Bermuda insurance giant ACE Limited yesterday named Evan Greenberg, son of insurance industry legend Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, as CEO.

Speaking with The Royal Gazette from Philadelphia following the announcement, Mr. Greenberg and outgoing CEO Brian Duperreault said the change at the top would not spell significant change for the organisation. Mr. Greenberg said the company would remain headquartered in Bermuda while vowing to build on the global platform built up by Mr. Duperreault through the last decade.

ACE Limited was set up on the Island 19 years ago, but underwent rapid change in the 1990s largely through strategic acquisitions growing the company from a relatively small insurance venture to a global powerhouse operating in 50 countries around the world. Mr. Duperreault spearheaded that growth from the time he joined the company in 1994 through the company's most significant acquisition in July, 1999, when ACE bought up Cigna's property & casualty (P&C) business.

Yesterday's announcement of Mr. Greenberg's appointment was one that had been speculated about for months. The news was greeted by analysts and business leaders as a good move, especially with Mr. Duperreault staying on as chairman.

Mr. Greenberg, a 28-year veteran of the industry, joined the company in November, 2001 as vice chairman, ACE Limited and CEO of ACE Tempest Re. He was promoted to the position of president and COO last June.

Although Mr. Greenberg will remain president, no one has yet been named to take on the chief operations role. The management change becomes effective after ACE's annual general meeting on May 27.

Both Mr. Duperreault and Mr. Greenberg came to ACE after long careers with insurance giant AIG. During their tenures with that company both were, at separate times, speculated to be possible successors to Hank Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg Sr., 78, is yet to hand over the reins for the company he has controlled for 37 years. Another son, Jeffrey Greenberg is chairman and CEO of broking giant Marsh.

Yesterday Mr. Greenberg Sr. said told The Royal Gazette how pleased he was with his sons' accomplishments: "I am very proud to have two sons who are CEOs in the insurance industry," he said.

Speculation that Mr. Greenberg's appointment at ACE could pave the way for a merger in future with AIG were however met with some mirth by the ACE executives.

"Let me disabuse you of that. There is absolutely no plan or thought in that direction. Absolutely dispel that, we love our independence and we love what we are building," Mr. Greenberg said.

Mr. Duperreault said his decision to step down as CEO while remaining chairman had nothing to do with tighter corporate governance regulations that have seen some companies divide those roles between two people.

?That is not what the board is saying here. We are basically making an orderly succession. I wanted to reduce my executive responsibilities and we had in Evan a world-class executive to take my place. We work very well as a team and it is really keeping that team together.?

When asked how long the CEO succession plan had been in place, Mr. Duperreault said: ?One of your principle responsibilities is to have a good succession plan. That does not necessarily mean a specific person in a specific time frame; that is something that evolves.?

He said it was not clear who would succeed him when Mr. Greenberg was hired by ACE in November, 2001.

?Absolutely when Evan came to the company I knew he had potential to run ACE, without question. But time had to elapse, he had to perform, which he did. We all had to be comfortable; the board had to be comfortable. You are constantly thinking about it, but plans evolve and take shape as events occur.?

When asked if Mr. Greenberg had been tapped for the top job at the time of his appointment as president and COO of ACE last year, Mr. Duperreault said: ?That was, I think, the last step one would take in the process. It was certainly our hope. Evan proved us right that his would be an outstanding performance.?

Mr. Duperreault, a Bermudian, said ?oh yeah, yes?, when asked if he would stay on in Bermuda.

As for how extensive his responsibilities as chairman would be, Mr. Duperreault said: ?Certainly for the near term, and it is difficult to say when the near term ends, but it will probably be daily.?

Although ACE by-laws do set a retirement age of 70 for its board members, Mr. Duperreault, 57, could be in the seat for awhile.

Mr. Greenberg said he would also remain based in Bermuda although he conceded that his position with a global company requires him to travel a lot.

