Aegon reports first half year 2024 results

The Hague, August 22, 2024 – Please click here to access all 1H 2024 results related documents.

IFRS results

• Net loss of EUR 65 million with operating result more than offset by fair value losses in the US and the impact of assumption updates
• Operating result decreases by 8% compared with the first half of 2023 to EUR 750 million, reflecting unfavorable mortality experience mainly related to US Financial Assets
• Shareholders’ equity per share decreases by 6% compared with December 31, 2023 to EUR 4.02, while CSM per share after estimated tax adjustment increases by 14% to EUR 4.17

Capital generation, cash and capital management

• Operating capital generation before holding funding and operating expenses decreases by 5% compared with the first half of 2023 to EUR 588 million reflecting unfavorable mortality experience in the US, and is on track to meet 2024 guidance
• Capital ratios of main units increase, remaining above their respective operating levels
• Cash Capital at Holding remains above the operating range at EUR 2.1 billion. EUR 1.535 billion share buyback program completed in June 2024. New EUR 200 million share buyback program started in July; expected to be completed in the second half of 2024
• Free Cash Flow of EUR 373 million, which includes 2023 final dividend from a.s.r.
• 2024 interim dividend of EUR 0.16 per common share, an increase of EUR 0.02 compared with 2023 interim dividend

Lard Friese, Aegon CEO, commented:

“In the first half of 2024 we made solid progress to deliver on our strategy to create leading providers of investment, protection, and retirement solutions. This was evidenced by continued strong sales growth across all our US Strategic Assets, further growth in our UK Workplace platform and the business in Brazil, and strong third-party net deposits in our asset management business. Consistent with our strategy to reduce capital employed by US Financial Assets, we saw our capital employed fall by USD 0.4 billion, and we are on track to reduce it to EUR 2.2 billion by the end of 2027.

While unfavorable mortality experience in our US Financial Assets negatively impacted both IFRS results and operating capital generation in the first half, we remain on track to meet our EUR 1.1 billion OCG guidance for 2024. Going forward, we expect the assumption updates to reduce IFRS claims experience variances and lead to an increase in our operating result. Capital ratios of our business units in the US and UK increased to 446% and 189% respectively, and our holding cash position at the half year remained above the operating range at EUR 2.1 billion.

In the US, Transamerica continued to perform well. Individual Life new life sales increased to USD 245 million, up 5% compared with the prior year period. World Financial Group’s (WFG) sales force grew by 13% to almost 79,000 licensed agents, as a result of continued successful recruiting and training efforts. Net deposits for mid-sized retirement plans increased to USD 1.2 billion. This business growth also translated into an increase of US Strategic Assets CSM by 12%.

In June, we outlined our plans to accelerate Aegon UK’s transformation into a leading digital savings and retirement platform. Moving to Aegon UK’s performance in the first half, net deposits at the Workplace platform increased to GBP 1.7 billion, due to the continued onboarding of new schemes and higher net deposits on existing schemes. The Adviser platform saw net outflows increase to GBP 1.8 billion, reflecting a continued reduction of customer activity due to the macroeconomic environment in the UK, and consolidation and vertical integration in non-target adviser segments.

Commercial results at our global asset manager were very strong, with third-party net deposits in Global Platforms and net deposits in Strategic Partnerships combined totaling almost EUR 8 billion, in contrast with the outflows experienced during the prior year period.

Mongeral Aegon Group, our Brazilian joint venture, continued to grow with life sales up 9% to EUR 64 million, reflecting the impact of Aegon’s increased economic stake and continued business growth in both group and individual products.

This set of results provides a solid basis to raise the interim dividend to 16 eurocents per share, up 2 eurocents compared with the 2023 interim dividend. Aegon completed the EUR 1.535 billion share buyback mainly related to the transaction to combine Aegon the Netherlands with a.s.r., and has begun the new EUR 200 million share buyback announced last quarter.

I am grateful to the teams for what they have achieved during the first half of the year, and we will work to build on that momentum in the second half as we continue the execution of our strategy.”

Contacts

Additional information

Presentation
The conference call presentation is available on aegon.com as of 7.00 am CEST.

Supplements
Aegon’s first half 2024 Financial Supplement and other supplementary documents are available on aegon.com.

Webcast and conference call including Q&A
The webcast and conference call starts at 9:00 am CEST. The audio webcast can be followed 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 see your personal pin on the confirmation screen, and you will also receive an email with the call details and your personal pin to enter the conference call. The link becomes active 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. To avoid any unforeseen connection issues, it is recommended to make use of the “Call me” option. Approximately two hours after the conference call, a replay will be available on aegon.com.

Click to join

With “Call me”, there’s 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. For passcode: you will receive a personal pin upon registration.

Dial-in numbers for conference call:
United States: +1 864 991 4103 (local)
United Kingdom: +44 808 175 1536 (toll-free)
The Netherlands: +31 800 745 8377 (toll-free)
The Netherlands: +31 970 102 86838 (toll)

Financial calendar 2024/2025
Third quarter 2024 trading update – November 15, 2024
Second half 2024 results – February 20, 2025

About Aegon
Aegon is an international financial services holding company. Aegon’s ambition is to build leading businesses that offer their customers investment, protection, and retirement solutions. Aegon’s portfolio of businesses includes fully owned businesses in the United States and United Kingdom, and a global asset manager. Aegon also creates value by combining its international expertise with strong local partners via insurance joint ventures in Spain & Portugal, China, and Brazil, and via asset management partnerships in France and China. In addition, Aegon owns a Bermuda-based life insurer and generates value via a strategic shareholding in a market leading Dutch insurance and pensions company.

