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Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

INSURANCE

Contents


Assets

As the figures already mentioned would suggest, life assurance offices command large financial resources. In 1959–60 assets (in respect of New Zealand business and for ordinary plus industrial assurance) amounted to £249 million, of which nearly 97 per cent represented life assurance and annuity funds. This total was held as follows:

Amount £(m.) Proportion of Total Per Cent
Mortgages on property 113·4 45·5
Loans on policies 7·8 3·1
New Zealand Government securities 56·3 22·6
Local authority securities 40·6 16·3
Landed and house property 9·8 3·9
Company stocks, shares and debentures 15·7 6·3
Other assets 5·7 2·3
—— ——
Totals 249·3 100·0

The importance of life assurance as a source of funds for capital expenditure is clear from these figures. Over recent years mortgages (45·5 of the total above) have absorbed a relatively greater amount of funds, the proportion of assets held in this form having increased from 21·7 per cent in 1949–50. A marked fall in the proportion invested in Government securities was the counterpart of this increase.