Aegon Ltd. (AMS:AGN)

AGM 2021

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Jun 3, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Aegon's Executive Board and Supervisory Board, I welcome you to Aegon's twenty twenty one Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Just as was the case during the AGMs in previous years, this meeting will be chaired in English. However, simultaneous translation into Dutch is offered. I hereby open the meeting. In view of the ongoing COVID-nineteen pandemic, the national measures taken to combat the pandemic, and in accordance with the legal measures adopted by the Dutch government, we unfortunately have to hold this year's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders again in a virtual manner. In order to safeguard and facilitate the interest of all our shareholders, we have taken several measures. We are offering the possibility to follow a meeting via a live webcast. We have enabled live and real time voting during the AGM for those shareholders who have not already cast their votes prior to the meeting. Live voting is now open and will remain open up and until the last voting item on the agenda, which is Agenda Item eight. The voting results will be shown at the end of the meeting. We have provided a solution on our website for shareholders to ask written questions in advance of the meeting. And we offer the possibility to ask live questions during the meeting via a chat function to shareholders who have timely notified the Investor Relations team about their intention to do so. When discussing an agenda item, we will address the questions submitted prior to the meeting first, after which we will address the questions submitted live during the meeting. Just to prevent any misunderstanding, if you haven't timely notified your intention to submit questions during the meeting, it will not be possible for you to ask questions during the meeting. Please note that the chat function is open throughout the meeting. I have mandated Jan Willen Weidema, Head of Investor Relations, to moderate the questions that will be submitted during the meeting. Questions that cannot be answered during the meeting will be answered afterwards. These questions and responses will be added to the minutes. Present with me here today at Aegon's headquarters in The Hague are the members of the Executive Board, Larg Friesa, CEO Matt Ryder, CFO. Also present are Ben Noetherboom, Chair of the Rumineration Committee Bike Dubrowne, Company Secretary Joise Lemrise, Notary Caroline Ramsey, Chair of the Audit Committee and Hertjian Hoeghelink, our external audit of PricewaterhouseCoopers, are present via a live video stream. The other Supervisory Board and Management Board members as well as nominated Supervisory Board member, Mr. McGarry, are following the webcast via the live webcast. I add a warm welcome to all of them. Before we continue the meeting, I would like to thank the employees of Aegon for their hard work and resilience they continue to show, especially in these extraordinary and often uncertain times. Then I established the following. This meeting was convened in time and in accordance with the required formalities by placing the notice and agenda on Aegon's corporate website on 04/22/2021. Aegon informs its shareholders about the decision that this meeting will only be accessible for shareholders by electronic means in accordance with the temporary act COVID-nineteen Justice and Safety. As in previous years, we have been actively engaged in encouraging our shareholders to vote at our AGM. The attendance list of this meeting is currently being drawn up. We will provide you with the relevant information as soon as this is available. The final minutes of the AGM of 05/15/2020, were made available as of 11/13/2020, at our offices in The Hague and on our corporate website. The minutes of this meeting will be kept in English by the company's secretary. The draft minutes of this meeting will be available for comments on the website for three months as of 09/02/2021. The final minutes will be available as of 12/02/2021. We'll now move to Agenda Item two, the 2020 Business Overview. Aegon's CEO, Lard Frieser, will give a presentation on the course of business in 2020 and the final results as a part of agenda Item 3.1, the 2020 reports of the Boards. After his presentation, we will address the questions that have been submitted for these items. Lard? Thank you, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today for our Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. We are still amidst unprecedented and, for many of us, difficult times. And I regret it very much that I'm not able to meet you in person during what is my first shareholders meeting as CEO of Aegon. In my presentation, I will share with you what the impact of the COVID nineteen pandemic has been on our company and our stakeholders and what our responses have been. Afterwards, I will take you through how Aegon is executing on its transformation plan and discuss with you the financial highlights of 2020. I will conclude the presentation with a wrap up of some of our non financial highlights. Let me start by talking you taking you through the way Aegon adapted to the COVID-nineteen pandemic. As global events began to unfold around COVID nineteen, it became clear that the pandemic was going to have a significant impact and create challenges for our employees, our customers, our business partners, and the communities in which we operate. Throughout the pandemic, we have taken proactive steps to support our stakeholders as we navigate through this challenging period together. The unwavering commitment of our employees was crucial in this respect. When I joined Aegon in March, I was deeply impressed by how quickly our employees adapted to the new situation and maintained high levels of service to our customers and engagement with our business partners. Supporting people is really what our business is all about. And during the course of the last one year and a half, we have done a lot of it. There is no getting around the fact that we have all been impacted by the pandemic, some more than others. To our employees and everyone who is suffering the loss of someone you loved and cared about, be they family, friends, colleagues, or business partners, may you find strength in coping with your loss, and may you be comforted by those close to you. Meanwhile, we have remained sensitive to our customers' evolving concerns. Aegon in Netherlands, for instance, has launched the Blue Heart campaign to provide customers with flexibility around their insurance, pension and mortgage payments. In China, we have included COVID-nineteen coverage as part of our critical illness product range to help give people peace of mind. Our employees' commitment was further illustrated by the way how they participated in the development and execution of Aegon's operational improvement plan. Over 1,500 employees were involved in creating this plan, which consists of over 1,100 initiatives. And it was developed bottom up to ensure that our plans are fully owned by the people who need to make it happen. Also, around the world, Aegon employees have been closely involved in fundraising efforts to boost our community support initiatives. Many have also donated their time and expertise in other ways. For instance, soon after the COVID outbreak, the Aegon Transamerica Foundation, which is funded by grants from our U. S. Employees, made a contribution of $500,000 to Direct Relief. This humanitarian aid organization used the contribution to support ongoing COVID-nineteen relief efforts. Another example is from Aegon, Netherlands, where we helped to spearhead a program led by NIBOD, the Dutch National Institute for Family Finance Information, to train financial services workers to offer support and advice to people on managing their personal financings finances during the pandemic. Aegon employees have responded enthusiastically to this initiative, which aligns with our purpose of helping people achieve a lifetime of financial security. COVID-nineteen also affected Aegon's financial results. The greatest impact from the pandemic on our operating result in 2020 was from elevated mortality, which led to higher claims in our life insurance business in The United States. This was partly offset by favorable claims experience in our long term care business in The United States, mostly driven by higher claims terminations as a result of elevated mortality. Given the successful rollout of the vaccine program in The United States, we expect a reduction in mortality rates going forward. Lower interest rates resulting from more muted economic growth expectations and central bank stimulus also had a negative impact on Aegon's earnings in The Americas in 2020. More recently, interest rates have increased as a result of government stimulus and an improvement in the growth outlook driven by successful rollout of vaccination programs in many countries. In light of the impact of COVID-nineteen and lower interest rates in 2020, we took several steps to strengthen our balance sheet and improve the company's risk profile. We decided to retain the final dividend for 2019 and rebase the interim dividend. Rebasing of the dividend ensures that it is sustainable and well covered by the free cash flows that we generate even in reasonable stress scenarios. We did not take this decision lightly. We are fully aware that the consequences for shareholders are impactful, especially for retail shareholders for whom dividends supplement their income. We realize that we should, over time, be able to produce more than the current level of dividend, and I will come back to this later in my presentation. In our units, we also took several actions to increase their capital position. As a result, the capital ratios of our three main units ended the year above their respective operating levels. In these circumstances, we have worked on our plans to transform Aegon and have laid out a clear road map to improve our performance. In December, we hosted our Capital Markets Day, setting out our strategy and financial targets for 2021 to 2023. We have set clear priorities by focusing on three core markets, three growth markets and one global asset manager. We will create value by disciplined capital allocation with a clear distinction between strategic and financial assets and are increasing our strategic focus through divestments. Lastly, we are improving operational performance through the execution of our granular operating plan and a new