The following is a discussion and analysis of our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008. The following also includes a discussion of our financial condition at March 31, 2009. This discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the attached unaudited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. This filing contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results described or implied by these forward-looking statements. See "Note on Forward-Looking Statements."

OVERVIEW

RenaissanceRe, established in Bermuda in 1993 to write principally property catastrophe reinsurance, is today a leading global provider of reinsurance and insurance coverages and related services. Through our operating subsidiaries, we seek to obtain a portfolio of reinsurance, insurance and financial risks in each of our businesses that are significantly better than the market average and produce an attractive return on equity. We accomplish this by leveraging our core capabilities of risk assessment and information management, and by investing in our capabilities to serve our customers across the cycles that have historically characterized our markets. Overall, our strategy focuses on superior risk selection, marketing, capital management and joint ventures. We provide value to our clients and joint venture partners in the form of financial security, innovative products, and responsive service. We are known as a leader in paying valid reinsurance claims promptly. We principally measure our financial success through long-term growth in tangible book value per common share plus accumulated dividends, which we believe is the most appropriate measure of our Company's performance, and believe we have delivered superior performance in respect of this measure over time.

Since a substantial portion of the reinsurance and insurance we write provides protection from damages relating to natural and man-made catastrophes, our results depend to a large extent on the frequency and severity of such catastrophic events, and the coverages we offer to clients affected by these events. We are exposed to significant losses from these catastrophic events and other exposures that we cover. Accordingly, we expect a significant degree of volatility in our financial results and our financial results may vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter or from year-to-year, based on the level of insured catastrophic losses occurring around the world.

Our revenues are principally derived from three sources: 1) net premiums earned from the reinsurance and insurance policies we sell; 2) net investment income and realized gains from the investment of our capital funds and the investment of the cash we receive on the policies which we sell; and 3) other income received from our joint ventures, advisory services, weather-trading activities and various other items.

Our expenses primarily consist of: 1) net claims and claim expenses incurred on the policies of reinsurance and insurance we sell; 2) acquisition costs which typically represent a percentage of the premiums we write; 3) operating expenses which primarily consist of personnel expenses, rent and other operating expenses; 4) corporate expenses which include certain executive, legal and consulting expenses, costs for

research and development, and other miscellaneous costs associated with operating as a publicly traded company; and 5) interest expense related to our debt. In addition, in calculating net income available to RenaissanceRe common shareholders, a portion of the Company's net income is attributable to redeemable noncontrolling interest holders in DaVinciRe, as well as dividends on the Company's preference shares. We are also subject to taxes in certain jurisdictions in which we operate; however, since the majority of our income is currently earned in Bermuda, a non-taxable jurisdiction, the tax impact to our operations has historically been minimal. We currently expect our growth outside of Bermuda to result in a higher effective tax rate in 2009 and future periods compared with our historical results.

The operating results, also known as the underwriting results, of an insurance or reinsurance company are discussed frequently by reference to its net claims and claim expense ratio, underwriting expense ratio, and combined ratio. The net claims and claim expense ratio is calculated by dividing net claims and claim expenses incurred by net premiums earned. The underwriting expense ratio is calculated by dividing underwriting expenses (acquisition expenses and operational expenses) by net premiums earned. The combined ratio is the sum of the net claims and claim expense ratio and the underwriting expense ratio. A combined ratio below 100% generally indicates profitable underwriting prior to the consideration of investment income. A combined ratio over 100% generally indicates unprofitable underwriting prior to the consideration of investment income. We also discuss our net claims and claim expense ratio on an accident year basis. This ratio is calculated by taking net claims and claim expenses, excluding development on net claims and claim expenses from events that took place in prior fiscal years, divided by net premiums earned.

