ACE was established in 1985 by a consortium of 34 Fortune 500 companies to provide hard-to-find excess liability and directors and officers coverage.  Since then, ACE has evolved from a monoline excess insurer owned by its policyholders to a global publicly-traded insurance company and one of the world's leading providers of commercial property and casualty insurance and reinsurance.

Scroll down to see some of the milestones in ACE's history.

2008

• ACE moves its place of incorporation from the Cayman Islands to Zurich, Switzerland.

• ACE expands its ability to provide supplemental Accident & Health and Life and Disability insurance with its purchase of Combined Insurance Company of America for $2.56 billion.
• Brian Duperreault steps down from ACE Limited Board of Directors.
• ACE greatly enhances its personal lines capabilities with the acquisition of the high-net-worth personal lines business of the Atlantic Companies.

2007

• Evan G. Greenberg becomes Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, ACE Limited.
• ACE opens non-life insurance branch in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
• ACE opens offices in Hungary and the Czech Republic.

2006

• ACE enters the U.S. life reinsurance market with the acquisition of Hart Life Insurance Company, from the Hartford Financial Services Group.  ACE to begin marketing life reinsurance products and services in the U.S. through its ACE Tempest Life Re brand.
• Brian Duperreault, ACE Chairman, retires from the company.  He continues to serve ACE as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.
• ACE sells three run-off reinsurance subsidiaries to Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Limited, an international insurance management firm.  The sale greatly reduces exposure to legacy liabilities, including asbestos, by approximately $900 million and reduces reinsurance recoverables by approximately $400 million.

2005

• ACE receives regulatory approvals to begin providing Life Insurance in China and Vietnam and Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance in Poland and Russia.
• ACE observes its 20th anniversary by hosting a Global Day of Service, during which more than 5,000 employees in 30 countries participate in community service projects.

2004

• Evan G. Greenberg becomes President & Chief Executive Officer, ACE Limited.
• Assured Guaranty Ltd. initial public offering completed April 28, 2004.
• ACE's actuarial organization sets new standards for transparency in the industry with the publication of its Global Loss Triangles, which provide in-depth information on loss reserves.

2003

• AGC Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of ACE Limited, announces the filing of a registration statement on Form S-1 for an initial public offering. AGC Holdings Limited is comprised of ACE's financial guaranty business, which includes ACE Guaranty Corp. and ACE Capital Re International Ltd.
• ACE announces the formation of ACE Captive Solutions to provide solutions across the multiple ACE product lines to the captive community.
• ACE Limited forms ACE Risk Management International to address the risk financing needs of major corporations.
• ACE Limited completes planned conversion of mezzanine equity to ordinary shares and issues approximately 11.8 million ordinary shares in satisfaction of the purchase contracts underlying ACE's FELINE PRIDES.
• ACE Financial Solutions Europe and ACE Financial Reinsurance Europe are created to provide customized, non-traditional finite insurance and reinsurance products to European customers.
• ACE Guaranty Re changes its name to ACE Guaranty Corp.

2002

• ACE Bermuda and Huatai Insurance Company of China announce a strategic partnership that will allow both companies to jointly develop new products and services for delivery nationally in China.
• ACE Bermuda and Freisenbruch-Meyer Group partner to form a new Bermudian insurance company - Freisenbruch-Meyer Insurance Limited, to write insurance coverage for the domestic Bermuda market.
• ACE Tempest Reinsurance opens underwriting operations in Dublin, Ireland.
• ACE European Group opens its new headquarters in London, England.

2001

• ACE Limited changes its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange from ACL to ACE.
• ACE opens its new global headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.
• Sovereign Risk Insurance Ltd. is elected to the International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers (the Berne Union) as one of only three private sector political risk insurers to be eligible and approved.

2000 
 

• ACE Bermuda restructures its Tailored Risk Solutions division into a service company named ACE Financial Solutions International (ACE FSI) that provides non-traditional insurance, reinsurance and risk financing solutions.
• In a partnership with Egypt-based Commercial International Investment Company (CIIC), ACE International acquires a 51 percent shareholding in Egyptian American Insurance Company (EAIC) giving ACE an immediate, significant market presence in a key emerging financial center.
• ACE announces its intention to establish operating companies in Gibraltar to provide insurance services to the local and international markets.

1999

• ACE acquires the global property and casualty business of CIGNA Corporation for $3.45 billion, making ACE one of only a handful of truly international property and casualty insurance companies. With this acquisition, ACE inherits the rich history of the pioneering Insurance Company of North America (INA), which wrote its first policy in 1792.
• ACE acquires Capital Re Corporation, a company providing specialty reinsurance for financial guaranty insurance and other financial risks.

1998

• ACE acquires U.S.-based Westchester Fire Insurance Company; ACE USA is formed.
• ACE forms strategic alliance with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group to provide treaty reinsurance for MIGA’s political risk operations.
• ACE acquires CAT Limited, a property catastrophe reinsurance concern, and integrates it as part of ACE Tempest Re.
• ACE Global Markets acquires Lloyd’s-based Tarquin Limited. ACE now manages approximately 9.3 percent of the total underwriting capacity at Lloyd’s.
• ACE Global Markets is formed in London from ACE’s existing operations at Lloyd’s.

1997

• ACE Bermuda forms Sovereign Risk Insurance Ltd., a specialized Bermuda-based political risk insurance and reinsurance underwriter, with strategic partners XL Insurance Company, Ltd. and Risk Capital Re.
• ACE European Markets is incorporated and licensed in Ireland to underwrite all classes of non-life insurance in the European Union.

1996

• ACE acquires Tempest Re, now ACE Tempest Re, a leading Bermuda-based catastrophe reinsurance company.
• ACE acquires London-based Lloyd’s managing agency Ockham Worldwide and the balance of Methuen Underwriting.

1995

• Financial Lines (now ACE Financial Solutions International) joins ACE Bermuda’s expanding product lines, providing strategic and alternative risk products.
• Excess property and aviation product liability insurance lines broaden ACE Bermuda’s diversification.
• ACE Bermuda’s operations mark the 10th anniversary of the writing of its first official insurance policy.

1994

• Product line diversification continues with the addition of satellite insurance.
• Brian Duperreault is named Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, ACE Limited.

1993

• ACE Limited successfully completes its initial public offering and is authorized for listing and trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
• Expansion of ACE Bermuda’s product lines begins with the purchase of CODA .

1990

• Walter Scott becomes Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

1987

• ACE Bermuda assumes management of Corporate Officers & Directors Assurance Ltd. (CODA), a specialist D&O underwriter.

1986

• ACE opens its first office in Hamilton, Bermuda with six full-time employees.

1985

• John Cox, ACE’s first Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, is appointed.
• ACE Bermuda writes its first official insurance policy.
• ACE Limited and its Bermuda insurance subsidiary are incorporated in the Cayman Islands and establish headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.