Ace Ltd. shareholders have backed the initial part of the insurance giant's plan to redomicile its holding company from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland.

A filing with US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said shareholders at the annual general meeting held in Hamilton had voted "to permit the de-registration of the company from the Cayman Islands".

Ace has said its Bermuda operations will remain unaffected by the redomestication and its principal executive offices will remain on the Island.

An Ace spokesperson said yesterday that the company planned to release a statement on the redometication this week after all necessary filings had been made.

Standard & Poor's announced last week that the move to Switzerland would cost Ace its place in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Ace will be replaced by MasterCard in the S&P 500 tomorrow.

As a result, many of the large funds which attempt to track the S&P 500 are expected to remove their investments from Ace.

Yesterday, Ace's share price fell 6.9 percent to $45.83 on the trading of 27.8 million shares, about ten times average volume.

Ace also announced that Olivier Steimer has been elected to its board of directors by the company's shareholders at the AGM.

Mr. Steimer has been chairman of the Lausanne, Switzerland-based Banque Cantonale Vaudoise since 2002.

Previously, he worked for the Credit Suisse Group from 1983 to 2002, with his most recent position at that organisation being chief executive officer, Private Banking International.

Mr. Steimer is chairman of the foundation board of the Swiss Finance Institute and a member of the board of directors of SBB CFF FFS, the national railway company of Switzerland.

Ace's chairman and chief executive officer Evan Greenberg said: "We are delighted to have Olivier Steimer join the Ace board of directors. Olivier brings a global perspective, broad financial services expertise and proven senior management experience to our board."