We conduct our business through two reportable segments, Reinsurance and Individual Risk. Those segments are more fully described as follows:

Reinsurance

Our Reinsurance segment has three main units:

1) Property catastrophe reinsurance, written for our own account and for DaVinci, is our traditional core business. We believe we are one of the world's leading providers of this coverage, based on catastrophe gross premiums written. This coverage protects against large natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis, as well as claims arising from other natural and man-made catastrophes such as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, wind storms, tornadoes, explosions and acts of terrorism. We offer this coverage to insurance companies and other reinsurers primarily on an excess of loss basis. This means that we begin paying when our customers' claims from a catastrophe exceed a certain retained amount.

2) Specialty reinsurance, written for our own account and for DaVinci, covering certain targeted classes of business where we believe we have a sound basis for underwriting and pricing the risk that we assume. Our portfolio includes various classes of business, such as catastrophe exposed workers' compensation, surety, terrorism, medical malpractice, catastrophe-exposed personal lines property, casualty clash, certain other casualty lines and other specialty lines of reinsurance that we collectively refer to as specialty reinsurance. We believe that we are seen as a market leader in certain of these classes of business, such as casualty clash, surety, catastrophe-exposed workers' compensation and terrorism.

3) Through our ventures unit, we pursue joint ventures and other strategic relationships. Our four principal business activities conducted by our ventures unit are: 1) property catastrophe joint ventures which we manage, such as Top Layer Re and DaVinci; 2) strategic investments in other market participants, such as our investments in Platinum and the Tower Hill Companies, where, rather than assuming exclusive management responsibilities ourselves, we partner with other market participants; 3) weather and energy derivatives trading activities; and 4) fee-based consulting services, research and development and loss and mitigation activities. Only business activities that appear in our consolidated underwriting results, such as DaVinci and certain reinsurance transactions, are included in our Reinsurance segment results; our share of the results of our investments in other ventures, accounted for under the equity method and our weather-related activities are included in the Other category of our segment results.

Individual Risk

We define our Individual Risk segment to include underwriting that involves understanding the characteristics of the original underlying insurance policy. Our principal contracts include insurance contracts and quota share reinsurance with respect to risks including: 1) multi-peril crop, which includes multi-peril crop insurance, crop hail and other named peril agriculture risk management products; 2) commercial property, which principally includes catastrophe-exposed commercial property products; 3) commercial multi-line, which includes commercial property and liability coverage, such as general liability, automobile liability and physical damage, building and contents, professional liability and various specialty products; and 4) personal lines property, which principally includes homeowners personal lines property coverage and catastrophe exposed personal lines property coverage.

Our Individual Risk business is primarily produced through four distribution channels: 1) a wholly owned program manager - where we write primary insurance through our own subsidiary; 2) third party program managers - where we write primary insurance through third party program managers, who produce business pursuant to agreed-upon underwriting guidelines and provide related back-office functions; 3) quota share reinsurance - where we write quota share reinsurance with primary insurers who, similar to our third party program managers, provide most of the back-office and support functions; and 4) brokers and agents - where we write primary insurance produced through licensed intermediaries on a risk-by-risk basis.

Our Individual Risk business is written by the Glencoe Group through its principal operating subsidiaries Glencoe and Lantana, which write on an excess and surplus lines basis, and through Stonington and Stonington Lloyds, which write on an admitted basis. Since the inception of our Individual Risk business, we have substantially relied on third parties for services including the generation of premium, the issuance of policies and the processing of claims. We actively oversee our third party partners through an operations review team at Glencoe Specialty Services, which conducts initial due diligence as well as ongoing monitoring. We have been investing in initiatives to strengthen our operating platform, enhance our internal capabilities, and expand the resources we commit to our Individual Risk operations. These initiatives include our April 2009 announced launch of our direct written commercial property insurance operations. To support this new platform, we have hired several experienced underwriters, developed and implemented proprietary underwriting and risk management systems, and opened regional offices in Hartford, CT and Atlanta, GA. We currently plan to seek additional professional hires and may open further regional offices in future periods.