Aegon’s purpose of helping people live their best lives runs through all its activities. As a leading global investor and employer, Aegon 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, domiciled in Bermuda, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. More information can be found at aegon.com. More information can be found at aegon.com.

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 Aegon’s 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, health and safety laws;
• Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions, particularly in Bermuda, 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;
  • The impact from volatility in credit, equity, and interest rates;
• 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 applicable Bermuda solvency requirements, the European Union’s Solvency II requirements, and applicable equivalent solvency requirements and other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is required to maintain;
• Changes in the European Commissions’ or European regulator’s position on the equivalence of the supervisory regime for insurance and reinsurance undertakings in force in Bermuda;
• Changes affecting interest rate levels and low or rapidly changing interest rate levels;
• Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;
• Changes affecting inflation levels, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• 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, particularly 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 and management of derivatives;
• 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;
• Third-party information used by us may prove to be inaccurate and change over time as methodologies and data availability and quality continue to evolve impacting our results and disclosures;
• 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 Aegon does business, may disrupt Aegon’s business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and Aegon may be unable to adopt to and apply new technologies;
• The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon’s ability to complete, or obtain regulatory approval for, acquisitions and divestitures, integrate acquisitions, and realize anticipated results, and its ability to separate businesses as part of divestitures;
• 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 further consequences of 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, or the interpretation thereof by regulators and courts, including as a result of comprehensive reform or shifts away from multilateral approaches to regulation of global or national operations, particularly regarding those laws and regulations related to ESG matters, those affecting Aegon’s operations’ ability to hire and retain key personnel, taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers and Aegon’s intellectual property;
• Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, insurance industries and enforcing adjustments 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);
• 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;
• Changes in ESG standards and requirements, including assumptions, methodology and materiality, or a change by Aegon in applying such standards and requirements, voluntarily or otherwise, may affect Aegon’s ability to meet evolving standards and requirements, or Aegon’s ability to meet its sustainability and ESG-related goals, or related public expectations, which may also negatively affect Aegon’s reputation or the reputation of its board of directors or its management; and
• Reliance on third-party information in certain of Aegon’s disclosures, which may change over time as methodologies and data availability and quality continue to evolve. These factors, as well as any inaccuracies in third-party information used by Aegon, including in estimates or assumptions, may cause results to differ materially and adversely from statements, estimates, and beliefs made by Aegon or third-parties. Moreover, Aegon’s disclosures based on any standards may change due to revisions in framework requirements, availability of information, changes in its business or applicable governmental policies, or other factors, some of which may be beyond Aegon’s control. Additionally, Aegon’s discussion of various ESG and other sustainability issues in this document or in other locations, including on our corporate website, may be informed by the interests of various stakeholders, as well as various ESG standards, frameworks, and regulations (including for the measurement and assessment of underlying data). As such, our disclosures on such issues, including climate-related disclosures, may include information that is not necessarily “material” under US securities laws for SEC reporting purposes, even if we use words such as “material” or “materiality” in relation to those statements. ESG expectations continue to evolve, often quickly, including for matters outside of our control; our disclosures are inherently dependent on the methodology (including any related assumptions or estimates) and data used, and there can be no guarantee that such disclosures will necessarily reflect or be consistent with the preferred practices or interpretations of particular stakeholders, either currently or in future.

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 2023 Integrated 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.

WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP (WFG):

WFG CONSISTS OF:
IN THE UNITED STATES, WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP INSURANCE AGENCY, LLC (IN CALIFORNIA, DOING BUSINESS AS WORLD FINANCIAL INSURANCE AGENCY, LLC), WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP INSURANCE AGENCY OF HAWAII, INC., WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP INSURANCE AGENCY OF MASSACHUSETTS, INC., AND / OR WFG INSURANCE AGENCY OF PUERTO RICO, INC. (COLLECTIVELY WFGIA), WHICH OFFER INSURANCE AND ANNUITY PRODUCTS.
IN THE UNITED STATES, TRANSAMERICA FINANCIAL ADVISORS, INC. IS A FULL-SERVICE, FULLY LICENSED, INDEPENDENT BROKER-DEALER AND REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISOR. TRANSAMERICA FINANCIAL ADVISORS, INC. (TFA), MEMBER  FINRA, MSRB, SIPC , AND REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISOR, OFFERS SECURITIES AND INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES.
IN CANADA, WORLD FINANCIAL GROUP INSURANCE AGENCY OF CANADA INC. (WFGIAC), WHICH OFFERS LIFE INSURANCE AND SEGREGATED FUNDS. WFG SECURITIES INC. (WFGS), WHICH OFFERS MUTUAL FUNDS.
WFGIAC AND WFGS ARE AFFILIATED COMPANIES.

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• 20240822_PR_Aegon reports first half year 2024 results