Aegon Publishes 2014 Annual Report and 2014 Review

THE HAGUE, March 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Aegon N.V. today released its 2014 Annual Report and filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

For the fourth consecutive year, Aegon's Annual Report is accompanied by a separate integrated report, Aegon's 2014 Review. This provides an overview of Aegon's economic, social and environmental performance and impacts, and is divided into two parts. The first, which includes interviews with Aegon's CEO, Alex Wynaendts, and the Chairman of Aegon's Supervisory Board, Rob Routs, focuses on Aegon's operating environment and strategy, in addition to areas such as customer loyalty, employee engagement, risk management, governance and responsible investment. The second part focuses on how the Company generates value for stakeholders by examining Aegon's value chain in greater detail.

The 2014 Review is in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) G4 Guidelines, and also follows the International Integrated Reporting Council's (IIRC) Reporting Framework, together with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) accounting standards.  

Digital copies of Aegon's 2014 Annual Report, 2014 Annual Report on Form 20-F, and 2014 Review are all available on aegon.com, where printed copies can also be ordered on request. Other documents relating to Aegon's annual General Meeting of Shareholders, including the agenda, will be available online from April 8, 2015.

DISCLAIMERS 

Forward-looking statements 

The statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ materially from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following:

• Changes in general economic conditions, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• Changes in the performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, such as with regard to:
• The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in Aegon's fixed income investment portfolios;
• The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds; and
• The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain private sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of sovereign exposure that Aegon holds;
• Changes in the performance of Aegon's investment portfolio and decline in ratings of Aegon's counterparties;
• Consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro;
• The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
• Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon's insurance products;
• Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to meet their obligations;
• Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or rapidly changing interest rate levels;
• Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;
• Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;
• Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;
• Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon's operations, ability to hire and retain key personnel, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
• Regulatory changes relating to the insurance industry in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;
• Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among other things, the type of products also Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;
• Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;
• Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;
• Lowering of one or more of Aegon's debt ratings issued by recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action may have on Aegon's ability to raise capital and on its liquidity and financial condition;
• Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings of Aegon's insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;
• The effect of the European Union's Solvency II requirements and other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is required to maintain;
• Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
• As Aegon's operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on the proper functioning of information technology, a computer system failure or security breach may disrupt Aegon's business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;
• Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;
• Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon's products;
• Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise, may affect Aegon's reported results and shareholders' equity;
• The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon's ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;
• Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon's business; and
• Aegon's failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving and excess capital and leverage ratio management initiatives.

Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Aegon's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Aegon's roots go back more than 150 years - to the first half of the nineteenth century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an international company, with businesses in more than 25 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Today, Aegon is one of the world's leading financial services organizations, providing life insurance, pensions and asset management. Aegon's purpose is to help people take responsibility for their financial future. More information: aegon.com .

Media relations

Marcel van Beusekom
+31-(0)70-344-8572
gcc@aegon.com

Investor relations
Willem van den Berg
+31-(0)70-3448405
ir@aegon.com