Segments (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Segments [Abstract]

Information by business segment

			North America Property		Accident						Corporate
			& Casualty		& Health		International		Investing		& Other		Consolidated
Six months ended June 30, 2015
Net earned premium			$	460,669	$	510,613	$	271,121	$	-	$	-	$	1,242,403
Other revenue				12,664		3,919		1,922		121,979		414		140,898
	Segment revenue			473,333		514,532		273,043		121,979		414		1,383,301
Loss and LAE				266,270		373,940		119,718		-		539		760,467
Other expense				138,467		79,639		99,192		-		40,151		357,449
	Segment expense			404,737		453,579		218,910		-		40,690		1,117,916
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	68,596	$	60,953	$	54,133	$	121,979	$	(40,276)	$	265,385

Six months ended June 30, 2014
Net earned premium			$	397,855	$	472,481	$	263,904	$	-	$	620	$	1,134,860
Other revenue				10,352		5,502		1,831		138,395		1,564		157,644
	Segment revenue			408,207		477,983		265,735		138,395		2,184		1,292,504
Loss and LAE				208,290		344,944		112,832		-		577		666,643
Other expense				115,688		70,605		95,820		-		51,132		333,245
	Segment expense			323,978		415,549		208,652		-		51,709		999,888
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	84,229	$	62,434	$	57,083	$	138,395	$	(49,525)	$	292,616

Three months ended June 30, 2015
Net earned premium			$	251,430	$	255,663	$	134,744	$	-	$	3	$	641,840
Other revenue				6,562		1,906		914		55,311		318		65,011
	Segment revenue			257,992		257,569		135,658		55,311		321		706,851
Loss and LAE				149,834		186,929		58,275		-		267		395,305
Other expense				70,119		40,974		51,881		-		34,015		196,989
	Segment expense			219,953		227,903		110,156		-		34,282		592,294
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	38,039	$	29,666	$	25,502	$	55,311	$	(33,961)	$	114,557

Three months ended June 30, 2014
Net earned premium			$	196,521	$	240,338	$	135,060	$	-	$	329	$	572,248
Other revenue				4,921		3,862		855		61,343		345		71,326
	Segment revenue			201,442		244,200		135,915		61,343		674		643,574
Loss and LAE				104,737		174,139		56,518		-		503		335,897
Other expense				58,150		36,032		49,345		-		26,506		170,033
	Segment expense			162,887		210,171		105,863		-		27,009		505,930
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	38,555	$	34,029	$	30,052	$	61,343	$	(26,335)	$	137,644

Schedule Of Goodwill [Table Text Block]

		North America Property		Accident
		& Casualty		& Health		International		Total
Balance at beginning of year		$	552,006	$	144,113	$	209,517	$	905,636
Acquisition of ProAg			47,145		-		-		47,145
Other, principally foreign exchange			99		-		(750)		(651)
	Balance at June 30, 2015	$	599,250	$	144,113	$	208,767	$	952,130

Total assets by segment [Table Text Block]

		June 30,		December 31,
		2015		2014
North America Property & Casualty		$	2,465,227	$	1,894,756
Accident & Health			243,105		242,278
International			1,131,605		1,073,889
Investing			7,052,910		7,228,608
Corporate & Other			248,083		274,815
	Total	$	11,140,930	$	10,714,346