Aegon reports third quarter 2022 results

Please click here to access all 3Q 2022 results related documents.

The Hague, November 10, 2022 - Maintaining high pace in implementing Aegon’s strategy

• Net loss of EUR 206 million driven mainly by a non-economic loss on interest rate hedges in the US
• Operating result of EUR 429 million, which is a decrease of 11% on a constant currency basis compared with the third quarter of 2021. Benefits from expense savings, growth initiatives, and an improvement in claims experience are more than offset by lower fees due to adverse markets
• The capital ratios of all three main units remain above their respective operating levels. Group Solvency II ratio amounts to 212%
• Cash Capital at Holding decreases to EUR 1,368 million, reflecting EUR 273 million dividends paid and second EUR 100 million tranche of previously announced EUR 300 million share buyback
• Transamerica Life Bermuda (TLB), Aegon’s high-net-worth business, reinsured a closed life insurance portfolio with Transamerica in October. This frees up surplus capital and strengthens Transamerica’s capital position
• Aegon takes action to substantially reduce the capital sensitivity of its US variable annuity portfolio to equity markets and further increase the predictability of free cash flows; a third-party transaction will not be pursued in the near-term

Statement of Lard Friese, CEO
“In recent months, we have made great strides in the transformation of Aegon and the acceleration of our strategy. We have made substantial progress on our operational improvement plan, and have taken additional actions to maximize the value of both our US variable annuity book and TLB, Aegon’s high-net-worth insurance business. Most recently, we announced a transaction with a.s.r. in the Netherlands to create a leading Dutch insurance company.

In the third quarter, our operating result declined by 11% on a constant currency basis as adverse market conditions more than offset an improvement in claims experience in the United States, expense savings and the benefit from growth initiatives. Despite inflationary headwinds, we made considerable progress with our expense savings program. We achieved additional EUR 50 million expense savings compared with last quarter, increasing the reduction in our annual addressable expenses to EUR 300 million compared with the base year 2019. The growth initiatives, aimed at improving our customer service and expanding our distribution network, positively impacted our commercial and financial results.

We also made solid progress on our ambition to grow our strategic assets, despite continued financial market volatility and political unrest. Life insurance sales were up 24% in the United States and 16% in our Growth Markets, supported by our growing distribution capabilities. The retirement businesses across the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom all reported growth in net deposits, reflecting the strength of the labor market. Commercial results in Asset Management, the UK Retail business and our US mutual fund platform were under pressure as a result of our customers’ reduced propensity to invest in the current uncertain environment.

We continue to take actions to maximize the value of our financial assets. Based on extensive analysis, we have concluded that the best option with respect to the US variable annuity portfolio is to continue to own and actively manage it, at least in the near term. In October, we finalized an internal reinsurance transaction between TLB and Transamerica that freed up USD 600 million in excess capital for Transamerica. Part of this will be used to create a buffer that will substantially reduce the capital sensitivity of our US variable annuity book to equity markets.

The recent action we have taken to combine our Dutch pension, life and non-life insurance, banking, and mortgage origination activities with those of a.s.r., is pivotal to the transformation of our company and reflects our goal to build advantaged businesses in our chosen markets. The transaction enables us to accelerate the return of capital to shareholders and is in line with our strategy to release capital from mature businesses, and create leading positions in markets where Aegon is well positioned for growth.

I appreciate the hard work and dedication of all our colleagues to support our customers’ needs in challenging times. Thanks to the efforts of our employees, we are able to continue to improve our operational performance and accelerate our strategy. While economic volatility will likely persist, our strong balance sheet, disciplined risk management, and focused strategy make me confident about the opportunities the future will bring.”    

Note: All comparisons in this release are against 3Q 2021, unless stated otherwise. See page 7 of the full press release for key performance indicators.
                                                                       

Additional information

Presentation
The conference call presentation is available on aegon.com as of 7.30 a.m. CET.

Supplements
Aegon’s 3Q 2022 Financial Supplement and other supplementary documents are available on aegon.com.

Conference call including Q&A
The conference call starts at 9:00 am CET, with an audio webcast on aegon.com. To join the conference call and/or participate in the Q&A, you will need to register via the following registration link. Directly after registration you will receive an email with the call details and a personal pin to enter the conference call. 

Two hours after the conference call, a replay will be available on aegon.com.

Click to join
With ‘Call me’, there is no need to dial-in. Simply click the following registration link and select the option ‘Call me’.
Enter your information and you will be called back to directly join the conference. The link becomes active 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Should you wish not to use the ‘click to join’ function, dial-in numbers are also available:

Dial-in numbers for conference call
United States: +1 864 991 41 03 (local)
United Kingdom: +44 808 175 15 36 (toll-free)
The Netherlands: +31 800 745 83 77 (toll-free)

Passcode: you will receive a personal pin upon registration 

Financial calendar 2022 / 2023
IFRS 9/17 Educational Webinar – December 14, 2022
Fourth quarter 2022 results – February 9, 2023
First quarter 2023 results – May 17, 2023
Annual General Meeting – May 25, 2023
Second quarter 2023 results – August 17, 2023
Third quarter 2023 results – November 16, 2023

About Aegon

Aegon is an integrated, diversified, international financial services group. The company offers investment, protection, and retirement solutions, with a strategic focus on three core markets (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), three growth markets (Spain & Portugal, Brazil, and China), and one global asset manager.

