Aegon reveals results for first quarter 2022

Dutch insurance group Aegon has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, a period described by chief executive Lard Friese as “unprecedented in many ways”.  

Here are Aegon’s numbers for the three-month span:

According to the insurer, its €412 million net result in the period is partly attributed to the €372 million book gain from the sale of the group’s businesses in Hungary. More on that transaction here.

As for Aegon’s higher operating result, the company offered this explanation: “Operating result increases by 7% compared with the first quarter of 2021 to €463 million, as a result of an improvement in claims experience in the United States, the positive contribution from growth initiatives, increased fees from higher equity markets compared with the first quarter of last year, and favourable impacts from currency movements. These more than offset the impacts of increased benefit costs and outflows in variable annuities in the Americas and higher expenses.”

The group’s Solvency II ratio, meanwhile, stood at 210%.

“The first three months of 2022 have been unprecedented in many ways,” commented Friese. “The Russian invasion in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the lives of many people and fuelled inflationary pressures and volatility on the global financial markets at a time that many economies were opening up after relaxing COVID-19 measures.

“I am proud of our colleagues who continued to effectively support and service our customers in a turbulent environment as evidenced by our results, and the substantial progress we made on our 2023 strategic and financial objectives.”

Part of Aegon’s strategy was to develop a “rigorous and granular” operating plan across the organisation, with the goal of re-allocating capital to growth opportunities. At the same time, Aegon is improving its risk profile and reducing capital ratios volatility.

The CEO noted: “We continued sharpening our strategic focus and increasing our financial flexibility with the completion of the divestments of our businesses in Hungary and Turkey to Vienna Insurance Group, and the sale of part of our European venture fund.

“The closing of the sale of our Hungarian businesses resulted in an increase in cash capital at the Holding to €1.8 billion. This enabled us to announce a €300 million share buyback programme and a further reduction of our debt, thereby reaching our deleveraging target range 1.5 years early.”

Aegon’s operational improvement plan consists of over 1,200 detailed initiatives designed to improve operating performance by reducing costs, expanding margins, and growing profitably. Of these initiatives, more than 900 have already been executed.