At December 31, 2014,2016, we employed approximately 21,00031,000 people. We believe that employee relations are satisfactory.

We make available free of charge through our website (www.acegroup.com,(investors.chubb.com, under Investor Information / SEC - Section 16 Filings)Financials) our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, if any, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Also available through our website (under Investor InformationRelations / Corporate Governance) are our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Conduct, and Charters for the Committees of our Board of Directors (the Board). Printed documents are available by contacting our Investor Relations Department (Telephone: +1 (441) 299-9283,

We also use our website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under SEC Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure). Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investor InformationRelations portion of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this report. The public may also read and copy any materials ACEChubb files with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549 or by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

For most commercial and personal lines of business we offer, insureds typically use the services of an insurance broker or agent. An insurance broker acts as an agent for the insureds, offering advice on the types and amount of insurance to purchase and also assisting in the negotiation of price and terms and conditions. We obtain business from the local and major international insurance brokers and typically pay a commission to brokers for any business accepted and bound. Loss of all or a substantial portion of the business provided by one or more of these brokers could have a material adverse effect on our business. In our opinion, no material part of our business is dependent upon a single insured or group of insureds. We do not believe that the loss of any one insured would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations, and no one insured or group of affiliated insureds account for as much as 10 percent of our total revenues.

Competition in the insurance and reinsurance marketplace is substantial. Competitors include other stock companies, mutual companies, alternative risk sharing groups (such as group captives and catastrophe pools), and other underwriting organizations. Competitors sell through various distribution channels and business models, across a broad array of product lines, and with a high level of variation regarding geographic, marketing, and customer segmentation. We compete for business not only on the basis of price but also on the basis of availability of coverage desired by customers and quality of service. Our ability to compete is dependent on a number of factors, particularly our ability to maintain the appropriate financial strength ratings as assigned by independent rating agencies.agencies and effectively utilize new technology in our business. Our broad market capabilities in personal, commercial, specialty, and A&H lines made available by our underwriting expertise, business infrastructure, and global presence, define our competitive advantage. Our strong balance sheet is attractive to businesses, and our strong capital position and global platform affords us opportunities for growth not available to smaller, less diversified insurance companies. Refer to “Segment Information” for competitive environment by segment.

Various trademarks and trade names we use protect names of certain products and services we offer and are important to the extent they provide goodwill and name recognition in the insurance industry. We use commercially reasonable efforts to protect these proprietary rights, including various trade secret and trademark laws. We intend to retain material trademark rights in perpetuity, so long as it satisfies the use and registration requirements of applicable countries. One or more of the trademarks and trade names could be material to our ability to sell our products and services. We have taken appropriate steps to protect our ownership of key names, and we believe it is unlikely that anyone would be able to prevent us from using names in places or circumstances material to our operations.

We operate through fiveimplemented organizational changes in 2016 that resulted in new business segments.segments: North America Commercial P&C Insurance, North America Personal P&C Insurance, North America Agricultural Insurance, Overseas General Insurance, Global Reinsurance, and Life Insurance. In addition, the results of all run-off asbestos and environmental (A&E) exposures, the results of our run-off Brandywine business, the results of Westchester specialty operations for 1996 and prior years, and certain other run-off exposures are now presented within Corporate. Prior period amounts of Chubb Limited contained in this report have been adjusted to conform to the new segment presentation. The results of operations of Chubb Corp are included from the acquisition date forward (i.e., after January 14, 2016). The following table presents net premiums earned (NPE) by segment:

Additional financial information about our segments, including net premiums earned by geographic region, is included in

ACE USA and ACE Westchester competeMajor Accounts competes against a number of large, national carriers as well as regional competitors and other entities offering risk alternatives such as self-insured retentions and captive programs. The markets in which we compete are subject to significant cycles of fluctuating capacity and wide disparities in price adequacy. We strive to offer superior service, which we believe has differentiated us from our competitors. The ACE USA and ACE Westchester operations pursue a specialist strategy and focus on market opportunities where we can compete effectively based on service levels and product design, while still achieving an adequate level of profitability. AWe also achieve a competitive advantage is also achieved through ACE USA'sMajor Accounts’ innovative product offerings and our ability to provide multiple products to a single client due to our nationwide local presence. An additional competitive strength ofIn addition, all our domestic commercial units is the abilityare able to deliver global products and coverage to customers in concert with our Insurance – Overseas General Insurance segment. ACE USA has grown, in part, from the leveraging of cross-marketing opportunities with our other

The Commercial Insurance and Small Commercial Insurance operations to take advantage of our organization's global presence. ACE Bermuda competes against international commercial carriers writing business on an excess of loss basis. ACE Commercial Risk Services competescompete against numerous insurance companies ranging from large national carriers to small and mid-size insurers who provide specialty coverages and standard P&C products.

The Insurance – Overseas General Insurance segment comprises ACEChubb International ACEand Chubb Global Markets (AGM), and the international supplemental A&H business of Combined Insurance. ACE International comprises our retail commercial P&C, A&H, and personal lines businesses serving territories outside the U.S., Bermuda, and Canada. AGM,(CGM). CGM, our London-based international specialty and excess and surplus lines business, includes Lloyd's of London (Lloyd's) Syndicate 2488 (Syndicate 2488), aand Syndicate 1882, both wholly-owned ACE syndicate. ACE providesChubb syndicates supported by funds at Lloyd's to supportLloyd’s provided by Chubb Corporate Members. Effective December 31, 2016, Syndicate 1882 ceased underwriting bynew business and Syndicate 2488 which is managed by ACE Underwriting Agencies Limited andwill underwrite all Chubb’s Lloyd’s business from January 1, 2017 onwards. Syndicate 2488 has an underwriting capacity of £350£405 million for 2015.the Lloyd’s 2017 year of account. The syndicates are managed by Chubb’s Lloyd’s managing agency, ACE Underwriting Agencies Limited. The reinsurance operation of AGMCGM is included in the Global Reinsurance segment.

ACEChubb International maintains a presence in every major insurance market in the world and is organized geographically along product lines as follows: ACE Europe, ACE Asia Pacific, ACE Eurasia and Africa, ACE Far East, and ACE Latin America. Products offered include P&C, A&H, specialty coverages, and personal lines insurance products and services. During 2014, ACE International expanded its operations through the acquisition of Samaggi, a general insurance company, and its P&C offerings through the acquisition of the large corporate account P&C insurance business of Itaú Seguros. ACEChubb International's P&C business is generally

written, on both a direct and assumed basis, through major international, regional, and local brokers and agents. Certain ACE Europe branded products are also offered via an e-commerce platform, ACEChubb Online, that allows brokers to quote, bind, and issue specialty policies online. Property insurance products include traditional commercial fire coverage as well as energy industry-related, marine, construction, and other technical coverages. Principal casualty products are commercial primary and excess casualty, environmental, and general liability. A&H and other consumer lines products are distributed through brokers, agents, direct marketing programs, and sponsor relationships. ACEChubb International specialty coverages include D&O, professional indemnity, energy, aviation, political risk, and specialty personal lines products. The A&H operations primarily offer personal accident and supplemental medical coverages including accidental death, business/holiday travel, specified disease, disability, medical and hospital indemnity, and income protection. We are not in the primary health carehealthcare business. With respect to our supplemental medical and hospital indemnity products, we typically pay fixed amounts for claims and are therefore largely insulated from the direct impact of rising health carehealthcare costs. ACEChubb International's personal lines operations provide specialty products and services designed to meet the needs of specific target markets and include property damage, automobile, homeowners, and personal liability.

AGMCGM offers products through its parallel distribution network via ACE European Group Limited (AEGL) and Syndicate 2488. AGMCGM uses Syndicate 2488the syndicate to underwrite P&C business on a global basis through Lloyd's worldwide licenses. AGMCGM uses AEGL to underwrite similar classes of business through its network of U.K. and European licenses, and in the U.S. where it is eligible to write excess and surplus lines business. Factors influencing the decision to place business with Syndicate 2488each syndicate or AEGL include licensing eligibilities, capitalization requirements, and client/broker preference. All business underwritten by AGMCGM is accessed through registered brokers. The main lines of business include aviation, property, energy, professional lines, marine, financial lines, political risk, and A&H.

ACEChubb International's primary competitors include U.S.-based companies with global operations, as well as non-U.S. global carriers and indigenous companies in regional and local markets. For the A&H lines of business, including those offered by Combined Insurance, locally-basedlocally based competitors include financial institutions and bank-ownedbank owned insurance subsidiaries. Our international operations have the distinct advantage of being part of one of the few international insurance groups with a global network of licensed companies able to write policies on a locally admitted basis. The principal competitive factors that affect the international operations are underwriting expertise and pricing, relative operating efficiency, product differentiation, producer relations, and the quality of policyholder services. A competitive strength of our international operations is our global network and breadth of insurance programs, which assist individuals and business organizations to meet their risk management

AGMCGM is one of the preeminent international specialty insurers in London and is an established lead underwriter on a significant portion of the risks it underwrites for all lines of business. This leadership position allows AGMCGM to set the policy terms and conditions of many of the policies written. All lines of business face competition, depending on the business class, from Lloyd's syndicates, the London market, and other major international insurers and reinsurers. Competition for international risks is also seen from domestic insurers in the country of origin of the insured. AGMCGM differentiates itself from competitors through long standing experience in its product lines, its multiple insurance entities (Syndicate 2488 and AEGL), and the quality of its underwriting and claims service.