company rhythm. We have made early progress toward delivering on these strategic priorities, which I will discuss with you in the next couple of slides. Our businesses in The United States, The Netherlands and The U. K. Are the cornerstone of our strategy. In these markets, we possess leading positions, which we want to grow and expand. We want to be seen as leading with contemporary propositions and outstanding digitally enabled customer service. In addition, we will continue to access attractive growth markets through our successful partnerships in Spain, China and Brazil. Together with our partners, we will develop these businesses and capture the growth potential they provide while leveraging our global expertise and capabilities. Our global asset manager, with its strong investment capabilities, will be key to our success. It is at the core of many of our products and is the in house manager of our general account assets. Additionally, Aegon Asset Management has a track record of nine consecutive years of third party net deposits via its global platforms and joint ventures in China and France. Let me now discuss the progress we have made in respect of our strategic assets. Our priority here is to grow the customer base and expand our margins through investing in new products, product distribution and customer service. In our U. S. Individual Solutions business, we have the ambition to regain a top five position in selective life products over the coming years. In the 2021, we saw good momentum resulting in 27% increase in new life sales. Our market share in Transamerica's main distribution channel, World Financial Group, or WFG, increased significantly following the addition of a new funeral planning benefit. In addition, the number of WFG licensed agents grew by 18%. In The U. S. Retirement business, Transamerica aims to compete as a top five player in new middle market sales. Transamerica is leveraging its strength in pooled plan arrangements as attractive propositions for the middle market. And we see momentum is building with written sales increasing by 27% in the 2021 compared to the same quarter last year. Our Dutch strategic assets are performing well too. We are market leaders in both mortgage origination and defined contribution pensions, and we gained further momentum in the 2021. We originated €3,000,000,000 mortgages benefiting from a strong housing market and increased demand for mortgage refinancing in current interest rate environment. In our defined contribution pension business, we grew net deposits by 14%. We have a competitive offering in this space, thanks to the scale of our administration subsidiary, TKP, and our leading asset management solutions. In The United Kingdom, our aim is to grow in the retail and workplace channels. In both channels, we had a number of noticeable, proposition enhancements in recent months that have supported the positive development in net deposits. By growing the platform business and taking out expenses, we aim to mitigate the top line impact from the gradual runoff of the traditional portfolio. Next to that, we have made steady progress on our financial assets. We have established dedicated teams to manage these businesses who are responsible for maximizing their value through disciplined risk management and capital management actions. We have stopped new sales for a number of products in both The United States and The Netherlands as they do not longer fit in our strategic agenda. We have also taken concrete actions to improve our risk profile, already executing more than half of our plan to reduce interest rate risk in The United States. Furthermore, we took advantage of higher interest rates by implementing a new macro interest rate hedge. This is an important step towards expanding the dynamic hedge to our legacy variable annuity block in The United States. In addition, we have already achieved one third of targeted long term care rate increases. For the Dutch Life business, our aim is to turn it into a low risk cash generator, paying predictable, regular dividends while maintaining a high level of customer service. To this end, we have significantly reduced the sensitivity of the Solvency II ratio of the Dutch Life business to credit spread movements through improvements to our internal model. Furthermore, we have installed a quarterly remittance policy to ensure predictability of cash flows to the group. Let me now turn to the next slide and discuss further progress on sharpening our strategic focus. In small markets or markets where Aegon has subscale or niche positions, capital will be managed tightly with a bias to exit. Let me give you a few examples. Early this year, together with our joint venture partner, we decided to seize funding of GoBear, a digital financial supermarket. We also completed the sale of Stonebridge in The UK while Transamerica reached an agreement to sell its portfolio of fintech and Insurtech equity investments while continuing to work with the portfolio companies. The most significant transaction that we announced last year was the sale of our business in Central And Eastern Europe for €830,000,000 to the Vienna Insurance Group, VIG, and we are working together with VIG to close this transaction. As disclosed earlier, the Hungarian minister of the interior denied the intended acquisition by VIG on 04/06/2021. As part of the approval process, the Vienna Insurance Group had been in constructive talks with the responsible Hungarian Minister of Finance since January 2021. The decree of the Minister of the Interior was in contradiction with the course of the talks to that date. VIG is in the lead for obtaining the required regulatory approvals as is customary for this kind of transactions. We will continue to work with VIG and to support them where we can to close the transaction. Based on VIG's statements, we remain confident that the current situation will be resolved positively in the near future. Let me now explain how we are aligning our organization to the new strategy. We are adapting our organization and operating model to set us up for the successful implementation of our strategy, and we have developed a granular operating plan to make it happen. The plan is comprised of more than 1,100 detailed initiatives designed to improve the operating performance of our business by reducing costs, expanding margins and growing profitability. The link between the plans and their success is rhythm and cadence. We have shifted to a higher clock speed and conducted thorough talent reviews to ensure every leader has the competencies and skill set to fit the given assignment within our new strategy. Next to that, since the 2020, we have moved to monthly business performance reviews chaired by me. We realize that we are accountable to you on our journey and that we need to deliver. That is why we have moved back to quarterly disclosures as of this year. And we want to be held accountable because we are going to transform Aegon and because we see an opportunity to create value for our shareholders. We have set ourselves several targets that reflect our new strategy. The targets are ambitious, but given our sharpened strategic focus, the rigorous operating plan and an intensified operational rhythm, we are confident that we will be able to deliver these targets. In the next three years, we want to achieve four things. First, we will reduce our financial leverage to between 5,000,000,000 and €5,500,000,000 We have already reduced leverage in 2020 by not refining refinancing $500,000,000 of senior debt and expect to reduce leverage further in the next three years. Secondly, we will implement expense savings of EUR 400,000,000 compared to the base year 2019. Thirdly, we want to significantly increase free cash flow. Over the period 2021 to 'twenty three, we target between EUR 1,400,000,000.0 and EUR 1,600,000,000.0 over that period cumulatively. Finally, our ambition is to increase capital distributions to shareholders with a targeted dividend of around €0.25 per share over 2023. I'll come back to that in a moment. Let me now summarize our financial performance in 2020. Despite the impact of COVID-nineteen, we were able to report an operating result of €1,700,000,000 This result reflects the early benefits of our ambitious operating plan, which has had a good start. Expense savings initiatives led to a reduction in addressable expenses of more than €75,000,000 in 2020. We reduced expenses further in the first quarter of this year, and we are on track to deliver half of our 2023 target of €400,000,000 expense savings by the end of this year. Our free cash flows amounted to €530,000,000 for the full year 2020. We use these free cash flows to reduce leverage and pay dividends to our shareholders. We propose a final dividend for 2020 of €06 per common share today, bringing the 2020 full year dividend to €0.12 As indicated earlier, the rebasing of the dividend ensures that it is sustainable and well covered by the free cash flows that we generate even in reasonable stress scenarios. In principle, dividends are expected to grow in line with free cash flows from here. Over the next two years, we anticipate muted dividend growth as we prioritize deleveraging and expect to undertake management actions to improve and derisk the company. We expect a strengthened balance sheet and growing free cash flows to allow for a dividend of around €0.25 per share over twenty twenty three. Should there be surplus cash flow above and beyond that, then we would expect that to be returned to shareholders, most likely via share buybacks, unless we invested in value creating opportunities. With that, I turn to my last slide on our nonfinancial highlights. We believe that a solid ESG foundation is essential to long term value creation. Further integration of ESG objectives into the strategy is vital. Therefore, I have appointed a global head of corporate sustainability. His team will renew the global sustainability vision for Aegon by further integrating ESG considerations in our core business processes and our strategy. This new sustainability vision will build on the critical work we have completed so far. For instance, in 2020, we exceeded our target of 30% female representation across our worldwide cedar management. I'm happy to report that we increased our performance versus peers on the Net Promoter Score, a metric for customer satisfaction, and our employee engagement in 2020. Aegon's core business operations have been carbon neutral since 2016 through our ongoing efforts to reduce our operational carbon