THE HAGUE, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aegon announces that its Supervisory Board intends to propose the appointment of Lard Friese as Chief Executive Officer to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. He will join the company as CEO-designate effective March 1, 2020 and succeed Alex Wynaendts at the AGM to be held on May 15, 2020.

Mr. Friese joins Aegon from NN Group where he currently is Chief Executive Officer. He has close to 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, including at Aegon between 1993 and 2003. The intended appointment has been approved by the company’s regulators and positively advised upon by Aegon’s works council.

Statement of William Connelly, Chairman Supervisory Board

“We are very pleased to announce our intention to appoint Lard as Aegon’s new Chief Executive Officer after a thorough selection process from a strong bench of candidates. Lard is an outstanding leader with a proven track record and extensive experience in the insurance sector, including ten years at Aegon. He has led a wide range of businesses and inspired teams to achieve market‑leading positions.

Following 11 years under Alex’s leadership, in which the company has undergone a successful strategic and financial transformation, we started a succession process in November last year. The company is now optimally positioned for the next phase of development, and Lard’s intended appointment is a natural next step in building a sustainably growing and profitable business. The Supervisory Board is very grateful for Alex’s continued leadership and expresses its gratitude for his commitment and enormous contribution to Aegon over more than two decades.”

Statement of Alex Wynaendts, Chief Executive Officer

“It has been a great privilege to lead Aegon during these past 11 years and to work with so many dedicated colleagues around the world to help our nearly 30 million customers secure their financial futures. I am very proud that we have successfully transformed Aegon and the company is now well positioned to realize its full potential. This creates a natural moment for me to hand over to my successor, who I welcome back to Aegon. I look forward to working together with my colleagues on executing on our strategic agenda until our AGM in 2020.”

Mr. Wynaendts joined Aegon in 1997 and was appointed as a member of the company’s Executive Board in 2003. He became Chief Operating Officer in April 2007, and was appointed CEO and Chairman of Aegon’s Executive Board the following year.

Statement of Lard Friese

“I am delighted to be joining Aegon as the next Chief Executive Officer at an exciting time for the business. Aegon has a long history of innovation, developing valued-added products and services for its customers, and well-known brands which provide financial security for people across the globe. I look forward to working together with the management team to fully capitalize on the company’s opportunities.”

Mr. Wynaendts will work closely together with Mr. Friese from March onwards to ensure a seamless leadership transition, and he will remain available as advisor to the company until September 30, 2020.

About Aegon

Aegon’s roots go back 175 years – to the first half of the nineteenth century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an international company, with businesses in more than 20 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Today, Aegon is one of the world’s leading financial services organizations, providing life insurance, pensions and asset management. Aegon’s purpose is to help people achieve a lifetime of financial security. More information on aegon.com.

Forward-looking statements

The statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, could, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ materially from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following:

• Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• Changes in the performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, such as with regard to:
  – The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in Aegon’s fixed income investment portfolios;

  – The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds; and
  – The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain public sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of government exposure that Aegon holds;

• Changes in the performance of Aegon’s investment portfolio and decline in ratings of Aegon’s counterparties;
• Consequences of an actual or potential break-up of the European monetary union in whole or in part;
• Consequences of the anticipated exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and potential consequences of other European Union countries leaving the European Union;
• The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
• Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon’s insurance products;
• Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to meet their obligations;
• Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or rapidly changing interest rate levels;
• Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;
• Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;
• Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;
• Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon’s operations’ ability to hire and retain key personnel, taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
• Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;
• Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US federal or state level financial regulation or the application thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Insurer (G-SII);
• Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among other things, the type of products Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;
• Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;
• Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;
• Lowering of one or more of Aegon’s debt ratings issued by recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action may have on Aegon’s ability to raise capital and on its liquidity and financial condition;
• Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings of Aegon’s insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;
• The effect of the European Union’s Solvency II requirements and other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is required to maintain;
• Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
• As Aegon’s operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on the proper functioning of information technology, operational risks such as system disruptions or failures, security or data privacy breaches, cyberattacks, human error, failure to safeguard personally identifiable information, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including with respect to third parties with which we do business may disrupt Aegon’s business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;
• Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;
• Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon’s products;
• Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise, which may affect Aegon’s reported results, shareholders’ equity or regulatory capital adequacy levels;
• Aegon’s projected results are highly sensitive to complex mathematical models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and other dynamic systems subject to shocks and unpredictable volatility. Should assumptions to these models later prove incorrect, or should errors in those models escape the controls in place to detect them, future performance will vary from projected results;
• The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon’s ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;
• Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon’s business; and
• Aegon’s failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving and excess cash and leverage ratio management initiatives.

This document contains information that qualifies, or may qualify, as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Aegon’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

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Source: Aegon

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