Bermuda insurance giant ACE Limited is moving its communications department to New York and Philadelphia, saying it makes good business sense to have its communicators closer to resources on the east coast.

It is understood that none of the five-strong team that have handled ACE?s global communications function ? including media relations, internal communications, marketing and website management ? will remain with the company after the shift.

Up to now, the responsibility for global communications has been handled from the Island by a largely Bermudian team.

News of the global communications department move follows CEO and president Evan Greenberg saying in an interview earlier this year that efficiency and expense management would drive where the company chose to base certain functions.

?We are a global company and we are charged with running the company in as efficient and effective manner as we can. And because we are global we have the flexibility and the options to perform global services from many parts of the globe and where it is most appropriate to do that, that is what we will do. A company is a living, breathing, amorphous thing and it is constantly evolving; you are constantly adding, constantly trimming, that is just the nature of a global business.

?You know in a free market environment, a company must constantly be relevant and constantly be competitive or you die quickly. In an organisation like ACE, we are investing for growth constantly. You also have to be about efficiency of service and the cost at which you do it. And the ability to be cost efficient, that is a weapon not to be ignored.?

The company stressed that there would continue to be at least one communications person on the Island to handle the needs of its Bermuda-based subsidiaries.

In specific, ACE said it was ?reshaping? its global communications function to move it closer to ?IT support, journalists (with most of the leading financial journalists based in New York), agencies and ACE?s US-based Chief Communications Officer?.

In May, the former head of global communications for ACE Limited, Wendy Davis Johnson, left the company after seven years leading internal and external communications for the company that employs some 7,500 staff around the world in the 50 countries it operates in.

A new position, Chief Communications Officer, was created and went to a US-based employee.

This latest development in the Bermuda offices of ACE follow an unspecified number of redundancies earlier this year.

A spokeswoman said an exact number (estimates put the number as high as 20) could not be given as a number of the staff who had seen their jobs cut were being offered positions within other divisions of ACE.

Speaking to the shift of the global communications function, the spokeswoman said: ?ACE has two communications teams in Bermuda. The team which supports ACE?s Bermuda businesses and our community activity will remain on the Island and, in fact, may well be growing.

?However the small global communications department ? which is made up of five people ? is being reshaped. This team had been providing stellar support for media relations, advertising, branding and website development for ACE?s parent company, ACE Limited, and the global group. It was felt, however, the functions would be better structured in New York and Philadelphia, where they would be closer to IT support, journalists, agencies and the Chief Communications Officer. We have offered alternative posts where possible, although two of our employees were already leaving for other reasons and another is taking early retirement.?

As for what advice he might give Bermuda-based ACE employees, Mr. Greenberg said during an interview last month following the company?s release of its second quarter results: ?We haven?t changed the rules, the market makes the rules. ACE is committed to Bermuda that has and continues to be a principle statement. I would say that for Bermuda employees, it is no different than anywhere else. We are all under pressure to ensure we are relevant, contributing in a significant manner to growth and the health of the organisation.

?That is how you ensure job growth and stability. The better the company does the greater opportunity for expansion and skill level increase,? he concluded.