New Business

In addition to the potential growth of our existing reinsurance and insurance businesses, from time to time we consider diversification into new ventures, either through organic growth, the formation of new joint ventures, or the acquisition of or the investment in other companies or books of business of other companies. This potential diversification includes opportunities to write targeted, additional classes of risk-exposed business, both directly for our own account and through possible new joint venture opportunities. We also regularly evaluate opportunities to grow our business by utilizing our skills, capabilities, proprietary technology and relationships to expand into further risk-related coverages, services and products. Generally, we focus on underwriting or trading risks where reasonably sufficient data may be available, and where our analytical abilities may provide us a competitive advantage, in order for us to seek to model estimated probabilities of losses and returns in accordance with our approach in respect of our current portfolio of risks. We also regularly review potential new investments, in both operating entities and financial instruments. We believe the current period of market dislocation may have increased the prospects that we can deploy capital in such initiatives at attractive expected rates of return.

In evaluating potential new ventures or investments, we generally seek an attractive return on equity, the ability to develop or capitalize on a competitive advantage, and opportunities which we believe will not detract from our core Reinsurance and Individual Risk operations. Accordingly, we regularly review strategic opportunities and periodically engage in discussions regarding possible transactions, although there can be no assurance that we will complete any such transactions or that any such transaction would be successful or contribute materially to our results of operations or financial condition. We believe that our ability to potentially attract investment and operational opportunities is supported by our strong reputation and financial resources, and by the capabilities and track record of our ventures unit.

Risk Management

We seek to develop and effectively utilize sophisticated computer models and other analytical tools to assess and manage the risks that we underwrite and attempt to optimize our portfolio of reinsurance and insurance contracts and other financial risks. Our policies, procedures, tools and resources to monitor and assess our operational risks companywide, as well as our global enterprise-wide risk management practices, are overseen by our Chief Risk Officer, who reports directly to our President and Chief Executive Officer.

With respect to our Reinsurance operations, since 1993 we have developed and continuously seek to improve our proprietary, computer-based pricing and exposure management system, Renaissance Exposure Management System ("REMS©"). We believe that REMS© is a more robust underwriting and risk management system than is currently commercially available elsewhere in the reinsurance industry and offers us a significant competitive advantage. REMS© was originally developed to analyze catastrophe risks, though we continuously seek ways to enhance the program in order to analyze other classes of risk.

In addition to using REMS©, within our Individual Risk operations we have developed a proprietary information management and analytical database, our Program Analysis Central Repository ("PACeR"), within which data related to substantially all our Individual Risk segment business is maintained. With the use and development of PACeR, we are seeking to develop statistical and analytical techniques to evaluate our program lines of business within our Individual Risk segment. We provide our third party program managers with access to PACeR's capabilities, which we believe helps support superior underwriting decisions, thus creating value for them and for us. Our objective is to have PACeR create an advantage for our Individual Risk operations by assisting us in building and maintaining a well-priced portfolio of specialty insurance risks.

SUMMARY OF CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES

The Company's critical accounting estimates are discussed in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

For the three months ended March 31, 2009 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2008

Summary Overview



Three months ended March 31,                            2009                     2008                  Change
(in thousands of U.S. dollars, except per
share amounts and ratios)
Gross premiums written                            $        598,301        $           527,038         $  71,263
Net premiums written                                       446,836                    403,116            43,720
Net premiums earned                                        301,748                    308,914            (7,166 )
Net claims and claim expenses incurred                      86,197                     82,156             4,041
Underwriting income                                        131,190                    150,217           (19,027 )
Net investment income                                       42,126                     52,503           (10,377 )
Net realized gains (losses) on investments                   3,104                    (10,670 )          13,774
Net income available to RenaissanceRe common
shareholders                                                97,284                    137,165           (39,881 )
Net income available to RenaissanceRe common
shareholders per Common Share - diluted           $           1.57        $              2.05         $   (0.48 )
Net claims and claim expense ratio - current
accident year                                                 26.2 %                     41.2 %           (15.0 )%
Net claims and claim expense ratio - prior
accident years                                                 2.4 %                    (14.6 )%           17.0 %
Net claims and claim expense ratio -
calendar year                                                 28.6 %                     26.6 %             2.0 %
Underwriting expense ratio                                    27.9 %                     24.8 %             3.1 %
Combined ratio                                                56.5 %                     51.4 %             5.1 %