footprint and purchasing carbon offsets. In 2020, our operational carbon footprint was reduced by over 30%, in part due to the COVID-nineteen pandemic. We expect to further reduce our operational emissions as Aegon transitions to the new way of working over the coming years. In 2020, we also expanded the measurement of the carbon emissions associated with our investments. We are now measuring the carbon footprint of most of our corporate and sovereign fixed income investments. Finally, through our business, Aegon supports approximately 500 charities and good causes. AGON's donations in 2020 amounted to almost €10,000,000, a 5% increase compared to 2019. This brings me to my concluding remarks. I would like you to take away from this presentation that we have made early progress on our plans to transform Aegon, but the journey has only just begun. We will continue to drive our transformation and increase our speed of execution. And looking to the future, I'm confident in the strength of our business, our strategy and the unwavering commitment of our employees to continue delivering on our plans. Bill, over to you. Thank you, Lard. We now have the shareholder representation of this meeting. So before addressing your questions, please note that the attendance list of this meeting was drawn up. In this meeting, we have nine shareholders virtually present. They represent together with shareholders who have voted through e voting or voting proxy voting via a total of 1,355,778 thousand 802 votes. This number represents 65.83% of the voting shares and of the issued and outstanding capital as of registration date for this meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned, we offered shareholders the opportunity to submit written questions concerning items on the agenda prior to this meeting. In total, we have received 29 questions, which have been or will be addressed in the presentations or will be answered separately. We will answer the submitted questions first before addressing any live questions. I would like to ask the shareholders who would like to ask live questions to enter those now so we can address them immediately after the questions submitted in advance of the meeting. If feasible, please be so kind as to enter your questions in English. However, questions can be asked in Dutch and will be translated into English. In case your question is delayed due to technical issues, we will come back to it on Agenda Item nine, Any Other Business. We will now address the submitted written questions regarding agenda items two, three point one and three point two. The first question comes from Mr. Van der Graaf, a retail shareholder. In the context of Aegon's share price performance and the rebasing of dividends in 2020, he asked whether a share buyback can be expected in the reasonable future in the foreseeable future. Lard answered this question in his prepared remarks. The second question is also from Mr. Vanderhoff. He asked Lard Frieser where he sees Aegon in a few years. In his presentation, Lard has answered this question by explaining how he wants to turn Aegon into a more enduring high performance company. The third question comes from David Ehl, represented by Mark van Kraike in the context of Aegon identifying loss biodiversity as a material topic in its annual report and the fact that Aegon, The Netherlands, is a signatory to the Finance for Biodiversity pledge. VBEDAO asked Aegon to elaborate on the concrete actions related to biodiversity that will be implemented in 2021 and 2022. Lard, this one is for you. Thanks, Bill. Let me start by saying that our commitment let me start by saying that our commitment to addressing loss of biodiversity is evidenced at the group level through our responsible investment policy. The policy stipulates that Aegon believes that governments, companies, and investors have a responsibility to care for nature, the environment, water resources, and to preserve biodiversity. In our engagement efforts, we encourage companies to take measures on these matters. Our subsidiary, Aegon the Netherlands, has signed the pledge because they are a signatory to the International Responsible Business Covenant. This is a partnership between Dutch businesses, the government, unions and NGOs with the aim of promoting ESG best practices. As part of the covenant, an annual theme is selected by its signatories, which for 2021 is biodiversity. Aegon the Netherlands has joined the pledge in 2020 and supports the further development, collaboration, engagement, target setting and reporting on biodiversity in the light of creating collaborative impact. In 2021 and 2022, Aegon, The Netherlands, will focus on the following steps. Step number one, develop a vision for bio on biodiversity. We learned from climate change that it takes time to come to a vision on biodiversity that is fit for our purpose and on which we can act. We are now in the process of knowledge intake, internal meetings, and developing a vision on biodiversity and how to approach it. Step number two, engage with companies on issues around biodiversity. And key engagement focus is on the loss of biodiversity, including due to the impact of deforestation. Historically, Aegon the Netherlands has focused on deforestation due to palm oil production. The scope of engagement around deforestation has since widened, for example, the impact of meat and soy production in Brazil. Here, we work together with other organizations in collaborative engagement processes with the objective of having a positive impact on the behavior and actions of investee companies. Step number three, collaborate with the other members of the pledge. The network of other Finance for Biodiversity members is an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and to learn. It gives us more insight and will make us understand the challenges around the broad topic of biodiversity in a better, more concise and faster way. Bill? Thank you, Lord. We will now combine two questions from Humidion and Vivendiol on our ESG targets. Humidion, as represented by Martina Kregbos from MN and on behalf of APG Asset Management, has asked a general question on this topic. Vividio would like to know whether we, as a signatory to the Paris pledge for action, will commit to setting targets related to carbon footprint of our investments in line with the preferred 1.5 degrees Celsius scenario. Lard? Thanks, Bill. Historically, we have focused our ESG efforts on a subsidiary level, in line with the operating model that was used for the group until recently. So let me provide you with two examples of actions at subsidiary level. Aegon the Netherlands signed the Dutch climate agreement. This includes a number of measures to help The Netherlands as a country achieve a reduction of roughly 50% in emissions by 02/1930. Aegon UK announced its intention to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its default pension fund ranges by 02/1950. As indicated during my presentation, we have recently created the global corporate sustainability function. The team will focus on three key areas. Number one, setting a group level ambition against key ESG themes. Number two, enhancing sustainability reporting. And three, streamlining ESG governance throughout the group. These areas are critical in setting and supporting a more strategic approach to sustainability, which will feed into our overall corporate strategy. This will also incorporate a greater focus on group wide targets, reflecting our shift as a business from a federated model to a more aligned group. We made the first step towards a more group wide approach by publishing the carbon footprint of most of our corporate and sovereign fixed income investments as part of our commitment to TCFD. We look forward to discussing the progress that we expect to make on a group wide approach towards sustainability at next year's AGM or earlier when appropriate. Back to you, Bill. Thank you, Lard. The following question comes from Umedion and relates to the new global corporate sustainability team. They would like to know what Aegon believes will be the biggest sustainability challenges that the team will have to address and where Aegon stands right now in that regard. Lard, another one for you. Sure. Looking at our business environment, we see higher expectations on sustainability and ESG, and I expect that governmental and societal expectations of corporates will only increase. We must further strengthen our capability to constantly adapt to those expectations. And the main challenge is to move from a federated model whereby each business unit has its own sustainability approach to a more group wide approach while taking into account the expectations and requirements of the local markets in which in which we operate. Bill? Thank you, Lord. The next question is from on statements in our annual report regarding the measurement of cultural diversity. They give a compliment to Aegon the Netherlands for the work it is doing in this respect, together with the Central Agency for Statistics. Vividio asked Aegon to elaborate on the concrete actions and policy changes taken following the analysis by the central agency for statistics. Also, they would like to ask whether Aegon only looked at the presence of minority groups at its company or also at, for instance, drivers and barriers for attracting culturally diverse talents. Lard, back to you. Yeah. Thanks, Bill. With regard to the first question, following the CBS analysis, Aegon in The Netherlands began to identify specific targets aimed at increasing diversity of its employees to be more representative of the customers they serve. The three focus areas for these targets became gender diversity in the senior management population, cultural diversity and increasing the number of positions filled by people with disabilities. It is recognized that tracking progress of Aegon in Netherlands' target to increase cultural diversity in 2021 will be complicated by the CBS decision to no longer use Western and non Western designations in its analysis. But, nonetheless, Aegon the Netherlands is confident that the specific actions that are being taken will lead to an increase in the diversity of people hired and appointed. The specific actions include the underpinning digital learning program aimed at raising awareness of unconscious bias and providing practical tools to promote a greater sense of inclusion and inclusive decision making. Aegon the Netherlands has also made changes to the recruitment process to make adverts more inclusive and to increase the pool of