Global Reinsurance services clients globally through its major units. Major international brokers submit business to one or more of these units' underwriting teams who have built strong relationships with both key brokers and clients by providing a responsive, client-focused approach to risk assessment and pricing.

Chubb Tempest Re Bermuda principally provides property catastrophe reinsurance on an excess of loss basis globally to insurers of commercial and personal property. Property catastrophe reinsurance is on an occurrence or aggregate basis and protects a ceding company against an accumulation of losses covered by its issued insurance policies, arising from a common event or occurrence. ACEChubb Tempest Re Bermuda underwrites reinsurance principally on an excess of loss basis, meaning that its exposure only arises after the ceding company's accumulated losses have exceeded the attachment point of the reinsurance policy. ACEChubb Tempest Re Bermuda also writes other types of reinsurance on a limited basis for selected clients. Examples include proportional property where the reinsurer shares a proportional part of the premiums and losses of the ceding company and per risk excess of loss treaty reinsurance where coverage applies on a per risk basis rather than per event or aggregate basis, together with casualty (catastrophe workers' compensation) and specialty lines (crop and terrorism). ACEChubb Tempest Re Bermuda's business is produced through reinsurance intermediaries.

ACEChubb Tempest Re USA writes all lines of traditional and specialty P&C reinsurance, and surety and fidelity reinsurance for the North American market, principally on a treaty basis, with a focus on writing property per risk and casualty reinsurance. ACEChubb Tempest Re USA underwrites reinsurance on both a proportional and excess of loss basis. This unit's diversified portfolio is produced through reinsurance intermediaries.

ACEChubb Tempest Re International provides traditional and specialty P&C reinsurance to insurance companies worldwide, with emphasis on non-U.S. and Canadian risks. ACEChubb Tempest Re International writes all lines of traditional and specialty reinsurance including property risk and property catastrophe, casualty, marine, aviation, and specialty through our London- and Zurich-based divisions. The London-based divisions of ACEChubb Tempest Re International focus on the development of business sourced through London market brokers and, consequently,accordingly, write a diverse book of international business using Syndicate 2488 and AEGL. The Zurich-based division focuses on providing reinsurance to continental European insurers via continental European brokers while also serving Asian and Latin American markets. ACEChubb Tempest Re International also includes our Shanghai, China office which provides reinsurance coverage for Chinese-based risks. ACEChubb Tempest Re International underwrites reinsurance on both a proportional and excess of loss basis.

ACEChubb Tempest Re Canada offers a full array of traditional and specialty P&C, and Surety reinsurance to the Canadian market, including casualty, property risk and property catastrophe. ACEChubb Tempest Re Canada provides coverage through its Canadian company platform and also offers clients access to Syndicate 2488. ACEChubb Tempest Re Canada underwrites reinsurance on both a proportional and excess of loss basis.

The Global Reinsurance segment competes worldwide with major U.S. and non-U.S. reinsurers as well as reinsurance departments of numerous multi-line insurance organizations. In addition, over the last several years, capital markets participants have developed financial products intended to compete with traditional reinsurance. Additionally, government sponsored or backed catastrophe funds can affect demand for reinsurance. Global Reinsurance is considered a lead reinsurer and is typically involved in the negotiation and quotation of the terms and conditions of the majority of the contracts in which it participates. Global Reinsurance competes effectively in P&C markets worldwide because of its strong capital position, analytical capabilities and quality customer service, the leading role it plays in setting the terms, pricing, and conditions in negotiating contracts, and its customized approach to risk selection. The key competitors in our markets vary by geographic region and product line. An advantage of our international platform is that we are able to change our mix of business in response to changes in competitive conditions in the territories in which we operate. Our geographic reach is also sought by multinational ceding companies since all of our offices, with the exception of Bermuda, provide local reinsurance license capabilities which benefit our clients in dealing with country regulators.

The Life segment comprises ACE'sChubb's international life operations (ACE(Chubb Life), ACEChubb Tempest Life Re (ACE(Chubb Life Re), and the North American supplemental A&H and life business of Combined Insurance.

ACEChubb Life provides individual life and group benefit insurance primarily in emerging markets, including Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Vietnam;Egypt; also throughout Latin America; selectively in Europe; and in China through a non-consolidated joint venture insurance company. ACEChubb Life offers a broad portfolio of protection and savings products including whole life, endowment plans, individual term life, group term life, group medical and health, personal accident, credit life, universal life, and unit linked contracts. The policies written by ACEChubb Life generally provide funds to beneficiaries of insureds after death and/or protection and/or savings benefits while the contract owner is living. ACEChubb Life sells to consumers through a variety of distribution channels including captive and independent agency, bancassurance, worksite marketing, retailers, brokers, and direct to consumer marketing. We continue to expand ACEChubb Life with a focus on opportunities in emerging markets that we believe will result in strong and sustainable operating profits as well as a favorable return on capital commitments over time. Our dedicated captive agency distribution channel, whereby agents sell ACEChubb Life products exclusively, enables us to maintain direct contact with the individual consumer, promote quality sales practices, and exercise greater control over the future of the business. We have developed a substantial sales force of agents principally located in our Asia-Pacific countries. ACEChubb also maintains approximately 35.936 percent direct and indirect ownership interest in Huatai Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Huatai Life), which commenced operations in 2005 and has since grown to become one of the largestlarger life insurance foreign joint ventures in China. Huatai Life offers a broad portfolio of insurance products through a variety of distribution channels including approximately 277333 licensed sales locations in 1416 Chinese provinces.

ACEChubb Life Re's core business is a Bermuda-based operation which provides reinsurance to primary life insurers, focusing on guarantees included in certain fixed and variable annuity products and also on more traditional mortality reinsurance protection. ACEChubb Life Re's U.S.-based traditional life reinsurance operation was discontinued for new business in January 2010. Since 2007, ACEChubb Life Re has not quoted on new opportunities in the variable annuity reinsurance marketplace and our focus has been on managing the current portfolio of risk, both in the aggregate and on a contract basis. This business is managed with a long-term perspective and short-term earnings volatility is expected.

Combined Insurance distributes specialty supplemental A&H and life insurance products targeted to middle income consumers and businesses in the U.S. and Canada. Combined Insurance's substantial North American sales force distributes a wide range of supplemental accident and sickness insurance products, including personal accident, short-term disability, critical illness, Medicare supplement products, and hospital confinement/recovery. Most of these products are primarily fixed-indemnity benefit obligations and are not directly subject to escalating medical cost inflation.

ACEChubb Life's competition differs by location but generally includes multinational insurers, and in some locations, local insurers, joint ventures, or state-owned insurers. ACE'sChubb's financial strength and reputation as an entrepreneurial organization with a global presence gives ACEChubb Life a strong base from which to compete. While ACEChubb Life Re is not currently quoting on new opportunities in the variable annuity reinsurance marketplace, we continue to monitor developments in this market. Combined Insurance competes for A&H business in the U.S. against numerous A&H and life insurance companies across various industry segments.

ACEChubb is an underwriting company and we strive to emphasize quality of underwriting rather than volume of business or market share. Our underwriting strategy is to manage risk by employing consistent, disciplined pricing and risk selection. This, coupled with writing a number of less cyclical product lines, has helped us develop flexibility and stability of our business, and has allowed us to maintain a profitable book of business throughout market cycles. Clearly defined underwriting authorities, standards, and guidelines coupled with a strong underwriting audit function are in place in each of our local operations and global profit centers. Global product boards ensure consistency of approach and the establishment of best practices throughout the world. Our priority is to help ensure adherence to criteria for risk selection by maintaining high levels of experience and expertise in our underwriting staff. In addition, we employ a business review structure that helps ensure control of risk quality and conservative use of policy limits and terms and conditions. Underwriting discipline is at the heart of our operating philosophy.

Qualified actuariesActuaries in each region work closely with the underwriting teams to provide additional expertise in the underwriting process. We use internal and external data together with sophisticated analytical, catastrophe loss and risk modeling techniques to ensure an appropriate understanding of risk, including diversification and correlation effects, across different product lines and territories. This helps to ensure that losses are contained within our risk tolerance and appetite for individual product lines, businesses, and ACEChubb as a whole. Our use of such tools and data also reflects an understanding of their inherent limitations and uncertainties. We also purchase protection from third parties, including, but not limited to, reinsurance as a tool to diversify risk and limit the net loss potential of catastrophes and large or unusually hazardous risks. For additional information refer to "Risk Factors" under Item 1A, “Reinsurance Protection”, below, “Insurance and Reinsurance Markets”, under Item 1A, “Catastrophe Management” and “Natural Catastrophe Property Reinsurance Program”, under Item 7, and Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, under Item 8.

As part of our risk management strategy, we purchase reinsurance protection to mitigate our exposure to losses, including certain catastrophes, to a level consistent with our risk appetite. Although reinsurance agreements contractually obligate our reinsurers to reimburse us for an agreed-upon portion of our gross paid losses, reinsurance does not discharge our primary liability to our insureds and, thus, we ultimately remain liable for the gross direct losses. In certain countries, reinsurer selection is limited by local laws or regulations. In most countries there is more freedom of choice, and the counterparty is selected based upon its financial strength, claims settlement record, management, line of business expertise, and its price for assuming the risk transferred. In support of this process, we maintain an ACEa Chubb authorized reinsurer list that stratifies these authorized reinsurers by classes of business and acceptable limits. This list is maintained by our Reinsurance Security Committee (RSC), a committee comprising senior management personnel and a dedicated reinsurer security team. Changes to the list are authorized by the RSC and recommended to the Chair of the Risk and Underwriting Committee. The reinsurers on the authorized list and potential new markets are regularly reviewed and the list may be modified following these reviews. In addition to the authorized list, there is a formal exception process that allows authorized reinsurance buyers to use reinsurers already on the authorized list for higher limits or different lines of business, for example, or other reinsurers not on the authorized list if their use is supported by compelling business reasons for a particular reinsurance program.

