NORWICH UNION (MUTUAL) LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18135, 6 July 1922, Page 5

NORWICH UNION (MUTUAL) LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY.

MOST PROSPEROUS YEAR. The one hundred and fourteenth annual general meeting of the .Norwich Union ■ uutualj Life insurance Society was held at Norwich, England, on May 9, when the president (Mr. Haynea S. Rpbineon) submitted the report and ftocounte-for iWdl. These showed that the pet new business for the year amounted to £7,512,333,' and the premium income for the year had risen from £2,268.056 to £2,440,513. and the funds at the close of the year amounted to £18,557,331, having increased during the year by £1,491,7b0. Interest, dividends, etc., amounted to £832,290. The death claims for the year amounted to £508,227, being only 64 per cent, of expectation and £114,766 lese than those in 1920. « * , , " The president, in the course of ins remarks, said: We are able to meet you to-day with a feeling of unreserved satisfaction regarding every aspect of the report and sccounte submitted to 'you, and I think you will agree with me that I am fully 'justified in describing the year 1921 as the most prosperous year the society has ever experienced during the 114 years of its existence. Our interest yield was £4 15s 8d per cent,, after deduction of income tax. As a board also we have 'devoted unremitting care to the most important branch of the trust you have committed to our keeping, and since attention has of late been drawn to the subject of insurance investments through the disaster that haij overtaken a little group of interests, in no way connected with the business of life insurance, it is perhaps appropriate that I should explain that each investment or mortgage proposal regarded by our management as worthy of consideration by directors is threshed < out, *in the first instance most exhaustively by the five members of our Finance Committee, arid is then discussed by the full board should there be practical unanimity on the part of the committee as to its suitability. I need hardly say that should there Wot fbe the unanimity the proposal goes no further. After referring to the excel'ent and steady flow of business from areas outside the United Kingdom and to the general appreciation there is at home of the directors' watchword, "Safety and Strength of Reserves First," the president said, inter alia: Our results for 1921 were so obviously satisfactory as to justify us last January in announcing without hesitation in connection with death claims ajid matured endowments interim cash bonuses, the same as at the last pro-war valuation. The general manager and actuary (Mr. Davidson Walker), in his acknow'edement of a vote of thanks to the staff, .proposed by Major F. A. Ciibitt, gave a highly interesting dissertation on the position of life offices to-day and in the The-results of business in New Zealand for the year are very gratifying, and constitute a record in volume, while the society's investments in the Dominion increase steadily, the whole of the funds earned being locally invested.