1.1. The FT-Actuaries share indices have now been published for about 11 years and calculated for a rather longer period. They have become accepted as one of the standard measures of equity share price movements. They represent a valuable contribution by actuaries in the field of investment analysis, indeed Heywood (1) states that he considered them to be the best public relations exercise of the Institute. (We assume here that he meant profession).

1.2. Yet, there are a considerable number of actuaries and actuarial students who have no more than a vague knowledge of its working, while most laymen are completely baffled by the mathematics involved. Haycocks and Plymen (2), in an extremely comprehensive and often very elegant paper, described the basic construction of the indices. But because they were actuaries addressing other actuaries they naturally used algebraic formulae. This, in itself, automatically ensures that most laymen in the investment field do not read beyond page 1.

1.1. One of the declared intentions of the European Economic Community is the harmonization of Social Security arrangements, including State pensions. To the extent that occupational pensions are regarded as an adjunct to Social Security to bring total benefits up to an acceptable level, it is to be expected that the achievement of this aim would have its own effect on occupational pensions and on the way in which these pensions are financed.

1.2. In practice progress along this path has been slow and both Social Security and occupational pension systems differ widely from country to country within the E.E.C. On the one hand there are the U.K. and Ireland providing very small State pensions by comparison with most of our neighbours, and at the other extreme Italy, where State pensions are at such a high level for the whole working population that private pensions are virtually non-existent.

1.1. It is over 17 years since the paper ‘The Actuary in South Africa’ (1) was discussed. In South Africa as elsewhere great changes have taken place and it was felt appropriate to bring the position up to date. Nevertheless those interested are recommended to refer to the 1957 paper and not least to Mr R. G. Mallett's introduction to the discussion. Since the decision was taken to write this paper, Mr Spedding's paper ‘The Actuary in Australia’ (2) has been presented and to facilitate comparison, I have followed the general outline of that paper.

1.2. The South African currency is Rands and cents (100 cents equals one Rand). Since South Africa did not follow the United Kingdom devaluation of 1967 the parity was R. 12 equals £7 sterling but South Africa devalued at the end of 1971 and then R. 2 was almost the same as £1. At the time of writing the pound is roughly equivalent to 1·5 Rand.

1. This paper is based upon experience derived and impressions gained from working as a foreigner in the Dutch life assurance market. The views expressed are essentially personal

2. In setting up a life assurance operation in a foreign country the factors to be considered are immensely complex and the decision to enter the market is merely the beginning of a long process of analysis and further decisions. In this paper I have made no attempt either to enumerate or to consider these factors. This is a descriptive paper and not an analytical one.

3. After a short historical review the broad elements which comprise the present Dutch market are discussed and finally I mention briefly what I see as some of the important trends and future possibilities for this market.

This paper was originally written as a Note for the Institute of Actuaries Students' Society on ‘N.C.D. Systems in Motor Insurance’. This topic was one of nineteen non-life topics on which Notes were requested by the Students' Society in 1973, a different member of the Society being responsible for each topic. The Notes were not expected to give the results of research work along previously unexplored lines. Rather, they were intended as a survey of existing knowledge in each subject—including references to any useful literature—which could be understood by and be of general interest to members of the profession who had little or no experience of non-life work.

Following a request from the Manchester Actuarial Society, it was decided to revise and expand the original Note to make a paper more suited for discussion. No Claim Discount (N.C.D.) is one of the more controversial areas of motor insurance, being a topic on which the motorist is liable to hold strong and emotive views from time to time. As now written the paper takes a critical look at N.C.D. systems, as well as outlining their basic features.