A separate policy and process exists for captive reinsurance companies. Generally, these reinsurance companies are established by our clients or our clients have an interest in them. It is generally our policy to obtain collateral equal to the expected losses that may be ceded to the captive. Where appropriate, exceptions to the collateral requirement are granted but only after senior management review. Specific collateral guidelines and an exception process are in place for the Insurance – North AmericanAmerica Commercial P&C and Insurance, –North America Personal P&C Insurance, and Overseas General Insurance segments, bothall of which have credit management units evaluating the captive's credit quality and that of their parent company. The credit management units, working with actuaries, determine reasonable exposure estimates (collateral calculations), ensure receipt of collateral in an acceptable form, and coordinate collateral adjustments as and when needed. Financial reviews and expected loss evaluations are performed annually for active captive accounts and as needed for run-off exposures. In addition to collateral, parental guarantees are often used to enhance the credit quality of the captive.

We establish reserves for unpaid losses and loss expenses, which are estimates of future payments on reported and unreported claims for losses and related expenses, with respect to insured events that have occurred. These reserves are recorded in Unpaid losses and loss expenses in the consolidatedConsolidated balance sheets. The process of establishing loss and loss expense reserves for P&C claims can be complex and is subject to considerable uncertainty as it requires the use of informed estimates and judgments based on circumstances known at the date of accrual. These estimates and judgments are based on numerous factors, and may be revised as additional experience and other data become available and are reviewed, as new or improved methodologies are developed, or as laws change. Internal actuaries regularly analyze the levels of loss and loss expense reserves, taking into consideration factors that may impact the ultimate settlement value of the unpaid losses and loss expenses. These analyses could result in future changes in the estimates of loss and loss expense reserves or reinsurance recoverables and any such changes would be reflected in our results of operations in the period in which the estimates are changed. Losses and loss expenses are charged to income as incurred. The reserve for unpaid losses and loss expenses represents the estimated ultimate losses and loss expenses less paid losses and loss expenses, and comprises case reserves and incurred but not reported (IBNR) loss reserves. With the exception of certain structured settlements, for which the timing and amount of future claim payments are reliably determinable, and certain reserves for unsettled claims that are discounted in statutory filings, our loss reserves are not discounted for the time value of money. In connection with such structured settlements and certain reserves for unsettled claims, we carried net discounted reserves of $111$88 million at December 31, 2014.2016.

For each product line, management, in conjunction with internal actuaries, develops a “best estimate” of the ultimate settlement value of the unpaid losses and loss expenses that it believes provides a reasonable estimate of the required reserve. We evaluate our estimates of reserves quarterly in light of developing information. While we are unable at this time to determine whether additional reserves may be necessary in the future, we believe that our reserves for unpaid losses and loss expenses are adequate at December 31, 2014.2016. Future additions to reserves, if needed, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. For additional information refer to “Critical Accounting Estimates – Unpaid losses and loss expenses”, under Item 7, and Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, under Item 8.

Our objective is to maximize investment income and total return while ensuring an appropriate level of liquidity and investment quality and diversification. As such, ACE'sChubb's investment portfolio is invested primarily in investment-grade fixed-income securities as measured by the major rating agencies. We do not allow leverage or complex credit structures in our investment portfolio.

The critical aspects of the investment process are controlled by ACEChubb Asset Management, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ACE.Chubb. These aspects include asset allocation, portfolio and guideline design, risk management and oversight of external asset managers. In this regard, ACEChubb Asset Management:

Under our guidance and direction, external asset managers conduct security and sector selection and transaction execution. Use of multiple managers benefits ACEChubb in several ways – it provides us with operational and cost efficiencies, diversity of styles and approaches, innovations in investment research and credit and risk management, all of which enhance the risk adjusted returns of our portfolios.

ACEChubb Asset Management determines the investment portfolio's allowable, targeted asset allocation and ranges for each of the segments. These asset allocation targets are derived from sophisticated asset and liability modeling that measures correlated histories of returns and volatility of returns. Allowable investment classes are further refined through analysis of our operating environment, including expected volatility of cash flows, potential impact on our capital position, as well as regulatory and rating agency considerations.

The Board has established a Risk & Finance Committee which helps execute the Board's supervisory responsibilities pertaining to enterprise risk management including investment risk. Under the overall supervision of the Risk & Finance Committee, ACE'sChubb's governance over investment management is rigorous and ongoing. Among its responsibilities, the Risk & Finance Committee of the Board:

We have long-standing global credit limits for our entire portfolio across the organization and for individual obligors. Exposures are aggregated, monitored, and actively managed by our Global Credit Committee, comprising senior executives, including our Chief Financial Officer, our Chief Risk Officer, our Chief Investment Officer, and our Treasurer.

Within the guidelines and asset allocation parameters established by the Risk & Finance Committee, individual investment committees of the segments determine tactical asset allocation. Additionally, these committees review all investment-related activity that affects their operating company, including the selection of outside investment advisors, proposed asset allocation changes, and the systematic review of investment guidelines.

Our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries conduct business globally, including in all 50 states of the United States and the District of Columbia. Our businesses in each of these jurisdictions are subject to varying degrees of regulation and supervision. The laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries are domiciled require among other things that these subsidiaries maintain minimum levels of statutory capital, surplus, and liquidity, meet solvency standards, and submit to periodic examinations of their financial condition. The complex regulatory environments in which ACEChubb operates are subject to change and are regularly monitored.

In September 2012, pursuant to recently enacted legislation passed in the state of Pennsylvania, U.S., based on the Model Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act (model law) adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the Pennsylvania Insurance Department (Department), in consultation with other insurance regulatory bodies that oversee ACE'sChubb's insurance activities, convened the first ACE GroupChubb Supervisory College (College). Regulators from approximately 15 jurisdictions worldwide were invited to participate in the College, the purpose of which was to initiate establishment of, and to clarify the membership, participation, functionality, and ongoing activities in, the College with respect to group-wide supervision of ACE.Chubb. Representatives from approximately ten jurisdictions attended the College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during which the supervisors reviewed, without adverse comment, information on our group governance, risk assessment and management, capital adequacy, and material intercompany transactions. On October 19, 2012, the Department, in cooperation with the other supervisory college regulators, published a notice of its determination that it is the appropriate group-wide supervisor for ACE.Chubb.

In September 2014, the Department, in consultation with other insurance regulatory bodies that oversee ACE'sChubb's insurance activities, convened the second College. Representatives from approximately ten jurisdictions attended the College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during which the supervisors reviewed, without adverse comment, information on our group governance, compliance, risk assessment and management, and capital adequacy.

The following is an overview of regulations for our operations in Switzerland, the U.S., Bermuda, and other international locations.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has the discretion to supervise ACEChubb on a group-wide basis. However, FINMA acknowledges the Department's assumption of group supervision over us.

In 2008, we formed ACEChubb Insurance (Switzerland) Limited which offers property and casualty insurance to Swiss companies, A&H insurance for individuals of Swiss Corporations as well as reinsurance predominantly in Continental Europe. We have also formed a reinsurance subsidiary named ACEChubb Reinsurance (Switzerland) Limited, which we operate as primarily a provider of reinsurance to ACEChubb entities. Both companies are licensed and governed by FINMA.

Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are subject to extensive regulation and supervision by the states in which they do business. The laws of the various states establish departments of insurance with broad authority to regulate, among other things: the standards of solvency that must be met and maintained, the licensing of insurers and their producers, approval of policy forms and rates, the nature of and limitations on investments, restrictions on the size of the risks which may be insured under a single policy, deposits of securities for the benefit of policyholders, requirements for the acceptability of reinsurers, periodic examinations of the affairs of insurance companies, the form and content of reports of financial condition required to be filed, and the adequacy of reserves for unearned premiums, losses, and other purposes.

Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are required to file detailed annual and quarterly reports with state insurance regulators. In addition, our U.S. insurance subsidiaries' operations and financial records are subject to examination at regular intervals by state regulators.

  

All states have enacted legislation that regulates insurance holding companies. This legislation provides that each insurance company in the insurance holding company system (system) is required to register with the insurance department of its state of domicile and furnish information concerning the operations of companies within the system that may materially affect the operations, management, or financial condition of the insurers within the system. Since 2014, we have also beenWe are required to file an annual enterprise risk report with the Department, identifying the material risks within our system that could pose

Beginning in 2015, weWe are also required to file an annual summary report with the Department, reflecting our internal assessment of material risks associated with our current business plan and the sufficiency of our capital resources to support those risks.

   

Statutory surplus is an important measure used by the regulators and rating agencies to assess our U.S. insurance subsidiaries' ability to support business operations and provide dividend capacity. Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are subject to various state statutory and regulatory restrictions that limit the amount of dividends that may be paid without prior approval from regulatory authorities. These restrictions differ by state, but are generally based on calculations incorporating statutory surplus, statutory net income, and/or investment income.

The NAIC has a risk-based capital requirement for P&C insurance companies. This risk-based capital formula is used by many state regulatory authorities to identify insurance companies that may be undercapitalized and which merit further regulatory attention. These requirements are designed to monitor capital adequacy using a formula that prescribes a series of risk measurements to determine a minimum capital amount for an insurance company, based on the profile of the individual company. The ratio of a company's actual policyholder surplus to its minimum capital requirement will determine whether any state regulatory action is required. There are progressive risk-based capital failure levels that trigger more stringent regulatory action. If an insurer's policyholders' surplus falls below the Mandatory Control Level (70 percent of the Authorized Control Level, as defined by the NAIC), the relevant insurance commissioner is required to place the insurer under regulatory control.

