Sovereign Announces Financial Results for Sixth Year of Operations

HAMILTON, Bermuda, August 25, 2003: Sovereign Risk Insurance Ltd. (Sovereign) today announced financial results for its sixth year of operations. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, Sovereign underwrote 22 new political risk insurance policies. Sovereign’s gross written premium for the year was $60.5 million, with net written premium of $48.6 million. Sovereign paid three claims during the year for events related to the economic crisis in Argentina, which were largely offset by recoveries from a previous claim in Indonesia.

Price Lowenstein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sovereign, commented that “We are pleased to post such strong financial results for a period that presented challenges for emerging market investors, lenders, and insurers alike. In addition to compensating three of our clients for financial losses in Argentina, we were pleased to have assisted a number of clients in loss avoidance and mitigation. Sovereign’s membership in the Berne Union enabled a number of our clients to continue to convert and transfer funds during the crisis. We also supported clients in restructuring and rescheduling their exposures, which we expect will result in full loan repayments or substantial claim recoveries. We believe that our experience this year confirms the value of our product and services. We are encouraged by signs of a pick up in finance and investment flows into emerging markets and look forward to continuing to serve our clients’ needs going forward”.

Sovereign is one of the world’s leading providers of political risk insurance and reinsurance. Sovereign’s portfolio exceeds $5.9 billion of exposure spread over 75 emerging markets. Sovereign’s clients include financial institutions, national export credit agencies, leading multilateral agencies and multinational corporations.

Sovereign is a joint venture, and underwrites on behalf of, XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of XL Capital Ltd (NYSE: XL), and ACE Bermuda Insurance, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE).

Additional information is available on Sovereign’s website: www.sovereignbermuda.com.

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