While they once flourished among 100 or more life offices, we are seeing them disappear as regulation plays its part in making them too much bother.
Nor would it be surprising to see a finance director with wider experience than simply life offices - someone from banking or financial services, for example.
But by accident it could cause mutuals a problem if it meant no [mutual] life office could own other businesses.
This is because the life offices ' proposal forms record only whether people smoked when they bought their policies.
He said: ‘The fact is that many life offices need to take out more from the equity markets.’
A strong life office has more scope for having a high proportion invested in quality shares.
Banks, life offices and investment managers stand to gain.
Here are the ten strongest and ten weakest life offices, based on this measure.
The sum which forms the structured element is used by the casualty insurer [the insurer behind the defendant responsible for the injury] to purchase an annuity from a life office in the name of the plaintiff.
Firstly, it says the covering letter sent by life offices to clients with their retirement packs - four months before leaving work - should stipulate on the first page that once an annuity is purchased, the decision is irreversible.
Other proposals include ensuring confidentiality between insurers and applicants, preventing life offices from asking GPs to speculate on risk of infection or non-clinical issues.
So, even if a life office believes that now is the right time to invest in shares, it cannot afford to do so.
It employs 21 people and carries out research projects for a range of blue chip clients, including the major Scottish life offices, banks, local authorities and the Scottish Executive.
While this is happening, the Central Bank closes the circle by taking over responsibility for insurance intermediaries - but not life offices.
Free assets are those that life offices own in excess of their liabilities - including maturity values or death benefits to homebuyers, pension savers and other investors.
Others will choose to tie to one specific life office.
First, the life office's investments may not perform as well as expected, causing a fall in bonus rates, which could result in a lower return than anticipated.
A policy-holder on a policy maturing is to be able, if this is preferred, to choose an annuity policy provided by another life office.
Even if shares dramatically picked up, life offices would spend years rebuilding battered reserves.
‘The life offices want to make damned sure they can secure distribution going forward,’ said Stewart.