Business Description

In this Form 10-K, references to “RenaissanceRe” refer to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (the parent company) and references to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. together with its subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise. Defined terms used throughout this Form 10-K are included in the “Glossary of Defined Terms” at the end of “Part I, Item 1. Business” of this Form 10-K. We have also included a “Glossary of Selected Insurance and Reinsurance Terms” at the end of “Part I, Item 1. Business” of this Form 10-K. All dollar amounts referred to in this Form 10-K are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Due to rounding, numbers presented in the tables included in this Form 10-K may not add up precisely to the totals provided. OVERVIEW RenaissanceRe is a global provider of reinsurance and insurance. We provide property, casualty and specialty reinsurance and certain insurance solutions to customers, principally through intermediaries. Established in 1993, we have offices in Bermuda, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. Our mission is to match desirable risk with efficient capital, and our vision is to be the best underwriter. We believe that this will allow us to produce superior returns for our shareholders over the long term, and enable our purpose to protect communities and enable prosperity. We seek to accomplish these goals by delivering a value proposition composed of leadership, expertise and partnership, through our operation as an integrated system of three competitive advantages: superior risk selection, superior customer relationships and superior capital management. Our current business strategy focuses predominantly on writing reinsurance. We apply our reinsurance lens of approaching risks as a portfolio to the insurance business that we write, primarily though delegated authority arrangements. Through our Capital Partners unit we create and manage innovative joint ventures and managed funds, which provide access to the portfolios our underwriters build. Additionally, we pursue several other opportunities, such as executing customized reinsurance transactions to assume or cede risk, and managing certain strategic investments. We continually explore appropriate and efficient ways to address the risk management needs of our clients and the impact of various regulatory and legislative changes on