British life offices transacting life assurance outside the United Kingdom have until now confined themselves almost entirely to the countries of the British Commonwealth—because among the countries with stable currencies the members of the Commonwealth have in the main been the ones with which we have had the largest numbers of other business contacts. Another influence has been the absence of a language barrier. Before the 1914–18 War some offices transacted business on the Continent of Europe but thereafter most of them pulled out; today as far as I know only one British office transacts life assurance in France, one in Germany and none in Italy.

One might be forgiven therefore for thinking that actuaries handling life office affairs need not concern themselves with life business on the Continent of Europe—particularly as, at the beginning of last year, the negotiations for Britain's entry into the European Common Market broke down.