?You know the way we manage a global company, we spend more of our time on aeroplanes than we do in any one location.?

He also dispelled any notion that ACE could move off the Island: ?I see ACE remaining in Bermuda. I am a Bermuda resident, I have a home in Bermuda. I am very comfortable working there. I enjoy Bermuda.?

Mr. Duperreault has at times been vocal on issues affecting the Island, including speaking out two years ago against the Island taking in so-called corporate inversion companies. His comments followed the Island coming under attack in the US from media and politicians after several high-profile American corporations shifted their headquarters, but not their operations, to Bermuda to shave their US tax bills. The heated debate continues today with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry vowing to shut down the ?Bermuda tax loophole? while a number of US states are moving to ban contracts to companies that are based in ?tax havens? including Bermuda.

Mr. Greenberg said he would follow Mr. Duperreault?s example of being vocal, when warranted: ?Yes. Bermuda is our home and I plan to be a good citizen, so of course, I take an interest and I care. You can look forward to this over time. I am not shy.

?When it is appropriate and when it effects our company, you can be sure that we will speak out.?

As for the direction that ACE could go under his watch, Mr. Greenberg predicted little change: ?The direction will not change. I am very comfortable with the direction and the course we have set. There will be continuity in both strategy, direction, tone of the company and most of all our culture. Brian has established a great course, and in the last couple of years I have been fortunate to be able to help along with that so I am very comfortable.?

Mr. Greenberg said this did not mean that he would follow Mr. Duperreault?s track record of half a dozen significant acquisitions through 1996 to 1999, but also did not rule out buying up other companies.

He said: ?Acquisitions were made for a purpose. They were not made simply to make acquisitions. Brian had a vision to assemble a global platform that had many capabilities and diversity to it. That objective was accomplished. We have a fabulous reach; we have a great presence and we have a great opportunity to build on what we have already put in place. But, in the future, I would not rule out acquisitions.?

As for geographic areas the company may target for growth, Mr. Greenberg said: ?We are growing rapidly in many parts of the world. The balance of that will continue. The US, Europe, Asia, it will vary by market conditions and will vary by the opportunity we see. But we do see a lot of room to further develop our business.?

Mr. Duperreault cited the company?s growth during his decade at ACE as the highlight of his time as CEO: ?It really was taking a wonderful company, but one that was quite narrowly focused and taking full advantage of its platform and its position in the marketplace and expanding it to the global organisation it is today. It is kind of hard to pick out one thing in that road that we took but being able to do that (grow the company) is probably what I will look back on with the greatest fondness; being able to do that.?

When asked if he planned to stay on for an extended period as chairman, Mr. Duperreault said: ?It is not completely up to me. But I am up for election; I am sure I will be and serve my terms as everybody wants me to. You know it is kind of hard to separate me and ACE. I am not going to go anywhere.?

Mr. Duperreault said his decision to hand off the reins as CEO followed his desire to reduce his executive responsibilities, believing that that there is a limit to how long one person should be charged with leading a company.

?I always felt there was a period of time that one should serve and what that amount of time was is difficult to pinpoint. But my principal motivating factor is that I believed change is good for a company and that a CEO should not stay on indefinitely.

?I have been ten years in the job. That seemed to be right but other things have to come into play. You want to make sure you are still effective and I think I am still effective and you want the company to be doing well. All of those things are in place, but you have to have somebody you can turn it over to. (Someone) that you believe will make it a better place, and will do a better job than you could and that is what we have in Evan. That is the motivating factor here,? he said, adding that it was not good-bye for him.

?I will be staying on, and working in the company doing other things for the organisation.?

Mr. Greenberg concluded that he was very pleased to be in line for the CEO job: ?First of all it is the greatest achievement of my career. I am so pleased; I am so excited and terribly grateful for the opportunity and thankful that is with such a great company filled with so many terrific people to work with. As you can hear, I am full of optimism.?