On the Requirements of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, in regard to Valuation Returns, with some Notes on the Classification and Valuation of Special Policies

Extract

The objects which I have set before myself in writing this paper are (1) to advocate a more elastic interpretation than has hitherto been usual, of the requirements of the Act of 1870 in regard to Valuation Returns; (2) to discuss some points that arise in the classification and valuation of Special Policies. The connection between these two objects consists in the fact that the necessity, or the supposed necessity, of conforming to the stereotyped schedules in which valuation returns under the Act are usually made, and the labour entailed by the individual valuation of special policies, constitute, jointly and severally, a serious obstacle to the rapid conduct of a life-office valuation. This may not be a matter of very great importance if or so long as a valuation is looked upon as a quinquennial or septennial event, for which special and extensive preparations must be made, and upon which months of overtime are to be spent, but it becomes a very different matter if a valuation is to be regarded—as it should, I think, be regarded, and as it undoubtedly is regarded in an increasing number of offices—as little more than an incident in the actuarial routine.