1. The paper sets out a brief description of the life assurance market in the Federal Republic of Germany (including West Berlin). The aim has been to highlight those aspects of the market, in particular the supervision system, which differ significantly from British practice. After a section giving some historical background, the main section outlines the present market and the paper concludes with a brief look at the future.

2. The paper is based on the impressions which we obtained in establishing a new branch office of a British proprietary life assurance company in Germany. The views expressed are, however, entirely personal. Our thanks are due to J. A. Langley and R. J. McCurrach, who assembled the statistical material.