Employee Retirement Benefit Plans - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Parent Company
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Projected benefit obligation	$ 30.2	$ 28.2
Fair value of plan assets	2.4	2.5
Transatlantic Holdings Incorporated
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Projected benefit obligation	65.4	63.0
Fair value of plan assets	$ 48.7	$ 46.7

1) For defined benefit pension plans, the benefit obligation is the projected benefit obligation, which is the actuarial present value as of a date of all benefits attributed by the pension benefit formula to employee service rendered prior to that date. 2) For other postretirement defined benefit plans, the benefit obligation is the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation, which is the actuarial present value of benefits attributed to employee service rendered to a particular date.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Projected Benefit Obligation
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6522206

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Accumulated Postretirement Benefit Obligation
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6503904

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