However, an insurance commissionerregulator may allow a P&C company operating below the Mandatory Control Level that is writing no business and is running off its existing business to continue its run-off. Brandywine is running off its liabilities consistent with the terms of an order issued by the Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania. This includes periodic reporting obligations to the Department.

Government intervention has also occurred in the insurance and reinsurance markets in relation to terrorism coverage in the U.S. (and through industry initiatives in other countries). The U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), which was enacted in 2002 to ensure the availability of insurance coverage for certain types of terrorist acts in the U.S., was extended in 2015 for six years, through December 31, 2020, and applies to certain of our operations.

From time to time, ACEChubb and its subsidiaries and affiliates receive inquiries from state agencies and attorneys general, with which we generally comply, seeking information concerning business practices, such as underwriting and non-traditional or loss mitigation insurance products. Moreover, many recent factors, such as consequences of and reactions to industry and economic conditions and focus on domestic issues, have contributed to the potential for change in the legal and regulatory framework applicable to ACE'sChubb's U.S. operations and businesses. We cannot assure that changes in laws or investigative or enforcement activities in the various states in the U.S. will not have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations, or business practices.

The Insurance Act 1978 of Bermuda and related regulations, as amended (the Insurance Act), regulates the insurance business of our Bermuda domiciled (re)insurance subsidiaries (Bermuda domiciled subsidiaries) and provides that no person may carry on any insurance business in or from within Bermuda unless registered as an insurer by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The Insurance Act imposes solvency and liquidity standards and auditing and reporting requirements on Bermuda insurance companies and grants the BMA powers to supervise, investigate, and intervene in the affairs of insurance companies. Our

Bermuda domiciled insurance subsidiaries must prepare and file with the BMA, audited annual statutory financial statements and file them with the BMA, and certain subsidiaries must file audited annual financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (GAAP), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), or any such other generally accepted accounting principles as the BMA may recognize. These audited financialsfinancial statements are made public by the BMA. The Insurance Act prescribes rules for the preparation and content of the statutory financial statements that require ACEBermuda domiciled subsidiaries to give detailed information and analyses regarding premiums, claims, reinsurance, and investments. In addition, commencing with the 2016 financial year end filing, the Bermuda domiciled subsidiaries will be required to prepare and publish a Financial Condition Report (FCR). The FCR shall provide details of measures governing the business operations, corporate governance framework, solvency and financial performance. The FCR will be required to be filed with the BMA and requires Bermuda insurance companies to make the FCR publicly available.

The BMA established risk-based regulatory capital adequacyEffective January 1, 2016, Bermuda implemented a new solvency and solvency margin requirements forrisk management regime which has been deemed equivalent to the EU’s Solvency II regime. Bermuda insurers that mandate that a Class E (long-term business), Class 3A (general business), and Class 4 insurer's Enhanced Capital Requirement

The risk-basedBermuda’s regulatory capital adequacy and solvency margin regime provides a risk-based capital model, termed the Bermuda Solvency Capital Requirement (BSCR), as a tool to assist the BMA both in measuring risk and in determining appropriate levels of capitalization. The BSCR employs a standard mathematical model that correlates the risk underwritten by Bermuda insurers to their capital. The BSCR framework applies a standard measurement format to the risk associated with an insurer's assets, liabilities, and premiums, including a formula to take account of catastrophe risk exposure.

In order to minimize the risk of a shortfall in capital arising from an unexpected adverse deviation and in moving towards the implementation of a risk based capital approach, the BMA has established a threshold capital level, (termed the Target Capital Level (TCL)), set at 120 percent of ECR, that serves as an early warning tool for the BMA and failure to maintain statutory capital at least equal to the TCL will likely result in increased BMA regulatory oversight.

Under the Insurance Act, Class 4 insurersChubb's Bermuda domiciled subsidiaries are prohibited from declaring or paying any dividends of more than 25 percent of total statutory capital and surplus, as shown in its previous financial year statutory balance sheet, unless at least seven days before payment of the dividends, it files with the BMA an affidavit that it will continue to meet its required solvency margins. In addition, Class 4, 3A, and E insurers must obtain the BMA's prior approval before reducing total statutory capital, as shown in its previous financial year statutory balance sheet, by 15 percent or more. Furthermore, Bermuda insurancedomiciled subsidiaries may only declare and pay a dividend from retained earnings and a dividend or distribution from contributed surplus if it has no reasonable grounds for believing that it is, or would after the payment be, unable to pay its liabilities as they become due, or if the realizable value of its assets would not be less than the aggregate of its liabilities and its issued share capital and share premium accounts.

The extent of insurance regulation varies significantly among the countries in which non-U.S. ACEChubb operations conduct business. While each country imposes licensing, solvency, auditing, and financial reporting requirements, the type and extent of the requirements differ substantially. For example:

Significant variations can also be found in the size, structure, and resources of the local regulatory departments that oversee insurance activities. Certain regulators prefer close relationships with all subject insurers and others operate a risk-based approach.

ACEChubb operates in some countries through subsidiaries and in some countries through branches of subsidiaries. Local capital requirements applicable to a subsidiary generally include its branches. Certain ACEChubb companies are jointly owned with local companies to comply with legal requirements for local ownership. Other legal requirements include discretionary licensing procedures, compulsory cessions of reinsurance, local retention of funds and records, data privacy and protection program requirements, and foreign exchange controls. ACE'sChubb's international companies are also subject to multinational application of certain U.S. laws.

There are various regulatory bodies and initiatives that impact ACEChubb in multiple international jurisdictions and the potential for significant impact on ACEChubb could be heightened as a result of recent industry and economic developments. In particular, the European Union's (EU) executive body, the European Commission, is implementingimplemented a new capital adequacy and risk management regulations for the European insurance industry, known as Solvency II, which aims to establish a revised set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management standards that will replacereplaced the current Solvency I requirements. The Solvency II requirements are expected to bewere effective January 1, 2016.2016 for our European operations.

Under Solvency II, it is possible that a U.S. domiciled parent company of a subsidiary domiciled in the EU could be subject to certain requirements if determined by the regulator that its subsidiary's capital position is dependent on the U.S. parent company that is not subject to requirements deemed to be ''equivalent'' to Solvency II. While it is not certain how or if these actions will impact ACE, weWe do not currently expect that our capital management strategies, results of operations, and financial condition will be materially affected by the Solvency II requirements.

Our global ERM framework is broadly multi-disciplinary and its objectives include:

ACE'sChubb Group's Risk and Underwriting Committee (RUC) reports to and assists the Chief Executive Officer in the oversight and review of the ERM framework which covers the processes and guidelines used to manage insurance risk, financial risk, strategic risk, and operational risk. The RUC is chaired by ACE'sChubb Group’s Chief Risk Officer and Chief Actuary.Officer. The RUC meets at least monthly, and is comprised of ACE'sChubb Group's most senior executives, in addition to the Chair, including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Claims Officer, General Counsel, Chairman for InsurancePresident – North America Chairman for ACECommercial and Personal Insurance, President – North America Major Accounts and Specialty Insurance, President – Overseas General Insurance, and Chief Underwriting Officer.

The RUC is assisted in its activities by ACE'sChubb's Enterprise Risk Unit (ERU) and Product Boards. The ERU is responsible for the collation and analysis of risk insight in two key areas. First, external information that provides insight to the RUC on existing or emerging risks that might significantly impact ACE'sChubb's key objectives and second, internal risk aggregations arising from ACE'sChubb's business writings and other activities such as investments and operations. The ERU is independent of the operating units and reports to our Chief Risk Officer and Chief Actuary.Officer. The Product Boards exist to provide oversight for products that we offer globally. A Product Board currently exists for each of ACE'sChubb's major product areas. Each Product Board is responsible for ensuring consistency in underwriting and pricing standards, identification of emerging issues, and guidelines for relevant accumulations.

Others within the ERM structure contribute toward accomplishing ACE'sChubb's ERM objectives, including regional management, Corporate Underwriting, Internal Audit, Compliance, external consultants, and managers of our internal control processes and procedures.

Evan G. Greenberg has been a director of ACEChubb Limited since August 2002. Mr. Greenberg was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2007. Mr. Greenberg becamewas a director of The Coca-Cola Company from February 2011 until his resignation in February 2011.October 2016. Mr. Greenberg was appointed to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of ACEChubb Limited in May 2004, and in June 2003, was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of ACEChubb Limited. Mr. Greenberg was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of ACEChubb Overseas General in April 2002. He joined ACEChubb as Vice Chairman, ACEChubb Limited, and Chief Executive Officer of ACEChubb Tempest Re in November 2001. Prior to joining ACE,Chubb, Mr. Greenberg was most recently President and Chief Operating Officer of American International Group (AIG), a position he held from 1997 until 2000.

John W. Keogh was appointed Executive Vice Chairman of Chubb Limited in November 2015. Mr. Keogh has served as Chief Operating Officer of ACEChubb Limited insince July 2011 and Vice Chairman of ACEChubb Limited and ACEChubb Group Holdings insince August 2010. Mr. Keogh joined ACEChubb as Chief Executive Officer of ACE Overseas General Insurance in April 2006 and became Chairman of ACE Overseas General Insurance in August 2010. Prior to joining ACE,Chubb, Mr. Keogh served as Senior Vice President, Domestic General Insurance of AIG, and President and Chief Executive Officer of National Union Fire Insurance Company, AIG's member company that specializes in D&O and fiduciary liability coverages. Mr. Keogh joined AIG in 1986. He served in a number of other senior positions there including as Executive Vice President of AIG's Domestic Brokerage Group and as President and Chief Operating Officer of AIG's Lexington Insurance Company unit.  

