The last paper submitted to the Institute on the special problems arising from the transaction of overseas life business was that submitted by W. F. Gardner in 1935 (J.I.A. 66, 198). The expansion since that date in overseas life business justifies a further review of these problems. In 1935 the revenue premium income (other than annuity purchase money) from the overseas business of British life offices as recorded in the Board of Trade Returns was some £6.4 million, representing 7.9% of the total ordinary branch premium income of British life offices; in 1954 the premium income from overseas business was £34.4 million and represented 12.3% of the total.

In recent years an unusually high proportion of the papers submitted to the Institute and to the Faculty have dealt with technical problems of life assurance management. The subjects covered include investment policy, valuation and bonus policy, the relationship between liabilities and assets and the relative merits of with-profit and without-profit business. The object of this paper is to indicate how these various subjects (with the addition of new-business policy) react on each other and to consider how far any over-all actuarial planning is possible, special regard being paid to modern developments in the different fields. Some repetition of what has already been said in recent years is inevitable, but no attempt will be made to summarize actuarial opinion on the topics under review, a task which would be impossible within the scope of the paper.