Ace Ltd. is now a Swiss company, the insurance giant confirmed on Friday.

Shareholders approved the company's plans to redomesticate its holding company from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland in Ace Ltd.'s annual general meeting that concluded in Hamilton on Monday.

The move became official after filings were made in the Caymans and Switzerland, and the establishment of the holding company in Zurich.

"This is an historic day for Ace as we commence operations as a Swiss company," Ace's chairman and chief executive officer Evan Greenberg said yesterday. "We are grateful to our shareholders, who understand the strategic wisdom of this move and overwhelmingly adopted all of our redomestication proposals."

Ace has said its Bermuda operations, based at Ace Global Headquarters on Woodbourne Avenue, will be unaffected by the move and that its principal executive offices will remain on the Island.

The company announced its redomestication plan in March this year. Mr. Greenberg has said the move will "reduce reputational, political, regulatory, and financial risks to our company".

The move has cost Ace its place on the S&P 500 and the Russell 1000 indices, which contributed to volatility in the company's share price in the middle of last week, through the selling off of Ace shares by institutional investors that track the indices. On Friday, Ace shares rose three cents to $49.03 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Ace will continue to prepare its financial statements in US dollars, under US accounting rules, and will continue to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Shareholders will still receive their dividend payments in US dollars.

Future AGMs will be held in Switzerland, as well as at least half of Ace's board meetings.

Mr. Greenberg wrote in Ace's prospectus, dated May 30 this year: "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."

Ace was incorporated in the Cayman Islands but has been based in Bermuda since it began operations in 1986. It is by far the biggest player in the Bermuda insurance market, with almost $12 billion of net premium written in 2007, according to Fitch ratings.