Philip V. Bancroft was appointed Chief Financial Officer of ACEChubb Limited in January 2002. For nearly 20 years, Mr. Bancroft worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Prior to joining ACE,Chubb, he served as partner-in-charge of the New York Regional Insurance Practice. Mr. Bancroft had been a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for ten years.

Joseph F. Wayland was appointed Executive Vice President of Chubb Limited in January 2016, General Counsel and Secretary of ACEChubb Limited in July 2013.  Mr. Wayland joined ACEChubb from the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he was a partner since 1994. From 2010 to 2012, he served in the United States Department of Justice, first as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division, and was later appointed as the Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of that division.

Sean Ringsted was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer in February 2017 and Chief Risk Officer andin November 2008.  Mr. Ringsted previously served as Chief Actuary of ACEChubb Limited infrom November 2008.2008 to January 2017.  Mr. Ringsted’s previous roles at ACEChubb also include Chief Actuary for ACEChubb Group from 2004 to 2008, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for ACEChubb Tempest Re from 2002 to 2004, and Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary for ACEChubb Tempest Re from 1998 to 2002.  Prior to joining ACE,Chubb, Mr. Ringsted was a consultant at Tillinghast-Towers Perrin.

Timothy A. Boroughs was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of ACEChubb Group in June 2000. Prior to joining ACE,Chubb, Mr. Boroughs was Director of Fixed Income at Tudor Investment Corporation from 1997 to 2000, and Managing Partner and Director of Global Leveraged Investment Activity at Fischer Francis Trees & Watts from 1976 to 1997.

Factors that could have a material impact on our results of operations or financial condition are outlined below. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem insignificant may also impair our business or results of operations as they become known facts or as facts and circumstances change. Any of the risks described below could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We have substantial exposure to losses resulting from natural disasters, man-made catastrophes such as terrorism or cyber-attack, and other catastrophic events, including pandemics. This could impact a variety of our businesses, including our commercial and personal lines, and life and A&Haccident and health (A&H) products. Catastrophes can be caused by various events, including hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, hailstorms, drought, explosions, severe winter weather, fires, war, acts of terrorism, nuclear accidents, political instability, and other natural or man-made disasters, including a global or other wide-impact pandemic or a significant cyber-attack. The incidence and severity of catastrophes are inherently unpredictable and our losses from catastrophes could be substantial. In addition, climate conditions may be changing, primarily through changes in global temperatures, which may increase the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes and the resulting losses in the future. We cannot predict the impact that changing climate conditions, if any, may have on our results of operations or our financial condition. Additionally, we cannot predict how legal, regulatory and/or social responses to concerns around global climate change may impact our business. The occurrence of claims from catastrophic events could result in substantial volatility in our results of operations or financial condition for any fiscal quarter or year. The historical incidence for events such as earthquakes, pandemics and cyber-attacks is infrequent and may not be representative of contemporary exposures and risks. As an example, increases in the values and concentrations of insured property may increase the severity of these occurrences in the future. Although we attempt to manage our exposure to such events through the use of underwriting controls, risk models, and the purchase of third-party reinsurance, catastrophic events are inherently unpredictable and the actual nature of such events when they occur could be more frequent or severe than contemplated in our pricing and risk management expectations. As a result, the occurrence of one or more catastrophic events could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our results of operations and financial condition depend upon our ability to accurately assess the potential losses associated with the risks that we insure and reinsure. We establish reserves for unpaid losses and loss expenses, which are estimates of future payments of reported and unreported claims for losses and related expenses, with respect to insured events that have occurred at or prior to the balance sheet date. The process of establishing reserves can be highly complex and is subject to considerable variability as it requires the use of informed estimates and judgments.

Actuarial staff in each of our segments analyzeanalyzes insurance reserves and regularly evaluateevaluates the levels of loss reserves. Any such evaluationsevaluation could result in future changes in estimates of losses or reinsurance recoverables and would be reflected in our results

of operations in the period in which the estimates are changed. Losses and loss expenses are charged to income as incurred. During the loss settlement period, which can be many years in duration for some of our lines of business, additional facts regarding individual claims and trends often will become known which may result in a change in overall reserves. In addition, application of statistical and actuarial methods may require the adjustment of overall reserves upward or downward from time to time.

As industry practices and legislative, regulatory, judicial, social, financial, technology and other environmental conditions change, unexpected and unintended issues related to claims and coverage may emerge. These issues may adversely affect our business by either extending coverage beyond our underwriting intent or by increasing the frequency and severity of claims. In some instances, these changes may not become apparent until after we have issued insurance or reinsurance contracts that are affected by the changes. As a result, the full extent of liability under our insurance or reinsurance contracts may not be known for many years after issuance.

We seek to manage our loss exposure by maintaining a disciplined underwriting process throughout our insurance operations. We also look to limit our loss exposure by writing a number of our insurance and reinsurance contracts on an excess of loss basis. Excess of loss insurance and reinsurance indemnifies the insured against losses in excess of a specified amount. In addition, we limit program size for each client and purchase third-party reinsurance for our own account. In the case of our assumed proportional reinsurance treaties, we seek per occurrence limitations or loss and loss expense ratio caps to limit the impact of losses ceded by the client. In proportional reinsurance, the reinsurer shares a proportional part of the premiums and losses of the reinsured. We also seek to limit our loss exposure by geographic diversification. Geographic zone limitations involve significant underwriting judgments, including the determination of the area of the zones and the inclusion of a particular policy within a particular zone's limits. Various

However, there are inherent limitations in all of these tactics and no assurance can be given against the possibility of an event or series of events that could result in loss levels that could have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. It is also possible that losses could manifest themselves in ways that we do not anticipate and that our risk mitigation strategies are not designed to address. Additionally, various provisions of our policies, such as limitations or exclusions from coverage or choice of forum negotiated to limit our risks, may not be enforceable in the manner we intend. As a result, one or more catastrophicnatural catastrophes and/or terrorism or other events could result in claims that substantially exceed our expectations, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We purchase protection from third parties including, but not limited to, reinsurance to protect against catastrophes and other sources of volatility, to increase the amount of protection we can provide our clients, and as part of our overall risk management strategy. Our reinsurance business also purchases retrocessional protection which allows a reinsurer to cede to another company all or part of the reinsurance originally assumed by the reinsurer. A reinsurer's or retrocessionaire's insolvency or inability or unwillingness to make timely payments under the terms of its reinsurance agreement with us could have an adverse

effect on us because we remain liable to the insured. From time to time, market conditions have limited, and in some cases have prevented, insurers and reinsurers from obtaining the types and amounts of reinsurance or retrocessional reinsurance that they consider adequate for their business needs.

Our pricing, establishment of reserves for future policy benefits and valuation of life insurance and annuity products, including reinsurance programs, are based upon various assumptions, including but not limited to market changes, interest rates, mortality rates, morbidity rates, and policyholder behavior. The process of establishing reserves for future policy benefits relies on our ability to accurately estimate insured events that have not yet occurred but that are expected to occur in future periods.  Significant deviations in actual experience from assumptions used for pricing and for reserves for future policy benefits could have an adverse effect on the profitability of our products and our business.

Under reinsurance programs covering variable annuity guarantees, we assumed the risk of guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB) and guaranteed living benefits (GLB) associated with variable annuity contracts. Our GLB liability includes guaranteed minimum income benefits (GMIB) and guaranteed minimum accumulation benefits (GMAB). We ceased writing this business in 2007. Our net income is directly impacted by changes in the reserves calculated in connection with the reinsurance of GMDB and GLB liabilities. In addition, our net income is directly impacted by the change in the fair value of the GLB liability. Reported liabilities for both GMDB and GLB reinsurance are determined using internal valuation models which require considerable judgment and are subject to significant uncertainty. Refer to the “Critical Accounting Estimates – Guaranteed living benefits (GLB) derivatives”, under Item 7 and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk – Reinsurance of GMDB and GLB guarantees”, under Item 7A for additional information on the assumptions used in this program. We view our variable annuity reinsurance business as having a similar risk profile to that of catastrophe reinsurance, with the probability of long-term economic loss relatively small at the time of pricing. Adverse changes in market factors and policyholder behavior will have an impact on both lifeLife Insurance underwriting income and consolidated net income.

We have exposure to counterparties through reinsurance and in various industries, including banks, hedge funds and other investment vehicles, and derivative transactions that expose us to credit risk in the event our counterparty fails to perform its obligations. We also have exposure to financial institutions in the form of secured and unsecured debt instruments and equity securities.

In accordance with industry practice, we generally pay amounts owed on claims to brokers who, in turn, remit these amounts to the insured or ceding insurer. Although the law is unsettled and depends upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case, in some jurisdictions, if a broker fails to make such a payment, we might remain liable to the insured or ceding insurer for the deficiency. Conversely, in certain jurisdictions, if the brokers doa broker does not remit premiums paid for these policies over to us, these premiums might be considered to have been paid and the insured or ceding insurer will no longer be liable to us for those amounts, whether or not we have actually received the premiums from the broker. Consequently, we assume a degree of credit risk associated with brokersa broker with whom we transact business. However, due to the unsettled and fact-specific nature of the law, we are unable to quantify our exposure to this risk. To date, we have not experienced any material losses related to these credit risks.

