ACE, one of four insurers named in connection with an investigation into bid-rigging at embattled broker Marsh & McLennan, made a third-quarter loss of $3m (€2.4m) before any costs associated with the probe have been factored in.

ACE is led by Evan Greenberg, the brother of Jeffrey Greenberg, who stepped down as chief executive of Marsh & McLennan earlier this week in the wake of the investigation by Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general.