PartnerRe Ltd. has announced that its board of directors has increased its annual dividend by 10 percent from $2 to $2.20 per common share.

This marks the second rise in the common share dividend this year.

Yesterday, the board declared a regular quarterly dividend of 55 cents per common share. The dividend will be payable on December 1, 2010, to common shareholders of record on November 19, 2010, with the stock trading ex-dividend commencing November 17, 2010.

PartnerRe also repurchased 1.1 million common shares during the third quarter of 2010 for a total cost of $82.4 million. This brings the total number of common shares bought back by the company during the first nine months of 2010 to nine million common shares at a total cost of $682.5 million. At September 30, 2010, the company had 74.6 million common shares outstanding.