Under the terms of certain high-deductible policies which we offer, such as workers’ compensation and general liability, our customers are responsible to reimburse us for an agreed-upon dollar amount per claim. In nearly all cases we are required under such policies to pay covered claims first, and then seek reimbursement for amounts within the applicable deductible from our customers. This obligation subjects us to credit risk from these customers. While we generally seek to mitigate this risk through collateral agreements and maintain a provision for uncollectible accounts associated with this credit exposure, an increased inability of customers to reimburse us in this context could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, a lack of credit available to our customers could impact our ability to collateralize this risk to our satisfaction, which in turn, could reduce the amount of high-deductible policies we could offer.

We market our insurance and reinsurance worldwide primarily through independent insurance agents and insurance and reinsurance brokers. Marsh, Inc.Accordingly, our business is dependent on the willingness of these agents and its affiliates provided approximately 10 percentbrokers to recommend our products to their customers, who may also promote and distribute the products of our gross premiums writtencompetitors. Deterioration in 2014.relationships with our agent and broker distribution network or their increased promotion and distribution of our competitors' products could adversely affect our ability to sell our products. Loss of all or a substantial portion of the business provided by one or more of these agents and brokers could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our investment assets are invested by professional investment management firms under the direction of our management team in accordance with investment guidelines approved by the Risk & Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. Although our

Volatility in interest rates could impact the performance of our investment portfolio which could have an adverse effect on our investment income and operating results. Although we take measures to manage the risks of investing in a changing interest rate environment, we may not be able to effectively mitigate interest rate sensitivity. Our mitigation efforts include maintaining a high quality portfolio of primarily fixed income investments with a relatively short duration to reduce the effect of interest rate changes on book value. A significant increase in interest rates would generally have an adverse effect on our book value. Our life insurance investments typically focus on longer duration bonds to better match the obligations of this business. For the life insurance business, policyholder behavior may be influenced by changing interest rate conditions and require a rebalancingre-balancing of duration to effectively manage our asset/liability position.

These securities, which pay a higher rate of interest, also have a higher degree of credit or default risk and may also be less liquid in times of economic weakness or market disruptions. While we have put in place procedures to monitor the credit risk and liquidity of our invested assets, it is possible that, in periods of economic weakness (such as recession), we may experience credit or default losses in our portfolio, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

As a part of our ongoing analysis of our investment portfolio, we are required to assess whether the debt and equity securities we hold for which we have recorded an unrealized loss have been “other-than-temporarily impaired” under GAAP, which implies an inability to recover the full economic benefits of these securities. Refer to Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. This analysis requires a high degree of judgment and requires us to make certain assessments about the potential for recovery of the assets we hold. Declines in relevant stock and other financial markets, and other factors impacting the value of our investments, could result in impairments and could adversely affect our net income and other financial results.

Our future capital and financing requirements depend on many factors, including our ability to write new business successfully and to establish premium rates and reserves at levels sufficient to cover losses, as well as our investment performance.performance and capital expenditure obligations, including with respect to acquisitions. We may need to raise additional funds through financings or access funds through existing or new credit facilities or through short-term repurchase agreements. We also from time to time seek to refinance debt or credit as amounts become due or commitments expire. Any equity or debt financing or refinancing, if available at all, may be on terms that are not favorable to us. In the case of equity financings, dilution to our shareholders could result, and in any case, such securities may have rights, preferences, and privileges that are senior to those of our Common Shares. Our access to funds under existing credit facilities is dependent on the ability of the banks that are parties to the facilities to meet their funding commitments. If we cannot obtain adequate capital or sources of credit on favorable terms, or at all, we could be forced to use assets otherwise available for our business operations, and our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If our reinsurance liabilities increase, including in our property & casualty and variable annuity reinsurance businesses, we may be required to post additional collateral for insurance company clients. In addition, regulatory changes sometimes affect our obligations to post collateral. The need to post this additional collateral, if significant enough, may require us to sell investments at a loss in order to provide securities of suitable credit quality or otherwise secure adequate capital at an unattractive cost. This could adversely impact our net income and liquidity and capital resources.

The consequences of adverse global or regional market and economic conditions may affect (among other aspects of our business) the demand for and claims made under our products, the ability of customers, counterparties, and others to establish or maintain their relationships with us, our ability to access and efficiently use internal and external capital resources, the

Ratings are an important factor in establishing the competitive position of insurance and reinsurance companies. The objective of these rating systems is to provide an opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet ongoing obligations to its policyholders. A ratings downgrade could result in a substantial loss of business as insureds, ceding companies, and brokers move to other insurers and reinsurers with higher ratings. If one or more of our debt ratings were downgraded, we could also incur higher borrowing costs, and our ability to access the capital markets could be impacted. Additionally, we could be required to post collateral or be faced with the cancellation of policies and resulting premium in certain circumstances. We cannot give any assurance regarding whether or to what extent any of the rating agencies maymight downgrade our ratings in the future.

ACEChubb Limited is a holding company and does not have any significant operations or assets other than its ownership of the shares of its operating insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries. Dividends and other permitted distributions from our insurance subsidiaries are our primary source of funds to meet ongoing cash requirements, including any future debt service payments and other expenses, and to pay dividends to our shareholders. Some of our insurance subsidiaries are subject to significant regulatory restrictions limiting their ability to declare and pay dividends. The inability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet our cash requirements at the holding company level could have an adverse effect on our operations and our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders and/or meet our debt service obligations.

Our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries conduct business globally. Our businesses in each jurisdiction are subject to varying degrees of regulation and supervision. The laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries are domiciled require, among other things, maintenance of minimum levels of statutory capital, surplus, and liquidity; various solvency standards; and periodic examinations of subsidiaries' financial condition. In some jurisdictions, laws and regulations also restrict payments of dividends and reductions of capital. Applicable statutes, regulations, and policies may also restrict the ability of these subsidiaries to write insurance and reinsurance policies, to make certain investments, and to distribute funds. The purpose of insurance laws and regulations generally is to protect policyholders and ceding insurance companies, not our shareholders. For example, some jurisdictions have enacted various consumer protection laws that make it more burdensome for insurance companies to sell policies and interact with customers in personal lines businesses. Failure to comply with such regulations can lead to significant penalties and reputational injury. Fines and penalties in the U.S. in particular have been trending upwards.

 

The foreign and U.S. federal and state laws and regulations that are applicable to our operations are complex and may increase the costs of regulatory compliance or subject our business to the possibility of regulatory actions or proceedings. Laws and regulations not specifically related to the insurance industry include trade sanctions that relate to certain countries, anti-money laundering laws, and anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, the anti-bribery provisions of the Swiss Penal Code and similar local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials. The insurance industry is also affected by political, judicial, and legal developments that may create new and expanded regulations and theories of liability. The current economic climate and the recent financial crisisclimates present additional uncertainties and risks relating to increased regulation and the potential for increased involvement of the U.S. and other governments in the financial services industry.

In addition, various legislative initiatives may impact the conduct of our business. For example, in the U.S., Congress may make changes to the terrorism risk insurance program, which could have adverse effects on our business.

In the event or absence of changes in applicable laws and regulations in particular jurisdictions, we may from time to time face challenges, or changes in approach to oversight of our business from insurance or other regulators, including challenges resulting from requiring the use of information technology that cannot be quickly adjusted to address new regulatory requirements.

We may not be able to comply fully with, or obtain appropriate exemptions from, applicable statutes and regulations and any changes thereto, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Failure to comply with or to obtain appropriate authorizations and/or exemptions under any applicable laws and regulations could result in restrictions on our ability to do business or undertake activities that are regulated in one or more of the jurisdictions in which we conduct business and could subject us to fines and other sanctions.

With operations in 54 countries, we provide insurance and reinsurance products and services to a diverse group of clients worldwide, including operations in various developing nations. Both current and future foreign operations could be adversely affected by unfavorable geopolitical developments including law changes, tax changes, changes in trade policies, changes to visa or immigration policies, regulatory restrictions, government leadership changes, political events and upheaval, sociopolitical instability, and nationalization of our operations without compensation. Adverse activity in any one country could negatively impact operations, increase our loss exposure under certain of our insurance products, and could, otherwise, have an adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, and financial condition depending on the magnitude of the events and our net financial exposure at that time in that country.

Our operations rely on the secure processing, storage, and transmission of confidential and other information and assets, including in our computer systems and networks.networks and those of third-party service providers. Our business depends on effective information security and systems and the integrity and timeliness of the data our information systems use to run our business. Our ability to adequately price products and services, to establish reserves, to provide effective, efficient and secure service to our customers, to value our investments and to timely and accurately report our financial results also depends significantly on the integrity and availability of the data we maintain, including that within our information systems, as well as data in and assets held through third-party service providers and systems. In an effort to ensure the integrity of such data, we implement new security measures and systems, including the use of confidential intellectual property, and improve or upgrade our existing security measures and systems on a continuing basis. Although we have implemented administrative and technical controls and take protective actions to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and to protect our information technology and assets, and although we additionally endeavor to modify such procedures as circumstances warrant and negotiate agreements with third-party providers to protect our assets, such measures may be insufficient to prevent unauthorized access, computer viruses, malware or other malicious code or cyber-attack, catastrophic events, system failures and disruptions (including in relation to new security measures and systems), employee errors or malfeasance, third party (including outsourced service providers) errors or malfeasance, loss of assets and other events that could have security consequences (each, a Security Event). In some cases, such events may not be immediately detected. As the breadth and complexity of our security infrastructure continues to grow, the potential risk of a Security Event increases. Like other global companies, we have from time to time experienced Security Events, none of which had, a materialindividually or in the aggregate, an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, andor financial condition. If additional Security Events occur, these events may jeopardize ACE'sChubb's or its clients' or counterparties' confidential and other information processed and stored within ACE,Chubb, and transmitted through its computer systems and networks, or otherwise cause interruptions, delays, or malfunctions in ACE's,Chubb's, its clients', its counterparties', or third parties' operations, or result in data loss or loss of assets which could result in significant losses,

The regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding. We are subject to numerous U.S. federal and state laws and foreign regulations in jurisdictions outside the U.S. governing the protection of personal and confidential information of our clients or employees, including in relation to medical records, credit card data and financial information. These laws and regulations are increasing in complexity and number, change frequently and sometimes conflict. If any person, including any of our employees or those with whom we share such information, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to our client data, or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates that data, we could be subject to significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or criminal prosecution in one or more jurisdictions.

