Exhibit 99.1


RENAISSANCERE HOLDINGS LTD.
INCREASES DIVIDEND AND APPOINTS DIRECTOR

PEMBROKE, Bermuda--February 5, 1997--The Board of Directors of
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) today voted to increase the Company's
quarterly cash dividend by 25 percent to $0.25 per share from $0.20 per share.
The dividend will be paid on March 5, 1997 to shareholders of record on February
19, 1997.

The Board of Directors also announced that Scott E. Pardee, Senior
Advisor to Yamaichi International (America), Inc., was appointed a director to
serve until the 1997 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Pardee was
Chairman of Yamaichi International (America), Inc. from March 1989 to December
1994. Mr. Pardee has also served as Executive Vice President and a member of
the Board of Directors of Discount Corporation of New York, a primary dealer in
U.S. government securities and Senior Vice President and Manager of the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, responsible for foreign exchange activities of the
Federal Open Market Committee. Mr. Pardee is currently Chairman of the MIT
Council for Economics, a Trustee of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship
Foundation, and a Trustee of the Geonomics Institute.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries Renaissance
Reinsurance Ltd. and Glencoe Insurance Ltd., is a global provider of
reinsurance and insurance. The Company's principal product is property
catastrophe reinsurance.

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CONTACT: Keith S. Hynes John D. Nichols, Jr.
Senior Vice President Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer (441) 295-4513
(441) 295-4513



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