Does Industrial Branch life assurance exist on the mainland of Europe? It is probably true to say that the average insurance man in the U.K. knows more about life assurance in North America, Australasia and South Africa than in France or Germany. This is particularly true when one considers Industrial Branch business. Certainly in my own case knowledge of European I.B. was limited to a vague idea that it did exist in a minor way in one or two countries such as France, Belgium and, possibly, Italy.

In fact, Industrial Branch life assurance exists in most Western European countries and the following is an attempt to summarize some of the features encountered during a tour which included visits to nine I.B. offices in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, Austria and Italy. It does not pretend to be a technical actuarial treatise nor can it claim to be wholly representative of I.B. in these countries; rather it is a series of impressions.