diverse candidates applying for positions through the use of new recruitment search partners and platforms. In addition, employment positions have been made more accessible. Lastly, we introduced a career sponsorship program for high potential women as part of our talent management priorities. On the second question, tracking the impact of Aegon's inclusion and diversity approach, it is extremely important to ensure we are actually making a positive difference. Diversity targets are a key element of our journey. However, they're not the only priority. We recognize that as recognize that, as an organization, we must create an inclusive environment where diversity thrives and people feel they can be their authentic selves and are valued for the diversity of thought that they openly share. To this end, we recognize that diversity without inclusion will not provide the diversity of thought that we seek and will also and will not encourage talented people to work with us and stay. Therefore, our efforts balance the need to look at numbers and targets to address underrepresentation alongside the qualitative insights we get from our employees about what it is like to work at Aegon. Creating this environment helps us position Aegon as an employer that welcomes and retains talented people from different backgrounds and with different experience and strengths. Back to you, Bill. Thank you, Lark. I think we should also add that this is an area of focus from the Supervisory Board where there has been tremendous amount of interest in terms of developments that have taken place at Aegon in how we actually can improve diversity and focus in terms of our workforce and how it deals with our clients. The next question on the impact of digitalization comes from Eu Median. Could you elaborate on actions that Aegon plans to take to retain its workforce and develop the skills needed to keep up with the rapid innovations and technology? Lard, another one for you. Yes. Thank you. Digitization is indeed impacting our workforce. Technology has enabled us to create process efficiencies and reduce the manual work. On the other side, we also need employees to develop, maintain, and constantly optimize our digital solutions. And for quite some years, we have been investing in the development of digital capabilities in our workforce. We have launched digital innovation programs, global hackathons, leadership programs, and development programs for our employees. One of our global focus areas has been developing skills in data analytics to give us a competitive advantage. We have established strong, impactful analytical teams and are able to attract analytical young professionals. Furthermore, we are building our global execution muscle to improve the execution and implementation of our digital initiatives. Are there any more questions, Bill? Yes, Lard. There's more. The next question comes from European investors, VAA and VAA for short. They are represented by Sander Decker. Their question is as follows. The announcement transfer of Martin Erikshoven, who accepted the CEO role at Van Launschotte Kempen, triggers a search for a replacement candidate. Could Mr. Frise touch upon some of the skills, including those that are needed for Aegon's digital transformation, considered the most relevant candidate selection? Lard? Thank you, Bill. Let me start by thanking Martin for his valuable contributions to our company and by wishing him all the best in his new role. The process to identify a successor is underway, and the ideal candidate will obviously need to have the skills to drive forward Aegon's digital transformation. However, the role will require more. The candidate does not only need to have a track record in financial services, but also have insurance expertise and the capabilities to manage a portfolio of businesses. And this portfolio includes a financial asset, namely the Dutch LifeBook, for which we aim to maximize its value and ensure stable remittances while maintaining a high level of customer service and also strategic assets, which we aim to grow, and these are our mortgage business, the defined contribution pension business and our online bank, KNOP. To ensure implementation of our strategies and plans, we are looking for someone with an execution focus, strong talent management skills, and the capabilities and expertise to manage complex processes, including in the technology space. Further announcements will obviously be made when appropriate. So Will? Thank you, Lard. We have a further question relating to Aegon's transformation. The first one comes from VEB. One of the findings from Aegon's strategic review was the lack of a high performance culture. VEB asked Mr. Frise to substantiate this insight by providing examples of activities that need improvement and give an indication of the time and budget required for that. Lard? Yeah. Thank you, Bill. Culture changes always begin from the top. We have a new management team in place, which has taken already decisive steps to change the culture of the company. The intensified organizational rhythm will also accelerate the culture change. Examples of this intensified rhythm that I believe is required for a high performance culture are the monthly business reviews I talked about in my presentation and also the granular operational improvement plan we developed and that we are executing upon. And the latter is overseen by the Management Board on a weekly basis, chaired by me. Every Thursday afternoon, we have a session with the full Management Board going through the initiatives to discuss progress and remediate where needed. I'm comfortable that we will achieve structural cultural change, but we also need to recognize that this will take time. Bill? Thank you, Lard. The next question regarding strategy also comes from Vebe. They observed that NN Group and Athora announced their intention to potentially divest their asset management divisions. They ask, does Aegon perceive these businesses to be of strategic value when integrated into the Aegon Asset Management brand? If so, is Aegon open for M and A? Lard? Let me be clear. We are not involved in these situations. As said at the Capital Markets Day in December, large scale M and A is not a priority at this moment as we want to focus on executing our strategic plans that we announced at the Capital Markets Day. Aegon Asset Management is a core part of our strategy and has shown positive third party net deposits for nine consecutive years. This reflects Aegon Asset Management's competitive performance. Our focus for Asset Management is on delivering on our commitments of streamlining the organization and growing our third party and affiliate business. Bill? Thanks, Lard. The next question comes at the Umedion regarding Vernigen Aegon. They ask Aegon to elaborate on the ability for Vernigen Aegon to determine that special cause has risen in case of the executive board would evoke a two hundred and fifty day period to consider under Dutch law or a hundred and eighty day period to respond under the Dutch corporate governance code. The question is asked in response to a statement that Aegon made in its annual report on this topic. Lard, could you provide more clarification? I gladly do, Bill. Let me start by providing some context here. Vrenihing Aegon is the largest shareholder of Aegon NV and owns approximately 14% of our common shares and all common shares B. The voting rights agreement between Vrennering Ehom and Ehom provides that under normal circumstances, so except in the event of a special cause, the Verendringerichel may cast only one vote for every 40 common shares B it holds. In the event of a special cause, Verendringerichel may cast one vote for every common share and one vote for every common share B, bringing its total voting rights to 32.6%. A special cause may include, one, the acquisition of a 15% stake in Aegon two, an offer for Aegon or, number three, a proposed business combination. Under this same agreement, Vrenring Eicholm, acting at its own discretion, may determine that a special cause has arisen. This contractual right of Grenring Ehom will remain in place even in case the executive board of Aegon NV were to invoke a two fifty day period to consider or a one hundred and eighty day period respond time. And, similarly, the invocation of such periods by the Executive Board of Aegon NV does not imply that a special cause has arisen. The text, as included in Aegon's annual report, is meant to say that the invocation of the aforementioned periods does not change the right of the Vrainring Eichem to make use of its full voting rights. Bill? Thank you, Lord. We now have several questions addressed to Matt Reiter, our CFO, starting a question from mister Von der Graf. The question is what Matt believes Aegon needs to pay more attention to internally and what he is most worried about in Aegon. Matt? Thanks, Bill. We've indicated at our Capital Markets Day that we want to address four concerns from shareholders. First, the lack of strategic focus. Second, suboptimal capital allocation. Third, under delivery on targets. And fourth, a capital position that is too volatile and leveraged. We are taking actions to address this and let me mention a few that I'm personally involved in. First, we are improving Aegon's risk profile by reducing our exposure to the financial markets and reducing leverage. Second, we have done a detailed review of the assumptions in all our businesses in 2020. Following this review, we took several steps in the 2020 to add prudency in a couple of important U. S. Assumptions. While we could never rule out variances as a consequence of assumption changes, for future assumption reviews, we really are in an annual business as usual process. Third, we are taking a new approach to managing the company. We are tightening the operating framework. We are intensifying the operating rhythm of the group and improving the operational discipline within the company. Back to you, Bill. Thank you, Matt. The next question is on the assumption changes Aegon made in The United States in 2020. Bebe would like to know whether you believe that the updated books are fully in line with current market expectations, implying that no further write downs driven by assumption changes are to be expected soon. Matt? As you rightly point out, we have done a detailed review of the assumptions in our U. S. Business last year. Following this review, we took several steps in the 2020 to add prudency in a couple of important U. S. Assumptions. The IFRS long term interest rate