Bermuda is officially home for the XL Group Ltd after it completed its redomestication to the island today, a move that was announced at the beginning of the year.

The international insurer and reinsurer started operations in Bermuda in the mid-1980s, and has maintained offices on Bermudiana Road. However, its holding company was always domiciled in the Cayman Islands until the firm moved to Ireland six years ago.

The company’s historical link to the island, and Bermuda’s success in obtaining Solvency II third-country equivalency from the EU, were factors in the decision to move from Ireland to Bermuda.

Last year XL Group strengthened its Bermudian links when it acquired Catlin Group. The company now operates under the XL Catlin brand.

In January, Mike McGavick, XL’s chief executive officer said: “Given, in particular, our longstanding and substantial operations in Bermuda that have been bolstered by the Catlin Group Ltd acquisition, and Bermuda’s position within the international re/insurance market, including Bermuda’s recent achievement of Solvency II equivalency, we believe a change in the country of domicile of our parent company to Bermuda will be advantageous to the company and its shareholders.”

The company has previously said it did not expect the redomestication to have any impact on its effective tax rate or financial results. XL Group also expected staffing levels in Bermuda and Ireland to be unchanged by the move.

In a statement today, the company said it had “completed its redomestication to change the place of incorporation of the ultimate parent holding company to Bermuda from Ireland. As previously announced, the name of the new holding company is XL Group Ltd”.

The company’s shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange and it is expected it will be included in the S&P 500 Index.

XL Group has a market capitalisation of $9.5 billion, and is due to report second quarter earnings on Wednesday.