At March 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008            March 31, 2009          December 31, 2008           Change           % Change
Book value per common share                       $          39.65        $             38.74         $    0.91              2.3 %
Accumulated dividends per common share                        8.16                       7.92              0.24              3.0 %

Book value per common share plus accumulated
dividends                                         $          47.81        $             46.66         $    1.15              2.5 %

Net income available to RenaissanceRe common shareholders was $97.3 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $137.2 million in the first quarter of 2008. Net income available to RenaissanceRe common shareholders per fully diluted common share was $1.57 for the first quarter of 2009, compared to $2.05 in the first quarter of 2008. The decrease in our net income available to RenaissanceRe common shareholders was primarily due to:

• a $19.0 million decrease in underwriting income primarily due to an increase in underwriting expenses of $7.8 million, an increase in prior accident years net claims and claim expenses of $52.3 million and partially offset by a $48.3 million decrease in current accident years net claims and claim expenses. The increase in underwriting expenses of $7.8 million was primarily due to a reduction in profit commissions on ceded premiums earned and an increase in our employee base which has increased our compensation and related operating expenses. The increase in prior accident years claims and claim expenses was driven by unfavorable prior year loss reserve development in our multi-peril crop insurance line of business related to the 2008 crop year due to an increase in the severity of reported losses in the first quarter of 2009. The lower current accident year net claims and claim expenses were due to a comparatively low level of insured catastrophe losses, as discussed in the "Underwriting Results" section below;

• a $22.8 million decrease in other (loss) income. The other loss of $14.8 million incurred during the first quarter of 2009 is primarily the result of a negative mark-to-market on our Platinum warrant of $13.7 million. In addition, other loss deteriorated due to a $10.5 million decrease in other income related to our weather and energy derivatives trading activities; and

• $10.2 million in net foreign exchange losses incurred during the first quarter of 2009, compared to net foreign exchange gains of $4.9 million in the first quarter of 2008. The $15.1 million decrease in net foreign exchange (losses) gains is a result of changes to the U.S. dollar during the quarter against other major currencies with which we do business resulting in unfavorable foreign exchange translations on our net non-U.S. dollar denominated monetary assets and liabilities.

Book value per common share increased $0.91 to $39.65 at March 31, 2009, compared to $38.74 at December 31, 2008. Book value per common share plus accumulated dividends increased $1.15 to $47.81 at March 31, 2009, compared to $46.66 at December 31, 2008. The 2.3% growth in book value per common share was driven by our net income available to RenaissanceRe common shareholders of $97.3 million, less $15.0 million of common dividends and a $5.9 million decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income.

Underwriting Results

In the first quarter of 2009, we generated $131.2 million of underwriting income, compared to $150.2 million in the first quarter of 2008. The decrease in underwriting income was driven primarily by a $4.0 increase in net claims and claim expenses combined with a $7.8 million increase in underwriting expenses, and $7.2 million lower net premiums earned. We generated a combined ratio of 56.5%, a net claims and claim expense ratio of 28.6% and an underwriting expense ratio of 27.9%, in the first quarter of 2009, compared to a combined ratio, net claims and claim expense ratio and underwriting expense ratio of 51.4%, 26.6% and 24.8%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2008.