Despite the contingency plans and facilities we have in place and our efforts to observe the regulatory requirements surrounding information security, our ability to conduct business may be adversely affected by a disruption of the infrastructure that supports our business in the communities in which we are located, or of outsourced services or functions. This may include a disruption involving electrical, communications, transportation, or other services used by ACE.Chubb. If a disruption occurs in one location and ACE

Chubb employees in that location are unable to occupy our offices and conduct business or communicate with or travel to other locations, our ability to service and interact with clients may suffer and we may not be able to successfully implement contingency plans that depend on communication or travel.

We use various modeling techniques (e.g., scenarios, predictive, stochastic and/or forecasting) and data analytics to analyze and estimate exposures, loss trends and other risks associated with our assets and liabilities. We use the modeled outputs and related analyses to assist us in decision-making (e.g., underwriting, pricing, claims, reserving, reinsurance, and catastrophe risk) and to maintain competitive advantage. The modeled outputs and related analyses are subject to various assumptions, uncertainties, model errors and the inherent limitations of any statistical analysis, including the use of historical internal and industry data. In addition, the modeled outputs and related analyses may from time to time contain inaccuracies, perhaps in material respects, including as a result of inaccurate inputs or applications thereof. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from our modeled results. If, based upon these models or other factors, we misprice our products or underestimate the frequency and/or severity of loss events, or overestimate the risks we are exposed to, new business growth and retention of our existing business may be adversely affected which could have a materialan adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our success depends on our ability to retain the services of our existing key executives and to attract and retain additional qualified personnel in the future. The loss of the services of any of our key executives or the inability to hire and retain other highly qualified personnel in the future could adversely affect our ability to conduct or grow our business. This risk may be particularly acute for us relative to some of our competitors because some of our senior executives work in countries where they are not citizens and work permit and immigration issues could adversely affect the ability to retain or hire key persons. We do not maintain key person life insurance policies with respect to our employees.

Losses may result from, among other things, fraud, errors, failure to document transactions properly, failure to obtain proper internal authorization, failure to comply with underwriting or other internal guidelines, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements. It is not always possible to deter or prevent employee misconduct and the precautions that we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Resultant losses could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

The insurance and reinsurance markets have historically been cyclical, characterized by periods of intense price competition due to excessive underwriting capacity as well as periods when shortages of capacity permitted favorable premium levels. An increase in premium levels is often offset by an increasing supply of insurance and reinsurance capacity, either by capital provided by new entrants or by the commitment of additional capital by existing insurers or reinsurers, which may cause prices to decrease. Any of these factors could lead to a significant reduction in premium rates, less favorable policy terms, and fewer

submissions for our underwriting services. In addition to these considerations, changes in the frequency and severity of losses suffered by insureds and insurers may affect the cycles of the insurance and reinsurance markets significantly, as could periods of economic weakness (such as recession).

Acquisitions, such as our acquisition of The Chubb Corporation (Chubb Corp) through a merger (the Chubb acquisition), involve numerous operational, strategic, financial, accounting, legal, tax, and other risks; potential liabilities associated with the acquired businesses; and uncertainties related to design, operation and integration of acquired businesses’ internal controls over financial reporting. Difficulties in integrating an acquired company, along with its personnel, may result in the acquired company performing differently than we expected, in operational challenges or in our failure to realize anticipated expense-related efficiencies. Our existing businesses could also be negatively impacted by acquisitions. In addition, goodwill and intangible assets recorded in connection with insurance company acquisitions may be impaired if premium growth, underwriting profitability, agency retention and policy persistency, among other factors, differ from expectations.

There is also the potential that proposed acquisitions that have been publicly announced will not be consummated, even if a definitive agreement has been signed by the parties. If an agreement is terminated before closing, the result would be that our proposed acquisition would not occur, which could, among other things, expose us to damages or liability and adversely impact our stock price and future operations.

ACEChubb Limited and our non-U.S. subsidiaries operate in a manner so that none of these companies should be subject to U.S. tax (other than U.S. excise tax on insurance and reinsurance premium income attributable to insuring or reinsuring U.S. risks and U.S. withholding tax on some types of U.S. source investment income), because none of these companies should be treated as engaged in a trade or business within the U.S. However, because there is considerable uncertainty as to the activities that constitute being engaged in a trade or business within the U.S., we cannot be certain that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will not contend successfully that ACEChubb Limited or its non-U.S. subsidiaries are engaged in a trade or business in the U.S. If ACEChubb Limited or any of its non-U.S. subsidiaries were considered to be engaged in a trade or business in the U.S., such entity could be subject to U.S. corporate income and branch profits taxes on the portion of its earnings effectively connected to such U.S. business, in which case our results of operations and our shareholders' investments could be adversely affected.

The Bermuda Minister of Finance, under the Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966 of Bermuda, as amended, has given ACEChubb Limited and its Bermuda insurance subsidiaries a written assurance that if any legislation is enacted in Bermuda that would impose tax computed on profits or income, or computed on any capital asset, gain, or appreciation, or any tax in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax, then the imposition of any such tax would not be applicable to those companies or any of their respective operations, shares, debentures, or other obligations until March 31, 2035, except insofar as such tax would apply to persons ordinarily resident in Bermuda or is payable by us in respect of real property owned or leased by us in Bermuda. We cannot be certain that we will not be subject to any Bermuda tax after March 31, 2035.

The OECD has published an action plan to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) impacting its member countries and other jurisdictions. It is possible that jurisdictions in which we do business could react to the BEPS initiative or their own concerns by enacting tax legislation that could adversely affect us or our shareholders.

A number of multilateral organizations, including the EU and the OECD have, in recent years, expressed concern about some countries not participating in adequate tax information exchange arrangements and have threatened those that do not agree to

Our Articles of Association generally provide that shareholders have one vote for each Common Share held by them and are entitled to vote at all meetings of shareholders. However, the voting rights exercisable by a shareholder may be limited so that

certain persons or groups are not deemed to hold 10 percent or more of the voting power conferred by our Common Shares. Moreover, these provisions could have the effect of reducing the voting power of some shareholders who would not otherwise be subject to the limitation by virtue of their direct share ownership. Our Board of Directors may refuse to register holders of shares as shareholders with voting rights based on certain grounds, including if the holder would, directly or indirectly, formally, constructively or beneficially own (as described in Articles 8 and 14 of our Articles of Association) or otherwise control voting rights with respect to 10 percent or more of the registered share capital recorded in the commercial register. In addition, the Board of Directors shall reject entry of holders of registered shares as shareholders with voting rights in the share register or shall decide on their deregistration when the acquirer or shareholder upon request does not expressly state that she/he has acquired or holds the shares in her/his own name and for her/his account.

Before a person can acquire control of a U.S. insurance company, prior written approval must be obtained from the insurance commissioner of the state where the domestic insurer is domiciled. Prior to granting approval of an application to acquire control of a domestic insurer, the state insurance commissioner will consider such factors as the financial strength of the applicant, the integrity and management of the applicant's Board of Directors and executive officers, the acquirer's plans for the future operations of the domestic insurer, and any anti-competitive results that may arise from the consummation of the acquisition of control. Generally, state statutes provide that control over a domestic insurer is presumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing 10 percent or more of the voting securities of the domestic insurer. Because a person acquiring 10 percent or more of our Common Shares would indirectly control the same percentage of the stock of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries, the insurance change of control laws of various U.S. jurisdictions would likely apply to such a transaction. Laws of other jurisdictions in which one or more of our existing subsidiaries are, or a future subsidiary may be, organized or domiciled may contain similar restrictions on the acquisition of control of ACE.Chubb.

While our Articles of Association limit the voting power of any shareholder to less than 10 percent, we cannot assure that the applicable regulatory body would agree that a shareholder who owned 10 percent or more of our Common Shares did not, because of the limitation on the voting power of such shares, control the applicable insurance subsidiary.

These laws may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter, or prevent a change of control of ACE,Chubb, including transactions that some or all of our shareholders might consider to be desirable.

Swiss law allows our shareholders to authorize share capital which can be issued by the Board of Directors without shareholder approval but this authorization must be renewed by the shareholders every two years. Swiss law also does not provide as much flexibility in the various terms that can attach to different classes of stock as permitted in other jurisdictions. Swiss law also reserves for approval by shareholders many corporate actions over which the Board of Directors had authority prior to our redomesticationre-domestication to Switzerland. For example, dividends must be approved by shareholders. While we do not believe that Swiss law requirements relating to our capital management will have an adverse effect on ACE,Chubb, we cannot assure that situations will not arise where such flexibility would have provided substantial benefits to our shareholders.