assumption, the morbidity improvement assumption, the mortality assumption update mainly for universal life. While we could never rule out assumption changes as a consequence of new experience for future assumption reviews. We really are in an annual business as usual process. Thank you, Matt. The next question also comes from VAB. They point out that Aegon experienced a loss from fair value items of $576,000,000 in The United States in 2020, mainly driven by results of hedges. Could you describe in detail which underlying risk exposures were supposed to be hedged and why the macro hedge program proved to be unsuccessful? Matt? Thanks, Bill. During 2020, our hedging programs were effective for targeted risks and in protecting our capital position. As noted in the annual report, this fair value loss is mainly the result from hedges without accounting match and includes the macro equity hedge and unhedged items. The macro equity hedge is the biggest driver and contributed a loss of almost US300 million dollars Please also note that from the first quarter of twenty twenty one onwards, the running costs of the macro equity hedge are being reported in our operating result rather than in fair value items. On an annual basis, this will lead to a $200,000,000 reduction in fair value losses. Next to that, there are risks that we deliberately do not hedge and open positions can lead to fair value items. This includes, for instance, interest rate volatility risk on certain products. Here we find it too expensive to hedge this risk also because it tends to revert to the mean over time. Bill, back to you. Thank you, Matt. The next question from VBB is on the expansion of our dynamic hedge program through the legacy variable annuity book block. VB asks, could Aegon indicate how much earnings potentially it is, at the maximum willing to forego in exchange for higher capital ratio stability? Matt? Yes. As indicated during our first quarter twenty twenty one results, we are making good progress on being able to fully dynamically hedge the legacy block of variable annuities in The United States. Our focus is on reducing the economic risks of this block of business and improving the predictability of cash flows from the book. We will provide further details with our second quarter results in August. Please note that the dynamic hedge covers both equity risk and interest rate risk. Bill? Thank you, Matt. The last question on these agenda items is for you, and it's regarding IFRS 17. VEB would like to know how significant the potential impacts from the introduction of IFRS 17 could be, for instance, on available owned funds? Also, ask you to confirm that the new IFRS standards will not have implications for Aegon's capital allocation framework. Thank you. The transition to IFRS 17 could have significant impact on our equity and results as measured under IFRS. For Solvency II, which has own funds as a measure of equity, if you will, there will be no impact from the transition to IFRS 17. And as a result, we currently expect no material impact from the introduction of IFRS 17 on our capital allocation framework. We are currently preparing for the transition to IFRS 17, including dry runs, and will update the market on the expected impacts in advance of the formal implementation date. Bill, back to you. Thank you, Lord. The last question on these agenda items is addressed to the Supervisory Board. As noted in the report of the Supervisory Board, we have discussed financial crime themes, including anti money anti money laundering regulations, know your customers, and ultimate beneficial owner requirements. VEB asked, based on these discussions, does the Supervisory Board believe that Aegon has a robust framework in place and is in operating in full compliance with the fifth EU Anti Money Laundering Directive, which came into force per January 2020. I'll answer this one myself. The Supervisory Board believes that Aegon has a robust financial crime framework in place. The framework has been updated to reflect the latest legislation, including the fifth anti money laundering directive. All Aegon business units attest to their compliance with the framework and reviews, and audits are performed regularly. When gaps or flaws are found, these are addressed and followed by by the compliance function and or the audit function until closure. This is reported on a quarterly basis to the Supervisory Board. We will now address the live questions asked via the chat. I will check with the moderator if there are any questions any further questions. And indeed, I do. I have one from Mr. Vanderkoff. It's actually for Lard, Mr. Fries. You touched upon Aegon's strategic parameters perimeter in your presentation. There are some countries which where Aegon is small, and I didn't hear which I didn't hear about. What does Aegon plan to do in India, which is a large country and offers opportunities? Does Aegon want to withdraw from India, or does Aegon want to grow in India? Lard? Thank you, Bill, and thank you, mister Von for your question. So thank you, mister Von Negraf, for your question. We focus indeed on three core markets, The US, The UK, and The Netherlands, and three growth markets, the Iberian Peninsula, so Spain and Portugal, Brazil and China, and one global asset manager. So all our companies and ventures outside of the core perimeter, which are subscale or active in smaller markets, we want to manage these with tight capital and with a bias to exit them. In India, specifically referring to your question, in India, we recently closed the unprofitable and subscale traditional sales channels as the company will focus fully on the digital distribution channel going forward. This offers us with optionality while limiting the capital required to run the business. Bill, back to you. Thank you, Lark. I'm just checking if there's any further questions. It appears there are no further questions on these agenda items. We now move to Agenda Item 3.2, the annual accounts 2020 and the report of our independent auditor. We already discussed the financials of 2020 and related questions. Therefore, I would like to ask Hertjian Hoehrlingk from PwC, our independent auditor, to make a few comments. Please note that Aegon has released PwC from the obligation to observe confidentiality and to allow them to comment on the audit of and the auditor's report on the financial statements of Aegon. Hertjian? Hertjian? Dear shareholders, I'm pleased to provide you with some insights into our audit of Aegon's 2020 financial statements. We issued an unqualified audit opinion on these financial statements. First, I would like to provide you with certain details of our audit. The selective maturity level determines the scope and depth of our audit work. We believe that adjusted shareholders' equity has become a more relevant and suitable benchmark to determine our maturity level due to the increasing focus of stakeholders on capital generation in combination with the nature of Aegon's business and the volatility of IFRS earnings. As of 2020, we therefore determine our maturity level based on this benchmark, resulting in a maturity level of €150,000,000 for our 2020 audit. We also take potential misstatements into account that, in our judgment, are material for qualitative reasons. We agreed with the Supervisory Board that we would report to them misstatements identified during our audit above €6,000,000 We established our scope based on the way Aegon is organized. We performed audit work on the most important regional units where Aegon has operations. In The Americas, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom, we performed full scope audits due to their relative size, while in the other relevant units, we performed audit procedures over specific account balances. As this year was marked by the COVID-nineteen pandemic, which impacted Aegon and our audit, I will pay specific attention to this in my remarks. As the group auditor, we issued instructions to the component audit teams in our group audit scope. These instructions included our risk analysis, materiality, scope of the work and other relevant topics. We also included specific requirements in our instructions to understand and address the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic, including the risk arising from working in a remote environment. We conducted virtual site visits and held regular virtual meetings with the component auditors. During our meetings, we discussed, among others, the significant accounting and audit issues identified, the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic and the audit procedures performed in this respect and other matters which could be of relevance for the audit of the group financial statements. We also performed a review of selected working papers via remote access to our component teams' audit files. In addition to the meetings with the component teams, we also held virtual meetings with various members of the local AGOL management teams responsible for the main components. During these meetings, we discussed relevant business developments, including the impact that the COVID-nineteen pandemic and the remote working environment had on processes and controls in order to obtain a good understanding as a group audit team of the local situation and the local impact of the pandemic. By performing these procedures, combined with additional procedures at the group level, we obtained sufficient audit evidence on the group's financial information as a whole to provide the basis for our opinion on the financial statements. I would like to say a few words in respect of our focus in our audit of the financial statements on the risk of fraud and the risk of non compliance with laws and regulations. Together with our forensic specialists, we evaluated fraud risk factors to consider whether those factors indicated a risk of material misstatement due to fraud. We also considered the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic on the control environment. We addressed the risk of management overrides for internal controls, including evaluating whether there was evidence of management bias that may represent a risk of material misstatement due to fraud. We evaluated the design and the implementation of internal controls that mitigate fraud risk and, where relevant, we tested the operating effectiveness of those controls. We also tested certain manual journal entries, evaluated key estimates and judgments for potential management bias, taking into account the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic