Insurance, one of the most important factors in the industrial and commercial life of a modern community, is well provided for in Auckland. A number of the offices are purely Australasian, but British and foreign insurance companies are also well represented in the city. The majority of the head offices in New Zealand are located in Wellington, but the branch offices in Auckland rank amongst the city's most imposing buildings. Business competition is keenest among the life offices, as each company has different tables and rates, but for fire risks the rates are uniform throughout. The New Zealand Government has long been in the field with its life insurance office, and its State guarantee; and the interests of insurers in other offices are safeguarded by legislation which provides that the foreign companies in New Zealand have to deposit sufficient security with the State to guarantee the colonial insurers. The various companies doing business in Auckland are referred to in this section.