Aegon Publishes 2016 Annual Report and Review

For the sixth consecutive year, Aegon's Annual Report is accompanied by a separate integrated report, Aegon's 2016 Review. The Review explains how Aegon creates and shares value for its stakeholders by featuring customers, employees, investors, and local communities. It highlights seven material topics affecting Aegon's business, including aging and changing demographics, the impact of new technologies, increased regulation, and economic and financial uncertainty.

The Review also includes an interview with Alex Wynaendts, Aegon's CEO, in which he reflects on the significant progress being made towards Aegon's 2018 targets, including accelerating the pace of change to become a more digital, sustainable and customer-centric company. Rob Routs, Chairman of Aegon's Supervisory Board, in his interview focuses on changes in the composition of the Management Board and the role of the Supervisory Board in setting Aegon's strategy.

The Annual Report contains an updated estimate for the Group Solvency II ratio of 157% at year-end 2016, as a result of a change in the calculation of the risk margin in the Netherlands. For the year-end 2016 position management decided to add a risk margin for expense inflation risk, leading to a 2%-points downward adjustment of the Group Solvency II ratio compared with the estimate published on February 17, 2017. Despite the fact that the best estimate expense inflation assumptions used by Aegon the Netherlands in its technical provisions are market consistent and that inflation risk is economically hedgeable, management decided to be prudent and follow a strict legal interpretation of the regulation. Management is fully committed to increase the Solvency II ratio of Aegon the Netherlands through a range of management actions.

The Solvency II ratios as disclosed in the 2016 Annual Report represent Aegon's estimates, and are still subject to final interpretations of Solvency II regulations and regulatory review. More detailed information on the Solvency II ratios of Aegon's operating units and the group will be available in the Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs) which will be published in the coming months.

Digital copies of Aegon's 2016 Annual Report, 2016 Annual Report on Form 20-F and 2016 Review are available on aegon.com. A hard copy of the Annual Report, including the audited financial statements, can be ordered free of charge by visiting aegon.com. Other documents relating to Aegon's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on May 19, 2017, including the agenda, will be available online from April 7, 2017.

About Aegon 

Aegon's roots go back more than 170 years - to the first half of the nineteenth century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an international company, with businesses in more than 20 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 achieve a lifetime of financial security. More information on aegon.com/about.    

For the Editor 

Updates

Disclaimer 

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:

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.

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Debora de Laaf
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Investor relations
Willem van den Berg
+31-(0)-70-344-8405
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