and incorporated elements of unpredictability in the selection of audit procedures that were performed this year. In respect of our focus on the risk of noncompliance with laws and regulations, we obtained sufficient audit evidence regarding compliance with the provision of the laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. For those laws and regulations where compliance may be fundamental to the operating aspect of the business, to Aegon's ability to continue its business or to avoid material penalties, we performed specific procedures to identify noncompliance that may have a material effect on the financial statements. No matters were identified which needed to be reported by us to those charged with governance. Next, I would like to address the key audit matters, which are the most important matters we have identified in our order plan and in our audit work during the year. We identified four key audit matters in 2020. The three key audit matters that we also reported in 2019 are mostly related to the nature of the group and are therefore expected to occur year over year. We took the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic into consideration in the audit procedures we performed over these three recurring key audit matters. We also included one new key audit matter in 2020, which I will describe in more detail in a moment. Our key audit matters have been selected because they contain a significant level of management judgment and, as a result, are more susceptible to material misstatements. The first key audit matter concerns the valuation of certain assets and liabilities arising from insurance contracts. These assets and liabilities involve the use of complex valuation models and significant judgment in respect of the valuation. The second key audit matter concerns the valuation of certain Level three investments. This matter is related to investments that are illiquid and or have significant unobservable inputs and thus requires significant management judgment in determining the valuation. The third key audit matter concerns uncertainties in policyholder claims and litigation. The insurance industry continues to face consumer activism and regulatory scrutiny over product design and selling practices. Has encountered a key audit matter concerns the impairment of assets. Given the significance of the ongoing COVID-nineteen pandemic and the resulting economic impacts as well as the new strategy presented by Aegon at the December Capital Markets Day, we gave additional attention to the risk of the impairment of assets, which we therefore included as a new key audit matter, the information included in annual report. Based on our knowledge and understanding obtained during our audit, we have concluded that this information is complete. We have already answered the questions regarding agenda item 3.2. We now move to agenda item 3.3, the remuneration report 2020. Then Noetherboom, chair of the Supervisory Board Remuneration Committee will present the Repospora 2019. The total fees for all SB members were lower compared to last year. This was because more meetings were held by video conference in response to COVID-nineteen lowering the 2020 travel fees. The new executive board remuneration policy was approved by our shareholders during last year's AGM. The main changes were made to variable compensation. One, the performance indicators must contain prospective three year performance horizon while the remainder has a one year performance horizon three, cover the seven mandatory performance indicator categories which are shareholders, capital, earnings, growth, stakeholders, ESG and strategy. The vesting schedule has been made more transparent. It moved from a transvesting schedule with eight different payments duration paid in shares was increased from 50% to 66.6%. The Executive Board members received pension contributions that are somewhat higher compared to NL based employees of similar age about 10% to 15% higher. This is done to achieve a competitive total compensation level. Please note, the Supervisory Board will consider discontinuing the additional growth allowance for new Executive Board members. However, while ensuring that total compensation level stays competitive and including this as a policy change in the next update of the Executive Board's remuneration policy. In addition, Mr. Frieser received a sign on arrangement when joining Aegon in March 2020 that was split between 50% in cash and 50% in Aegon shares. Of this amount, 55% has been paid in 2020. The remainder will be paid in later years subject to continued employment, 20% in 2021, 14% in 2022 and nine percent in 2023, sorry, and 3% in the regions, including the market value of Mr. Friesen, making the transfer from a direct competitor to Aegon more attractive and compensation for loss of income during the transfer period. The variable compensation awards for all AB members were below target mainly driven by lower results on Aegon's financial performance indicators, see next slide. The Aegon performance results were scored on a performance scale, which was used to fund the twenty twenty bonus pools within 50% for threshold, the minimum, 100% for target level and 150% for the maximum level. The twenty twenty Aegon performance result on this performance scale was 57% compared to 79% in 2019. Converted to the performance scale that applied to the variable compensation of the executive board members, 80% for the target level, the 2020 Aegon performance result was 54% compared to 67% last year. Now we look at the target and result details for Large Friesen. Strategy development, the target was to deliver a new group strategy, the result was 100%. We delivered a well received and broadly supported group strategy at the Capital Market Day, despite high operational pressure during the preparation caused by COVID-nineteen, appointed a Chief Transformation Officer and successfully found buyer for the CEE business and Stonebridge implemented several measures to improve balance sheet strength. Next one is the COVID-nineteen crisis management. The target: safeguard continuity of the company financially, operationally and take measures to limit impact on employees. Result 100%. We quickly expanded the continuous monitoring of financial and operational impacts through the global crisis management structure, which ensured operational resilience and continuity of client servicing. Employee engagement increased from 67% to 72% at year end, delivered a plan on the future ways of working in the office and at home and the high level of compliance was maintained during and after the switch to working from home. Regulatory solvency levels of the three main business units ended the year above their operating levels and well above their regulatory requirements. On sustainable organization, target was to develop a granular operating plan, which addresses reducing costs, expanding margins, growing profitability and organizational health. Result 100%. We delivered a granular operating plan with over 1,100 initiatives and over 15,000 milestones focused on the transformation of Aegon and improving its organizational health, which was fully integrated in the midterm financial planning, shifted the company to intense rhythm of execution. The results of Alex Weinhant. Strategy execution. The target execution of the three projects that were deemed key for a successful execution of Aegon's previous strategy 2019 to 2021. Results 54%. One project was delivered on target, one was successful but behind schedule and the last did not meet its minimum target due to changes in priority. Next target, handover to successor. The target contains two personal milestones for a successful handover to the new CEO. Result 95%. Delivered strong and complete handover to the new CEO in difficult circumstances due to the COVID-nineteen. Next target is sustainable organizations. Target measures a combination of ESG related goals through personal goals on employee engagement and inclusion and diversity. Result 80. Employee engagement increased from 67% to 74% mid year and action plans related to inclusion and diversity were completed. Percentage of women in senior management positions increased from 29% to thirty two percent. Then we go to the detailed results for MET. Finance strategy execution, target improved quality of financial management information and business control oversight. Result 100%. MET completed all milestones and provided important financial management information to support the new group strategy and granular operating plan. Finance transformation, next target, deliver finance transformation plan including IFRS nine and seventeen implementation. Result 100%. MEPT delivered all milestones within budgets and created additional efficiencies. On sustainable organization, targets, employee engagement, governance during CEO transition and control environment, result 100%. Employee engagement increased in both the finance function and corporate center. High levels of government were safeguarded during the transition and the control environment result exceeded its target level. On this slide, you can see our considerations for the future remuneration policy. Thank you for your attention. Back to you, Will. Thank you, Ben. Prior to this meeting, we received a question from Mr. Van der Graaf regarding agenda item 3.3. He has several observations, which I will summarize. He believes he is very critical of the functioning of the Supervisory Board in light of the underperformance of the Aegon shares in recent years. He believes that the members of the Supervisory Board have taken little or no action to address the situation while continuing to receive their fees. He believes that the remuneration policy for the Supervisory Board and also the Executive Board is too generous. He asked whether it would be an idea to structural structurally, significantly, downwardly adjust the remuneration of the members of the Supervisory Board. Ben? Thank you, Bill. I'll pass this one to you. Aegon Supervisory Board obviously recognizes that the company's share price performance had been disappointing over the years. That is why we support the strategy of Aegon's management aimed at turning Aegon into a more enduring high performance company. On your suggestion, no, we will not consider a Supervisory Board as compensated for the time spent in performing its oversight of management. To ensure its independence, its remuneration is not tied to the performance of the company. Please note that last year, the SB remuneration policy was