54.7 percent by Bermuda based Stockton Re, closely followed by Overseas Partners whose NWP decreased by 38.9 percent. ESG Re also declined by 32.4 percent.

The top five companies with the lowest combined ratios include Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe in the number one spot with a ratio of 55.9 percent, while Bermuda-based Ace Tempest Re occupies the number four spot with a combined ration of 82.4 percent.

Overseas Partners occupies the number one spot for the highest combined ratio at 194.6 percent, followed in the number two spot by Bermuda-based Stockton Re with a combined rating of 190.5 percent.

Overseas Partners also ranks in the top five for lowest return on equity with a return of -22.4 percent.

Times were hard for reinsurers last year and the prospects for 2001 look bleak.

Many reinsurers have already been hit by catastrophe losses, particularly from storms in the US and Insurance Services Office's Property Claim Services unit in the US recorded nine catastrophes in the US in the second quarter of the year that will cost insurers an estimated $4 billion.

Tropical Storm Allison and a thunderstorm that hit 16 US states caused more than $1 billion in damage.