The Casualty Actuarial Society and Actuarial Studies in development of Non-Life Insurance in North America

Thank you, Mr. Masterson, Sir George and friends. Mr. Masterson told you that Mr. Longley-Cook was going to give this report originally. Since he can't, he has turned it over to me, and I shall deliver it practically the way he has written it.The profession of actuary originating in the need for a scientific approach to the problems of early life insurance companies, has broadened its scope over the years, and many actuaries now provide valuable contributions to the scientific study of problems in insurance, commerce and industry which are completely unrelated to life insurance. Because a large majority of actuaries are concerned, however, with problems of life insurance and pension plans, those outside these fields have felt the need for an association which is concerned with their special interests.I feel most honoured to take part in the birth of Astin, an association for the study of insurance problems outside of the life insurance field. It was most wise that Astin has been formed as a section of the International Congress and not as an independent organization because, although our problems may be different, we will gain much in our mutual association.A specialist should not, in his devotion to his particular line of study, lose touch with the broader and more general developments of science. Cross-fertilization of ideas can, on many occasions, prove invaluable. It was over 48 years ago that Mr. Stanley Otis and others suggested that a society of actuaries and statisticians of liability companies be formed. Some five years later, the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America—later to be known by the shorter title of Casualty Actuarial Society—was inaugurated.