Aegon's purpose of Helping people live their best lives runs through all its activities. As a leading global investor and employer, the company seeks to have a positive impact by addressing critical environmental and societal issues, with a focus on climate change and inclusion & diversity.

Aegon is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. More information can be found at aegon.com.

Cautionary note regarding non-EU-IFRS measures
This document includes the following non-EU-IFRS financial measures: operating result, income tax, result before tax, market consistent value of new business, return on equity and addressable expenses. These non-EU-IFRS measures, except for addressable expenses, are calculated by consolidating on a proportionate basis Aegon’s joint ventures and associated companies. The reconciliation of these measures, except for market consistent value of new business and return on equity, to the most comparable EU-IFRS measure is provided in the notes to this press release. Market consistent value of new business is not based on EU-IFRS, which are used to report Aegon’s primary financial statements and should not be viewed as a substitute for EU-IFRS financial measures. Aegon may define and calculate market consistent value of new business differently than other companies. Return on equity is a ratio using a non-EU-IFRS measure and is calculated by dividing the operating result after tax less cost of leverage by the average shareholders’ equity excluding the revaluation reserve. Operating expenses are all expenses associated with selling and administrative activities (excluding commissions) after reallocation of claim handling expenses to benefits paid. This includes certain expenses recorded in other charges, including restructuring charges. Addressable expenses are expenses reflected in the operating result, excluding deferrable acquisition expenses, expenses in joint ventures and associates and expenses related to operations in CEE countries. Aegon believes that these non-EU-IFRS measures, together with the EU-IFRS information, provide meaningful supplemental information about the operating results of Aegon’s business including insight into the financial measures that senior management uses in managing the business.

Local currencies and constant currency exchange rates
This document contains certain information about Aegon’s results, financial condition and revenue generating investments presented in USD for the Americas and in GBP for the United Kingdom, because those businesses operate and are managed primarily in those currencies. Certain comparative information presented on a constant currency basis eliminates the effects of changes in currency exchange rates. None of this information is a substitute for or superior to financial information about Aegon presented in EUR, which is the currency of Aegon’s primary financial statements.

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, could, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements may contain information about financial prospects, economic conditions and trends and involve risks and uncertainties. In addition, any statements that refer to sustainability, environmental and social targets, commitments, goals, efforts and expectations and other events or circumstances that are partially dependent on future events are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation, and expressly disclaims any duty, 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 and adversely 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:

• Unexpected delays, difficulties, and expenses in executing against our environmental, climate, diversity and inclusion or other “ESG” targets, goals and commitments, and changes in laws or regulations affecting us, such as changes in data privacy, environmental, safety and health laws;
• Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• Civil unrest, (geo-) political tensions, military action or other instability in a country or geographic region;
• 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;
  • The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain public sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of government exposure that Aegon holds;
• Changes in the performance of Aegon’s investment portfolio and decline in ratings of Aegon’s counterparties;
• 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 written premium, 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;
• 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;
• Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, including by way of example acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics, could result in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon’s business;
• 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;
• Aegon’s projected results are highly sensitive to complex mathematical models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and other dynamic systems subject to shocks and unpredictable volatility. Should assumptions to these models later prove incorrect, or should errors in those models escape the controls in place to detect them, future performance will vary from projected results;
• Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to meet their obligations;
• Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among other things, the type of products Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;
• Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;
• As Aegon’s operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on the proper functioning of information technology, operational risks such as system disruptions or failures, security or data privacy breaches, cyberattacks, human error, failure to safeguard personally identifiable information, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including with respect to third parties with which we do business may disrupt Aegon’s business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;
• 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;
• Aegon’s failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational efficiencies, as well as other management initiatives related to cost savings, Cash Capital at Holding, gross financial leverage and free cash flow;
• Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;
• Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
• Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon’s products;
• Consequences of an actual or potential break-up of the European monetary union in whole or in part, or the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and potential consequences if other European Union countries leave the European Union;
• Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon’s operations’ ability to hire and retain key personnel, taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
• Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;
• Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US federal or state level financial regulation or the application thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Insurer (G-SII); and
• Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise, which may affect Aegon’s reported results, shareholders’ equity or regulatory capital adequacy levels.

This document contains information that qualifies, or may qualify, as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). 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.

Attachment

• 20221110_PR Aegon_3Q 2022 results

Source: Aegon N.V.