Investment income and other gains and losses

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Investment income and other gains and losses

Investment income and other gains and losses. Gross realized investment and other gains and losses follows:

	For the Three Months Ended   March 31,
	2017		2016
	($000 omitted)
Realized gains	566		3,937
Realized losses	(279	)	(3,449	)
	287		488

Expenses assignable to investment income were insignificant. There were no significant investments as of March 31, 2017 that did not produce income during the year.

For the three months ended March 31, 2017, investment and other gains – net included $0.4 million of net realized gains from the sale of investments available-for-sale. For the three months ended March 31, 2016, investments and other gains - net included $1.6 million of net realized gains due to changes in the fair values of contingent consideration liabilities associated with certain prior year acquisitions, partially offset by $1.4 million of office closure costs.

Proceeds from sales of investments available-for-sale are as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended   March 31,
	2017	2016
	($000 omitted)
Proceeds from sales of investments available-for-sale	15,843	11,327