Bermuda reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd said last night that it expects that it expected to write around $2.5 billion of premium in this year’s January 1 treaty renewal season amid “further erosion of prices”.

On a constant foreign exchange basis, this represents a decrease of 5 per cent from the renewable premium base, the company stated.

PartnerRe renews almost two-thirds of its total annual non-life treaty business on January 1.

Emmanuel Clarke, president of PartnerRe, said: “As we expected, the January 1 renewal was characterised by further erosion of prices and terms, driven by an oversupply of capital.

“Given these persistent challenging operating conditions, we approached the renewal expecting a reduction in volume and capital deployed. Our teams did an excellent job of maintaining discipline throughout negotiations, while further strengthening our high quality client and broker relationships.

“The strength of the PartnerRe franchise resulted in us renewing a high quality portfolio, in some cases at superior market terms, and finding additional pockets of attractive new business.”