insurance firm ACE Ltd., were incorrectly described as being American in yesterday's Business Section of The Royal Gazette . They are, in fact, both Bermudian.

The chairman, president and CEO of insurance firm ACE Ltd., 55-year-old Mr.

Walter Scott, was paid $1.25 million last year, according to information released in the run-up to an estimated $428.7 million public offering of 14.2 percent of ACE's ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

A prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that ACE's five executives, Mr. Scott, Mr. William Loschert, Mr. Christopher Marshall, Mr. Bradford Rich and Mr. Larry Lombardo, who are all American, were paid a combined total of $2.87 million in salaries, bonuses and other compensation.

If Mr. Scott had chosen to exercise his Stock Appreciation Rights during the year, he could have made a further $592,320, while the rest of the executive team could have boosted their remunerations by varying amounts of between $111,060 and $203,610 if they had cashed in their SARs.

Mr. Rich, 45, executive vice president, claims and general counsel, was the second highest paid executive, receiving $627,959.

Next highest was Mr. Loschert, 53, executive vice president, underwriting, who was paid $524,525; followed by Mr. Marshall, 36, executive vice president and chief financial officer, on $305,438; and Mr. Lombardo, 36, senior vice president, underwriting, who received $256,881.

ACE is floating 14.2 million of its 100 million ordinary shares on NYSE at a proposed maximum offering price of $26.25 -- a figure estimated solely for the purposes of calculating ACE's $133,957 registration fee with NYSE.

The book value per ordinary share at the end of the last fiscal year, on September 30, 1992, was $28.81.

Underwriters JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and SG Warburg have an `overallotment' option to purchase a further 2.13 million shares.

All the shares on offer are being sold by existing shareholders and ACE itself will receive none of the proceeds.

Mr. Rich said the company's executives would be unable to comment "for some time'' because of NYSE's tight rules and regulations regarding share offerings.

ACE plans to pay regular quarterly dividends, beginning with an initial dividend payout of ten cents per share for the quarter ending on June 30, 1993.

In preparation for the offering, ACE recapitalised last month, with each ordinary share, of par value $1 per share, being split into eight ordinary shares, of par value of one-eighth of a dollar each.

ACE, which was formed in 1985, is one of Bermuda's richest and most successful international companies.

It made a profit of $10.45 million for fiscal 1992 -- 84 percent down on the previous year and substantially less than profits of $249 million and $222 million during 1988 and 1989, respectively.

The profit was down largely as a result of a huge increase in loss reserves following changes in the company's reserving policy.

Net income per share dipped to 29 cents in 1992, compared with $1.81 the year before and $7.35 in 1988.

Total assets grew by 25 percent ($408,445) to just over $2 billion during 1992, while unpaid losses and loss expenses jumped by $330 million (96 percent) to $674 million.

Although ACE is a Cayman Islands corporation, its principal business offices are in Bermuda, at the ACE Building in Woodbourne Avenue, Hamilton.

Through its subsidiaries in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, ACE provides high level liability insurance to a diverse group of the world's largest corporations.

The company's excess liability insurance, with limits of up to $200 million per occurrence/per year, covers liability for occurrences resulting in bodily injury, property damage or advertising liability.

The company's excess directors and officers liability insurance, with limits up to $50 million per occurrence/per year, covers liability of directors and officers for wrongful acts.

ACE provides excess liability and/or D&O liability coverage for about 470 industrial, commercial and other enterprises, including more than half of the top 250 companies listed in the most recent Fortune 500 list of the largest industrial corporations in the US.

The company is owned by some of America's largest corporations, including Merck & Co, Inc, The Dow Chemical Company, IBM, Chase Manhattan Bank, Shell, General Electric, Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, Ford Motor Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, USX Corporation, Johnson and Johnson, American Cyanamid Company, JP Morgan, Tenneco Corporation, Emerson Electric Co., Union Pacific Corporation and Marsh & McLennan.