Frequently Asked Questions

AEGON has had a human rights policy in place for the past three years. This policy applies to AEGON businesses around the world. For a copy of the policy, please click here.

At the moment, AEGON is signed up to the UN PRI in the United Kingdom, which is where most of the company’s third party asset management business is located. Currently, we are developing investment principles that will apply across our asset management operations, and we will investigate the possibility in the future of extending UN PRI to other parts of the business.

At the moment, we have targets at a local level. Last year, we set up a global ‘Green Team’, which will coordinate our efforts with regard to energy use, and to develop a more integrated, company-wide resource management program. Over the next five years, our aim is to reduce our overall carbon dioxide emission by at least 10% from their 2008 base.

Firstly, we have very strict rules on non-discrimination. We also provide our managers with training on issues such as equal pay and how to deal with cases of racial or sexual harassment. We don’t believe in having quotas, but we do believe that diversity in our workforce will strengthen the company as a whole.

In all, approximately a quarter of our senior management are women. That’s in line with the average for Dutch companies. In addition, we have women in very prominent executive positions in the United States and Central & Eastern Europe. Of the twelve members of our Supervisory Board, two are women.

Marco Keim is the Management Board member responsible for AEGON’s sustainability strategy and initiatives. Mr. Keim is also the Chief Executive Officer of the company’s operations in the Netherlands. Day-to-day sustainability issues are overseen by Greg Tucker, AEGON’s Senior Vice President for Communications. For sustainability issues, Mr. Tucker reports directly to Mr. Keim. Initiatives in this area are also subject to approval by AEGON’s Executive and Management Boards.

Our brand is one of our most important assets. According to Brand Finance, it’s worth about EUR 4.0 billion. We have a Global Brand Council to help oversee management of our brand. We also take steps to protect and enhance our reputation. This could be anything from improving customer service and modifying existing products to making sure we act as a responsible employer and investor.

We haven’t declared a dividend for our shareholders for 2009. Dividend payments depend on two factors: our capital position and our cash flows. Though our capital position is strong, cash flows during the year were affected by higher-than-average impairments. As a result, we’ve decided not to pay either an interim or a final dividend for 2009.

In total, we spent EUR 25 million. We sponsor a number of organizations and individuals, including the Dutch soccer club Ajax, British tennis, the PGA tour golfer Zach Johnson and the concert pianist Lang Lang. Through these sponsorships, we encourage talent and excellence, and in doing so help strengthen AEGON’s reputation and brand.

We have a number of mechanisms in place. Our ‘Know Your Customer’ principle plays a significant role in the fight against fraud and money laundering. In addition, we set out very clear rules and guidelines in our Code of Conduct, which apply to all AEGON employees, and we use learning programs to raise awareness of potential problems. Our Global Ethics line is also very important: it gives our employees the opportunity to report possible violations of our internal rules and regulations without necessarily having to identify themselves. Through these mechanisms, our aim is to instil a culture of personal responsibility within the company.

AEGON’s long-term strategy remains the same. Our aim is to be a global leader in helping secure people’s long-term financial futures. And, in doing so, we want to grow our business profitably and sustainably. That goal has not changed. Nor has our ownership structure. The Dutch State owns no shares in AEGON. That said, there have been some changes to our governance structure. Our Supervisory Board, for example, now includes two representatives of the Dutch government. Over the short term, one of our priorities will be to repay the capital that was provided by the Dutch State in 2008. We’ve already repaid a first tranche of EUR 1 billion. We’ll repay the remaining EUR 2 billion when it’s feasible and responsible to do so.

We devolve a lot of the responsibility for this to our individual country and operating units. That way, we can support a variety of charities that are important to the local communities in which we operate. We’re also now developing a more integrated approach, which will operate alongside our local practices. That will provide greater focus to our community support efforts.

Our total carbon footprint is just under 89,000 metric tons – equivalent to about 3.2 tons for each of our employees. That’s including both emissions from our own operations and those emissions we effectively ‘buy in’ through suppliers and other sources. Our direct emissions are just over 10,000 tons – roughly 300 kilograms for each employee. To put this in some perspective, the average total carbon footprint for people living in industrialized countries is approximately 11 tons.

AEGON’s policy is always to employ the best person for the job – and to make sure that our employees have the support and training they need for personal development. We also enforce a strict non-discrimination code, and take specific measures to help those people who have family commitments.

Our Stakeholder Review plays a vital role in the development of both our annual Sustainability Report and our broader policies and initiatives. The review is carried out once a year, usually in October. We invite a number of stakeholder groups to take part, representing our customers, employees, investors, business partners or the wider community. To ensure the findings are impartial, we employ an outside consultancy firm to carry out the review for us. Participants are asked a series of questions, assessing the content and relevance of AEGON’s report. Their replies are then used to help shape both the report and our overall sustainability strategy.

We have to balance a number of considerations. First of all, we have a duty to our customers. We have to balance what they want with the need to maximize returns and to invest responsibly. This is not an easy area, and there are often conflicts of interest. We are, however, working on a company-wide approach to responsible investment, which will set out our basic principles and how we intend to apply them.

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