Investment income and other gains and losses

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 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:

	Three Months Ended   June 30,				Six Months Ended   June 30,
	2017		2016		2017		2016
	($000 omitted)
Realized gains	279		1,139		845		5,076
Realized losses	(955	)	(173	)	(1,234	)	(3,622	)
	(676	)	966		(389	)	1,454

Expenses assignable to investment income were insignificant. There were no significant investments as of June 30, 2017 that did not produce income during the year.

For the six months ended June 30, 2017, investment and other losses – net included $0.8 million of net realized loss due to an increase in the fair value of a contingent consideration liability related to a prior acquisition. For the six months ended June 30, 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 prior year acquisitions and $0.9 million of net realized gains from the sale of investments available-for-sale, partially offset by $1.2 million of office closure costs.

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

	Three Months Ended   June 30,		Six Months Ended   June 30,
	2017	2016	2017	2016
	($000 omitted)
Proceeds from sales of investments available-for-sale	33,812	21,500	49,655	32,827