up for vote at the AGM and was agreed to with a significant majority of the votes from shareholders, 99% in favor. Bill, back to you. Thank you, Ben. We will now address the live questions asked via the chat. I will check with the moderator if there are any further questions. It appears that we have no further questions under this agenda item. So we will now, prior to yes. Ladies and gentlemen, prior to this annual general meeting, our shareholders have been asked have been enabled to cast their votes either by granting a proxy or by using the evoting system. Furthermore, the option to vote live during the meeting has been enabled. We will now show you how you can vote live. The voting app displays the following options: for, against, and withheld. After having voted, the display will show your vote. If you want to change your vote, you can do so up until the voting is closed, which will be after agenda item eight. Agenda item 3.3 is subject to an advisory vote. If you vote for, you advise in favor of the Remuneration Report 2020. If you vote against, you advise against the report. The voting results will be shown at the end of this meeting. We now move to Agenda Item 3.4, the adoption of the Annual Accounts 2020. Questions regarding the Annual Accounts 2020 were addressed previously. Let me check with the moderator if we have any additional questions regarding the from the chat. While I'm waiting, I would like to remind you the voting is open during the entire meeting and will be closed after the last voting item on the agenda, Agenda Item eight. It appears we have no further questions. We now move to Agenda Item 3.5, approval of the final dividend 2020. In the annual report 2020 published on 03/18/2021, Aegon announced its proposal for final 2020 dividend of €06 per common share and €0.15 per common share B, in line with the group's dividend policy, which can be found on Page four zero seven of the 2020 Integrated Annual Report. If approved and in combination with the interim dividend paid over the 2020, Aegon's total dividend over 2020 will amount to EUR0.12 per common share and €0.3 per common share B. Prior to this meeting, we received a question from Mr. Von der Graf regarding Agenda Item 3.5 on the impact of rebasing of our dividend for our shareholders. Lard already addressed this in his presentation earlier in this meeting. We will now address the live questions asked via the chat. I will check with the moderator if there are any further questions. Appears there are no further questions on this item. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been Aegon's independent auditor since 2014. At the AGM in May 2019, Furthermore, the engagement and interaction with PwC's global partners are considered to be good. On that basis, and to safeguard an efficient transition to the IFRS 17 accounting standards in 2023. Now move on to agenda item 5.2. We propose that the Supervisory Board members be released from liability for their duties to the extent the exercise of such duties is reflected in the Annual Report 2020 or has otherwise been disclosed to shareholders the composition of the Supervisory Board. We'll first discuss agenda items 6.1, 6.2, six point three and six point four, after which we'll address questions submitted regarding these agenda items. We propose Donna Young to be reappointed as member of the Supervisory Board for a term of two years as of 06/03/2021 until the end of the AGM to be held in 2023. We propose to re of the AGM to be held in 2025. The supervisory board proposes to reappoint William Connolly in view of the constructive and balanced way in which he undertakes his role as chairman of the board and his sound judgment and decisive and decisiveness. More information regarding Bill is available in the agenda in Annex two. With the organization. More information regarding Mark Ellman is available in Annex three. We would also like to propose the appointment of a new Supervisory Board member, Mr. Jack McGarry, for a term of four years as of 06/03/2021, until the end of the AGM to be held in 2025. We propose to appoint Jack because of his broad international and financial service experience and his extensive financial video in which Jack will introduce himself. Hi. My name is Jack McGarry, and I reside in the state of Maine in The United States. I live with my wife Sally of forty years, and we're fortunate enough to have our two grown sons who live nearby. I enjoy golf, cycling, and snowboarding in the winter. I'm a forty year veteran of the insurance industry including thirty years holding leadership positions with Chief Financial Officer of Unum Group. Joining Aegon's supervisory board gives me the opportunity to stay connected to an industry I've devoted my career to and to contribute my expertise and operational experience to Aegon's transformation and growth. Having worked internationally, I understand the complexities of leading businesses in The US and The UK and the opportunities and challenges that come with navigating through macro and microeconomic influence. Prior to this meeting, we received several questions regarding agenda items point one, six point two, six point three and six point four. The first question comes from VAB and relates to diversity and inclusion. According to the VAB, Aegon is currently lacking diversity in terms of age and geographical backgrounds of its Supervisory Board members. They ask, what will Aegon do to improve the level of diversity on a Supervisory Board level? Professional and geographical background as well as experience being active or retired for the individual members. For the qualifications of the Supervisory Board as a whole, we look at many aspects in experience and knowledge. The Supervisory Board continuously reflects on its composition and engages with potential candidates if deemed required to continue to fulfill its fiduciary duties. The current composition of the superintendent actively sound the alarm during the period of the then executive board, and why was there no more pressure on the executive board regarding the interest of shareholders? Does she now think differently in this regard, and is she ready to act if necessary? How can shareholders trust that she will be more critical and active than in the past? I will answer this one myself. Donna is based in The United States and is following the live webcast and was not able to participate live. Her answer is as follows. Aegon's Supervisory Board recognizes that the company's share price performance has been disappointing over the years. We welcome the new strategic focus aimed at improving Aegon's performance and increasing value for customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. The Supervisory Board has regularly been updated on the development of Aegon's new strategy. In its oversight role, the Supervisory Board has evaluated, challenged, and advised on each step. I, referring to Donna Young, played an active role in this as a member of the Board and Chair of the Risk Committee, in which my extensive knowledge of the Aegon organization and my experience from other nonexecutive boards was very helpful. The Supervisory Board will continue its close oversight of the company and has full confidence in the leadership team's ability to execute and transform Aegon. The next question from Mr. Vandergraaf for Donna Young is, what have you achieved while performing your oversight functions in recent years that someone else could not have done? Again, I will respond on behalf. I think that I have been able to draw upon my extensive experience as a former CEO in the financial service industry and not opt for fresh blood in the Supervisory Board. Again, will answer on Donna's behalf. The Supervisory Board and I are fully supportive of Aegon's new strategy. Now that the plan is set, I hope to be able to contribute to the most important phase during the next term, the successful execution. I am very excited for the opportunity for Ante to be able to continue my role. I will contribute based upon my knowledge of the Aegon organization, my knowledge from other organizations like governance, board succession planning, and board composition. The next question from Mr. Vandergraaf is regarding my own reelection. He asked, I read in the annual report that you don't own any shares of Aegon. Why have you not bought Aegon shares even at the very low price level of recent times? Do you think that's too risky as an investment? Do I have to infer from this that you don't have that much faith in Aegon? First of all, as also noted in equity related compensation. These measures are designed to ensure the independence of Supervisory Board members and to strengthen the overall effectiveness of Aegon's corporate governance. Apart from that, the Supervisory Board, including myself, have full confidence in the new strategy and the leadership team. The next question from Mr. Grand Degrove is for Jack McGarry. I would like to know why you aspire to this position of Aegon and how you intend to make a seat. How will you demonstrate that after your appointment? Jack is following the live webcast, but is not able to participate. Hence, I will provide the answer on his behalf. His answer is as follows. First of all, thank you for your question and your interest in Aegon. I hope you've been able to see the video just now where I introduced myself. So, with the risk of overdoing it, let me explain what I hope to bring to Aegon. I have over forty years' experience in the insurance industry, including thirty years holding leadership positions within the Unum Group, a provider of group protection products, both The United States and in The UK. I was responsible for several large operating divisions for Unum. In the last five years of my tenure, I was the CFO of Unum Group. I worked internationally, understand the complexities of leading businesses in The U. S. And The U. K, as well as the challenges that come with the macro and micro economic influences, regulatory change and cultural differences. Because of this, I have in-depth knowledge of the insurance industry and substantial expertise in the fields of transformation by outsourcing, transactional processes, automation, implementation of platforms for accounting, financial planning and analysis, and modeling. I am confident that I bring these elements to Aegon in a constructive and helpful manner as a member of the Supervisory Board. This concludes the response from Mr. McGarry. As chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee, let me add that the Supervisory Board looks forward