Based on industry-wide recommendations of the Dutch Ombudsman for Financial Services, Aegon will reduce the costs of its unit linked insurance policies sold in the Netherlands.
[node:field_featured_media:entity:field_media_image]In recent years, Aegon has made substantial improvements by reducing costs and premiums to unit linked products. The value of these improvements total EUR 380 million pre-tax. Aegon will implement further product improvements that have a value of EUR 140 million before tax. This additional amount will be reflected in Aegon’s profit and loss statement over the remainder of the life of affected policies. As a result of these measures, costs of unit linked insurance policies sold by Aegon in the Netherlands will be consistent with the recommendations of the Ombudsman and a recent settlement within the industry.
Over 75% of Aegon’s unit linked insurance customers have benefitted from previous product improvements. Currently, more than 70% of all customers are charged less than 3% of costs. Aegon’s unit linked portfolio consists of 1.3 million policies, of which 50% have a guaranteed minimum return. Aegon has previously provisioned EUR 255 million for these guarantees.