Bermuda-based reinsurer IPC Holdings Ltd. has joined the pack of Island insurers reporting strong second quarter earnings.

The property casualty reinsurer's results for the period ended June 30, 2002 were net income of $48.7 million compared to $20.8 million during the same period last year, according to figures released by the company.

In tandem with its earnings report, IPC announced that CEO Jim Bryce and CFO John Weale would voluntarily comply with new US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements that will have them personally signing off on the accuracy of their latest financial reports.

The SEC had required the chief's of 945 companies traded on US stock exchanges, and with annual revenues in excess of $1.2 billion, to comply with the new regulation.

Although IPC was not included on that list, Mr. Bryce said: "We believe that it is a benefit to our shareholders to give this extra assurance and, therefore, IPC's CFO, John Weale, and I have decided to voluntarily file the newly required certifications."

The company's operating income, which excluded net realised gains and losses, stood at $55.3 million for the three month period ended June 30, 2002 in contrast to $20.2 million in the second quarter, 2001.

Mr. Bryce said that the company, as anticipated, had seen increased demand for its insurance products. Last December IPC raised more than $500 million in additional capital in order to be able to take advantage of improved market terms and conditions.

Mr. Bryce said: "This is reflected in our premium volume, which has increased significantly, without reduction in the quality of the business written, or any change to our adherence to strict risk management guidelines.

"In addition, we have continued to benefit from a relatively low incidence of catastrophic events, which has resulted in significant growth in net income. We are now in the North Atlantic windstorm season, which typically makes the third quarter the most active in terms of catastrophic events each year.

"However, we believe that our outlook for 2002 continues to be positive, in part due to our continued A+ ratings from both Standard & Poor's and A.M. Best."

For the period gross premiums of $60.1 million were written, an increase of 122.9 percent over the $27.0 million written in the second quarter of 2001.

Mr. Bryce said: "Premiums were higher because we used our increased capacity to satisfy the increased requirements of our existing clients, and we wrote business for new clients, which more than offset business which we did not renew because of unsatisfactory terms and conditions.

"In addition, we benefited from rate increases, generally in the range of ten percent to 15 percent for loss free contracts, with greater increases on loss impacted contracts.

"This brought our total written premiums for the six months ended June 30, 2002 to $207.2 million, an increase of 123.7 percent in comparison to the $92.6 million of premiums written in the first six months of 2001.

"We ceded $2.0 million of retrocessional premiums in the quarter ended June 30, 2002, compared to $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2001. This brought the total ceded premiums to $5.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2002, compared to $3.4 million for the corresponding period in 2001."

Net premiums earned for the quarter were $56.5 million, compared to $24.8 million earned in the quarter ended June 30, 2001, an increase of 127.3 percent.

Looking at net investment income, the company said its healthy return of $13.1 million for the quarter ended June 30 2002 could be largely attributed to the $546 in additional capital last December. The company's investment returns for the second quarter compared to $7.6 million for the same period last year.

The total for acquisition costs and general and administrative expenses came to $10 million for the quarter compared to $4.9 million in the second quarter of 2001.

For the six months ended June 30, 2002 total acquisition costs and operating expenses were $17.9 million, compared to $10.1 million in the first six months of 2001. For both the quarter and six-month periods of 2002.

The company said costs and expenses had increased primarily due to the increase in earned premiums together with some minor increases in certain operating expenses.

IPC's total assets at June 30, 2002 were $1.45 billion, an increase of 11.7 percent over total assets at December 31, 2001. At June 30, 2002 total shareholders' investment was $1.18 billion, compared to $1.1 billion at December 31, 2001.