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USD ($) / shares

USD ($)

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&lt;tr valign="top"&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times;" class="_mt"&gt;1.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times;" class="_mt"&gt;GENERAL&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;div style="margin-top: 6pt; font-size: 1pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="text-indent: 4%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times; background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; color: #000000; margin-left: 0%; font-size: 10pt; margin-right: 0%;" align="left"&gt;Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG, a Swiss holding company ("Allied World Switzerland"), through its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively, the "Company"), provides property and casualty insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis through operations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. &lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="margin-top: 6pt; font-size: 1pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="text-indent: 4%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times; background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; color: #000000; margin-left: 0%; font-size: 10pt; margin-right: 0%;" align="left"&gt;On November&amp;nbsp;26, 2010, the Company received approval from the Supreme Court of Bermuda to change the place of incorporation of the ultimate parent company from Bermuda to Switzerland (the "Redomestication"), which was completed on December&amp;nbsp;1, 2010. The ultimate parent company is now Allied World Switzerland which wholly owns Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, Ltd ("Allied World Bermuda"). Allied World Bermuda continues to wholly own all the operating subsidiaries of the Company as it did prior to the Redomestication. After the Redomestication, the Company continues to report under accounting principles generally accepted in the United&amp;nbsp;States of America ("U.S.&amp;nbsp;GAAP") and the Company's common shares continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AWH," the same symbol under which the common shares were listed prior to the Redomestication. In addition, the Company remains subject to U.S.&amp;nbsp;Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements and continues to report consolidated financial results in U.S.&amp;nbsp;dollars. The Company believes the Redomestication provides the ability to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate. See note&amp;nbsp;11(b) for further details of the Redomestication. &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;</NonNumbericText><NonNumericTextHeader>1.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;
GENERAL

&amp;nbsp;

Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG, a Swiss holding company ("Allied World Switzerland"), through its wholly-owned</NonNumericTextHeader><FootnoteIndexer /><CurrencyCode /><CurrencySymbol /><IsIndependantCurrency>false</IsIndependantCurrency><ShowCurrencySymbol>false</ShowCurrencySymbol><DisplayDateInUSFormat>false</DisplayDateInUSFormat><hasSegments>false</hasSegments><hasScenarios>false</hasScenarios></Cell></Cells><OriginalInstanceReportColumns /><Unit>Other</Unit><ElementDataType>us-types:textBlockItemType</ElementDataType><SimpleDataType>string</SimpleDataType><ElementDefenition>Describes the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings). Disclosures about the nature of operations need not be quantified; relative importance could be conveyed by use of terms such as "predominately", "about equally", or "major and other". This element is also referred to as "Business Description".</ElementDefenition><ElementReferences>Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
 -Publisher AICPA
 -Name Statement of Position (SOP)
 -Number 94-6
 -Paragraph 10

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