Shareholders' equity Shareholders' Equity (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Shareholders' equity [Abstract]

Dividends Declared [Table Text Block]

The following table presents dividend distributions per Common Share in Swiss francs (CHF) and U.S. dollars (USD):

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30						June 30
	2015			2014			2015			2014
	CHF	USD		CHF	USD		CHF	USD		CHF	USD
Dividends – par value reduction	—	$		0.58	$	0.65	0.62	$	0.65	1.03	$	1.16
Dividends – distributed from capital contribution reserves	0.62	0.67		—	—		0.62	0.67		0.20	0.24
Total dividend distributions per common share	0.62	$	0.67	0.58	$	0.65	1.24	$	1.32	1.23	$	1.40

Share Repurchase Program [Table Text Block]

The following table presents repurchases of ACE's Common Shares conducted in a series of open market transactions under the Board authorizations:

(in millions of U.S. dollars, except share data)	Three Months Ended  June 30				Six Months Ended June 30
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Number of shares repurchased	3,650,200		2,306,000		6,677,663		5,793,882
Cost of shares repurchased	$	394	$	237	$	734	$	569
Repurchase authorization remaining at end of period	$	766	$	1,374	$	766	$	1,374