Gross premiums written increased $71.3 million to $598.3 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $527.0 million in the first quarter of 2008. The increase in gross premiums written was primarily due to the more favorable pricing and terms experienced during the first quarter of 2009 renewals, compared to the first quarter of 2008, in our catastrophe unit. The improved market conditions in our catastrophe unit were principally driven by hardening market conditions as a result of the financial turmoil and market dislocations experienced during 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009, as well as the comparably high level of insured catastrophe losses in 2008. The increase in gross premiums written in our catastrophe unit was partially offset by a decrease in gross premiums written in our Individual Risk segment, which decreased $15.7 million, or 19.4%, to $65.1 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $80.8 million in the first quarter of 2008. The decrease was primarily due to our prior decisions to terminate several program manager relationships and a commercial property quota share contract as a result of the then softening market conditions, resulting in reduced commercial property and commercial multi-line gross premiums written. Our specialty reinsurance premiums decreased $8.1 million, or 10.2%, to $71.5 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $79.6 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Net premiums written increased $43.7 million in the first quarter of 2009 to $446.8 million from $403.1 million in the first quarter of 2008. The increase in net premiums written was primarily due to the increase in gross premiums written noted above and offset by a $27.5 million increase in ceded premiums written in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the first quarter of 2008. Net premiums earned decreased $7.2 million to $301.7 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $308.9 million in the first quarter of 2008, primarily due to a reduction in net premiums earned in our specialty unit.

Net claims and claim expenses increased by $4.0 million to $86.2 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $82.2 million in the same quarter of 2008 primarily due to higher prior accident years losses compared to the first quarter of 2008 and partially offset by lower current accident year losses. There were comparably fewer insured catastrophes in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the first quarter of 2008 and as a result our current accident year net claims and claim expenses decreased to $78.9 million in the first quarter of 2009, from $127.2 million in the first quarter of 2008. We experienced $7.3 million of unfavorable development on prior year reserves in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $45.1 million of favorable development in the first quarter of 2008, primarily due to increased net claims and claim expenses resulting from the close of the 2008 crop year for our multi-peril crop business within our Individual Risk segment as a result of an increase in the severity of reported losses in the period.

Underwriting Results by Segment

Reinsurance Segment

Below is a summary of the underwriting results and ratios for our Reinsurance segment followed by an analysis of our catastrophe unit and specialty unit underwriting results and ratios for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008:

Reinsurance segment overview

Three months ended March 31,                          2009            2008           Change
(in thousands of U.S. dollars, except ratios)
Gross premiums written (1)                          $ 532,916       $ 443,728       $  89,188

Net premiums written                                $ 414,787       $ 342,920       $  71,867

Net premiums earned                                   225,971         232,227          (6,256 )
Net claims and claim expenses incurred                 16,571          47,069         (30,498 )
Acquisition expenses                                   19,021          18,515             506
Operational expenses                                   29,115          21,139           7,976

Underwriting income                                 $ 161,264       $ 145,504       $  15,760


Net claims and claim expenses incurred - current
accident year                                       $  41,306       $  70,576       $ (29,270 )
Net claims and claim expenses incurred - prior
accident years                                        (24,735 )       (23,507 )        (1,228 )

Net claims and claim expenses incurred - total      $  16,571       $  47,069       $ (30,498 )


Net claims and claim expense ratio - current
accident year                                            18.3 %          30.4 %         (12.1 )%
Net claims and claim expense ratio - prior
accident years                                          (11.0 )%        (10.1 )%         (0.9 )%

Net claims and claim expense ratio - calendar
year                                                      7.3 %          20.3 %         (13.0 )%
Underwriting expense ratio                               21.3 %          17.0 %           4.3 %

Combined ratio                                           28.6 %          37.3 %          (8.7 )%

(1) Reinsurance gross premiums written includes $0.2 million and $2.5 million of premiums assumed from the Individual Risk segment for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.

Reinsurance Segment Gross Premiums Written - Gross premiums written in our Reinsurance segment increased by $89.2 million, or 20.1%, to $532.9 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $443.7 million in the first quarter of 2008, due to growth in gross premiums written in our catastrophe unit which . . .