ACEChubb Limited is incorporated pursuant to the laws of Switzerland. In addition, certain of our directors and officers reside outside the U.S. and all or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of such persons are located in jurisdictions outside the U.S. As such, it may be difficult or impossible to effect service of process within the U.S. upon those persons or to recover against us or them on judgments of U.S. courts, including judgments predicated upon civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws.

ACEChubb has also been advised by its Swiss counsel that there is no treaty in effect between the U.S. and Switzerland providing for this enforcement and there are grounds upon which Swiss courts may not enforce judgments of U.S. courts. Some remedies available under the laws of U.S. jurisdictions, including some remedies available under the U.S. federal securities laws, would not be allowed in Swiss courts as contrary to that nation's public policy.

As of December 31, 2014,2016, the par value of our Common Shares is CHF 24.7724.15 per share. Under Swiss law, we generally may not issue registered shares below their par value. In the event there is a need to raise common equity capital at a time when the trading price of our registered shares is below our par value, we will need to obtain approval of our shareholders to decrease the par value of our registered shares. We cannot assure that we would be able to obtain such shareholder approval. Furthermore, obtaining shareholder approval would require filing a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC and convening a meeting of shareholders which would delay any capital raising plans. Furthermore, any reduction in par value would decrease our ability to pay dividends as a repayment of share capital which is not subject to Swiss withholding tax. See “Shareholders may be subject to Swiss withholding taxes on the payment of dividends” for additional information.

Our dividends are generally subject to a Swiss withholding tax at a rate of 35 percent; however, payment of a dividend in the form of a par value reduction or qualifying capital contribution reserves reduction is not subject to Swiss withholding tax. We have previously obtained shareholder approval for dividends to be paid in such form. We currently intend to recommend to shareholders that they annually approve the payment of dividends in such form but we cannot assure that our shareholders will continue to approve a reduction in such form each year or that we will be able to meet the other legal requirements for a reduction in par value, or that Swiss withholding tax rules will not be changed in the future. We estimate we would be able to pay dividends in such form, and thus exempt from Swiss withholding tax until 2023–2028.2028–2033. This range may vary depending upon changes in annual dividends, special dividends, fluctuations in U.S. dollar/Swiss franc exchange rates, changes in par value or qualifying capital contribution reserves or changes or new interpretations to Swiss corporate or tax law or regulations.

Separately, any U.S. persons who hold shares may be subject to U.S. federal income taxation at ordinary income tax rates on their proportionate share of our Related Person Insurance Income (RPII). If the RPII of any of our non-U.S. insurance subsidiaries (each a "Non-U.S. Insurance Subsidiary") were to equal or exceed 20 percent of that company's gross insurance income in any taxable year and direct or indirect insureds (and persons related to those insureds) own directly or indirectly through foreign entities 20 percent or more of the voting power or value of ACEChubb Limited, then a U.S. person who owns any shares of ACEChubb Limited (directly or indirectly through foreign entities) on the last day of the taxable year would be required to include in his or her income for U.S. federal income tax purposes such person's pro rata share of such company's RPII for the entire taxable year. In addition, any RPII that is includible in the income of a U.S. tax-exempt organization may be treated as unrelated business taxable income. We believe that the gross RPII of each Non-U.S. Insurance Subsidiary did not in prior years of operation and is not expected in the foreseeable future to equal or exceed 20 percent of each such company's gross insurance income. Likewise, we do not expect the direct or indirect insureds of each Non-U.S. Insurance Subsidiary (and persons related

A U.S. tax-exempt organization may recognize unrelated business taxable income if a portion of our insurance income is allocated to the organization. This generally would be the case if either we are a CFC and the tax-exempt shareholder is a 10 percent U.S. shareholder or there is RPII, certain exceptions do not apply, and the tax-exempt organization, directly or indirectly through foreign entities, owns any shares of ACEChubb Limited. Although we do not believe that any U.S. tax-exempt organization should be allocated such insurance income, we cannot be certain that this will be the case. Potential U.S. tax-exempt investors are advised to consult their tax advisors.

If ACEChubb Limited is considered a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, a U.S. person who holds ACEChubb Limited shares will be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences in which case their investment could be adversely affected. In addition, if ACEChubb Limited were considered a PFIC, upon the death of any U.S. individual owning shares, such individual's heirs or estate would not be entitled to a "step-up" in the basis of the shares which might otherwise be available under U.S. federal income tax laws. We believe that we are not, have not been, and currently do not expect to become, a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We cannot assure, however, that we will not be deemed a PFIC by the IRS. While there are currently noThe IRS issued proposed regulations regarding the application of the PFIC provisions to an insurance company, newand final regulations or pronouncements interpreting or clarifying these rules may be forthcoming. We cannot predict what impact, if any, such guidance would have on an investor that is subject to U.S. federal income taxation.

Legislation is periodically introduced in the U.S. Congress intended to eliminate some perceived tax advantages of companies (including insurance companies) that have legal domiciles outside the U.S. but have certain U.S. connections. It is possible that such legislation or other legislation could be enacted in the future that could have an adverse impact on us or our shareholders. For example, tax reform has been identified by current U.S. administration as a priority in 2017. Certain provisions of the tax reform proposals, if enacted, as well as future U.S. Treasury Regulations and U.S. court decisions regarding current law or future legislation, could adversely affect us or our shareholders.

Similarly, jurisdictions outside the U.S. in which we do business could enact tax legislation in the future that could have an adverse impact on us or our shareholders. For example, Switzerland is currently consideringpursuing the implementation of corporate tax reform measures thatmeasures. The first effort was rejected by a public vote; however a revised corporate tax reform measure is expected. The next tax reform version could adversely affect us or our shareholders.

We maintain office facilities around the world including in North America, Europe (including our principal executive offices in Switzerland), Bermuda, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Far East. Most of our office facilities are leased, although we own major facilities in Hamilton, Bermuda, and in the U.S., including in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania; Wilmington, Delaware; Whitehouse Station, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware.Simsbury, Connecticut. Management considers its office facilities suitable and adequate for the current level of operations.

Our Common Shares with a current par value of CHF 24.77 per share, have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since March 25, 1993, under thewith a current par value of CHF 24.15 per share. The trading symbol "ACE".for our Common Shares is "CB."

The following table sets forth the high and low closing sales prices of our Common Shares per fiscal quarter, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange Composite Tape, and cash dividends on Common Shares:

We have paid dividends each quarter since we became a public company in 1993. Following ACE'sChubb's redomestication to Switzerland, our dividends have been distributed primarily by way of a par value reduction. The dividend increase approved byHowever, at our May 2015 and 2016 annual general meetings, our shareholders on January 10, 2014 was distributedapproved annual dividends to be paid by way of a distribution from capital contribution reserves (Additional paid-in capital) through the transfer of dividends from Additional paid-in capital to Retained earnings.earnings (free reserves).

ACEChubb Limited is a holding company whose principal sources of income are investment income and dividends from its operating subsidiaries. The ability of the operating subsidiaries to pay dividends to us and our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders are each subject to legal and regulatory restrictions. The recommendation and payment of future dividends will be based on the determination of the Board of Directors (Board) and will be dependent upon shareholder approval, profits and financial requirements of ACEChubb and other factors, including legal restrictions on the payment of dividends and such other factors as the Board deems relevant. Refer to Part I, Item 1A and Part II, Item 7 for additional information.

Refer to Part III, Item 12 for information relating to compensation plans under which equity securities are authorized for issuance.

WeEffective the first quarter of 2016 and subsequent to our acquisition of The Chubb Corporation (Chubb Corp), we operate through fivethe following business segments: Insurance – North AmericanAmerica Commercial P&C Insurance, – North American Agriculture,America Personal P&C Insurance, –North America Agricultural Insurance, Overseas General Insurance, Global Reinsurance, and Life.Life Insurance. 2015 results were revised to conform to the new segment presentation and only include legacy ACE results (i.e., does not include legacy Chubb Corp results except in "As If" presentations). For more information on our segments refer to “Segment Information” under Item 1.

We have grown our business through increased premium volume, expansion of product offerings and geographic reach, and acquisitions of other companies. Acquisitions in 2016, 2015, and 2014 are as follows:

The consolidated financial statements include results of acquired businesses from the acquisition dates. Refer to

Our product and geographic diversification differentiates us from the vast majority of our competitors and has been a source of stability during periods of industry volatility. Our long-term business strategy focuses on sustained growth in book value achieved through a combination of underwriting and investment income. By doing so, we provide value to our clients and shareholders through use of our substantial capital base in the insurance and reinsurance markets.

We are organized along a profit center structure by line of business and territory that does not necessarily correspond to corporate legal entities. Profit centers can access various legal entities, subject to licensing and other regulatory rules. Profit centers are expected to generate underwriting income and appropriate risk-adjusted returns. Our corporate structure has facilitated the development of management talent by giving each profit center's senior management team the necessary autonomy within underwriting authorities to make operating decisions and create products and coverages needed by its target customer base. We are focused on delivering underwriting profit and strive to achieve underwriting income by only writing policies which we believe adequately compensate us for the risk we accept.

Our consolidated financial statements include amounts that, either by their nature or due to requirements of generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (GAAP), are determined using best estimates and assumptions. While we believe that the amounts included in our consolidated financial statements reflect our best judgment, actual amounts could ultimately materially differ from those currently presented. We believe the items that require the most subjective and complex estimates are: