Ace Ltd. shareholders meet today in Hamilton to vote on the insurance giant's proposal to move its holding company from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland.

The company announced its intended redomestication in March, but has said its Bermuda operations will remain unchanged and that it will maintain its executive offices on the Island.

Ace's annual general meeting — probably its last to be held in Bermuda — was scheduled to start at Ace Global Headquarters, in Woodbourne Avenue, at 8 a.m. today.

Provided the vote goes in favour of deregistration from the Cayman Islands and the move to Zurich, a second part of the AGM will take place next Monday. The adjournment is necessary to allow time for requirements necessary under Swiss law to be met.

The redomestication will provide Ace with "a credible and stable platform", chairman and chief executive officer Evan Greenberg said in a letter to shareholders in the company prospectus, dated May 30, 2008.

"As a strategy holding company in Switzerland, we will have our headquarters in Zurich and we will hold future annual general meetings and at least half our board meetings there," Mr. Greenberg wrote. "We will be, in effect, a Swiss citizen, covered by a network of Swiss treaties and international relationships, including tax treaties providing certainty and predictability.

"We will also incorporate Swiss operating insurance companies, which will be regulated by the Swiss Federal Office of Private Insurance."