to working with Jack. His experience and in-depth knowledge of the insurance industry provides him with an integral perspective on managing an insurance company. We believe this will be valuable to Aegon and its Supervisory Board. These were the questions submitted prior to the meeting. I will now check with the moderator if there's any further questions submitted. It appears there are no further questions. So I will now proceed to agenda item seven, composition of the executive board. We propose to reappoint Matthew Ryder as member of the executive board for a term of four years as of 06/03/2021, so until the end of the AGM to be held in 2025. Matt Ryder has demonstrated leadership and commitment to improving Aegon's financial performance and his extensive managerial and financial expertise is of great value while Aegon executes on its strategic plans. More information regarding Matt Rider is available in the agenda in Annexes 5A and 5B. Prior to this meeting, we received one question from Mr. Vandergraaf regarding agenda item 7.1. He believes a second term for Matt Rider is well deserved. He wonders whether there is something Matt would like to pay extra attention to in the near future and what would he like to do differently? Mr. Van der Graaf asked, what do you think you can deliver in terms of added value in your next term? Matt, this is one for you. Sure, Bill. Question. First of all, thank you very much for the kind words on my proposed reappointment. As I said at the Capital Markets Day, we want to reduce the risk profile of the Group and strengthen the balance sheet. Being the CFO, these will be my main focus areas for my second term. Progress has been encouraging so far as for example demonstrated by the completion of more than half of the actions to reduce interest rate risk in The U. S. Having said that, a lot of work still is to be done. For example, I'm currently involved on a weekly basis in further hedging of the variable annuity business in The U. S. We will update the market on this topic with the second quarter results. Back to you, Bill. Thank you, Matt. Let me add that over the years, Aegon has benefited from Matt's deep knowledge and broad experience in the financial services industry. Matt has demonstrated leadership and commitment in building and maintaining Aegon's strong financial profile. Matt continues to play a leading role in improving Aegon's financial performance and executing Aegon's strategic plans. I will now check with the moderator if we have any further questions. It appears we do not. So I will now move on to Agenda Item eight. We will now address the cancellation, issuance and acquisition of shares. Let me begin to briefly cover all four proposals of Item eight before taking your questions. Firstly, we propose that you approve the proposal to cancel common shares and common share B as described on Page six of the agenda of this meeting. This regard shares which have been repurchased by the company in connection with the share buyback program that followed the 2020 interim dividend distribution. Secondly, we propose that you approve the proposal to authorize the Executive Board to issue common shares with or without preemptive rights, which is also described on Page six of the agenda. This resolution will replace the authorization granted to the Board in 2020. Thirdly, it is proposed that the shareholders authorize the Executive Board issue common shares in connection with the rights issue. The proposal is described on Pages six and seven of the agenda. The authorization is limited to 25% of the issued capital and may only be used to safeguard or conserve the capital position of the company. The rights issue will be conducted in line with market practice providing eligible existing shareholders the right to subscribe for the new shares in proportion to their shareholding to prevent dilution. Upon adoption, this resolution will replace the authorization granted in 2020. And finally, we proposed that the shareholders adopt the resolution to authorize the Executive Board to acquire shares in the company. This proposal is described on Page seven of the agenda. Upon adoption, this resolution will replace the authorization granted in 2020. We didn't receive any questions regarding these items, agenda items prior to this meeting. But again, I will check with the moderator if there's any further questions. It appears we do not have any further questions. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last voting item on the agenda. Within a few moments, we will close the live voting. Please submit your votes now if you have not already done so. The voting is now closed. After the next agenda item, any other business, we will show the voting results for all voting items. Under any other business, under we have under agenda we have under agenda nine, we have received a question from mister Vandergraaf. He asked, why is the shareholders meeting being held on Thursday afternoon instead of a Friday morning? Due to the coronavirus, the shareholder meeting is now inaccessible to shareholders for the second year in a row and can only be followed digitally. Will there be another physical shareholder meeting next year? I will answer this question myself. We have moved to the afternoon to allow our U. S. Participants to follow the webcast real time. For the change to Thursday, this is merely driven by agendas, and you should not read anything into it. We do anticipate continuing including virtual elements going forward, like real time voting, resulting in a hybrid setup for the meeting. At the moment, a virtual meeting is only possible under the temporary act, COVID nineteen, Justice and Safety, If and once it is possible on the basis of the Dutch Civil Code in the future, AGON may, in accordance with the then applicable law, decide to hold future AGMs virtually. Regardless of the form, we will ensure that proactive dialogue with our shareholders will be made possible in the best manner. Before we come to the conclusion of the meeting, I would like to ask the moderator if there's any further questions. There appears to be no further questions. Nevertheless, if you do have any further questions and wish to continue dialogue regarding this AGM, please reach out to our Head of Investor Relations, Jan Willen Weidema. Since there are no further questions, we will now show the voting results. Bike, could you please read out the voting results for each agenda item? Certainly. With respect to agenda item 3.3, the remuneration report and advisory vote, 97.99% has voted in favor of the resolution, 2.01% against. Agenda item 3.4, the adoption of the annual accounts 2020, 99.91% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.09% against. The final dividend 2020, 99.74 percent has voted in favor for the resolution, 0.26% against. Then agenda item number four, the appointment of the auditor. 99.9% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.1% against. Item 5.1, release from liability for the executive board, 98.7% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.3% against. Item number 5.2, release from liability for the Supervisory Board, 98.69% has voted in favor for the resolution, 1.31% against. We arrive at agenda item number 6.1, the reappointment of Mrs. Young. 99.2% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.8% against. Item number 6.2, the reappointment of Mr. Connolly, 98.72% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.28% against. Item number 6.3, the reappointment of Mr. Elman, 99.07% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.93% against. Item number 6.4, the appointment of Mr. McGarry, 99.2 has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.8% against. Item number 7.1, the reappointment of Mr. Ryder, 99.8% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.2% against. That concludes. You, Beaker. Not yet. Not yet. Because we arrived at No. 8.1, agenda item 8.1, the cancellation of common shares, 99.89% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.11% against. Item No. 8.2, the authorization to issue common shares, 88.61 has voted in favor of the resolution, 11.39% against. Item number 8.3, the authorization to issue shares in connection with the rights issue, 97.79% has voted in favor of the resolution, 2.221 against. Finally, authorization to acquire shares in the company, 99.6% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.4% against. Back to you, Will. Thank you, Bike. I now establish that the meeting has voted in favor of the Remuneration Report 2020, that the meeting has adopted the annual accounts 2020 and approved the final dividend over 2020. I established that the meeting has appointed PricewaterhouseCooper accountants and Wei as independent auditors for the annual accounts 2021, 2022 and 2023 and that the meeting has released the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for their duties performed during 2020. I establish that the meeting has reappointed Donna Young, Mark Ellman, and myself as members of the Supervisory Board and appoint Jack McGarry as a member of the Supervisory Board. I establish that the meeting has reappointed Matt Ryder as a member of the Executive Board for another term of four years. I establish that the meeting has approved the proposal to cancel common shares and common shares B authorized the Executive Board to issue common shares with or without preemptive rights, to issue shares in connection with a rights issue and to acquire shares in the company. I would like to congratulate Jack McGarry on his appointment to the Supervisory Board. Jack, also on behalf of the other members of the Supervisory Board, congratulations. We look forward to having you on board. And I would like to congratulate Donna Young, Mark Ellman and Matt Ryder on their respective reappointments. I would also like to thank the shareholders for their trust in me by approving my reappointment. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes Aegon's twenty twenty one Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Thank you very much for your continued support and for your active participation prior to and during this meeting, in particular under these extraordinary circumstances. We have tried to facilitate a more engaging and open dialogue with our shareholders through a virtual means. I hope that the circumstances will allow us to facilitate physical attendance again at next year's AGM. In the meantime, I wish you all the best, and stay safe and healthy. I now close this meeting.

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