COMPANY MEETING
SCOTTISH EQUITABLE LIFEASSURANCE
STRONG POSITION THE annual general meeting of the Scottish Equitable Life Assur- ance Society was held at Edinburgh on March 9th.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Stair, K.T. (president of the Society), who was in the chair, called upon the chairman of the board of directors to present the annual report and balance-sheet.
Sir Harry Hope, Bt., in the course of his remarks, said: We have now completed the first year of a new quinquennium. It has been a year of exceptional difficulty. The steady increase in the total life assurance business of the country which had continued for some years received its first setback, Stock Exchange securities fell in value, and generally the problems of life assurance manage- ment have become increasingly exacting. In such times it is well to look first to our reserves. We have a very strong actuarial valuation, and while, in common with similar institutions, we suffered depreciation in investments during the year, our " hidden reserve " or buffer to meet such eventualities has proved consider- ably more than ample.
NET RATE OF INTEREST The net rate of interest earned on our total funds is £3 i8s per cent., or is. per cent. after making allowance for the reserve fund of L250,000 and the carry forward of Li73,000. It is im- portant to bear in mind that the rate of interest assumed in our actuarial valuation was 21 per cent. net, and the difference between this rate and the earned rate gives the satisfactory margin of over i per cent. The death rate for the period under review has been unusually favourable, the claims experienced being much better than the mortality tables would have led us to expect. It will be appreciated that although all policies which run their course must from the nature of things become claims sooner or later, the postponement of claims as a result of a favourable mortality experience means that not only will the society continue for a longer period to collect the premiums, but it will also receive the interest of which earlier payment of the sums involved would have deprived it.
Net new business after deducting reassurances amounted to 0,836,395, which is rather less than the record figures of the previous year; the gross figure of £2,018,395, however, is a few thousands in excess of the previous year. Our bonus announcement and the publication of the results of our quinquennial valuation last year were received by our agents and members with enthusiasm, and we look forward to increasing new business.
The report and accounts were unanimously adopted.
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