Our customers

AEGON builds long-term relationships with all its customers by delivering products and services designed to improve their financial security, both now and in the future.

The Group ensures its customers have clear and accurate information, allowing them to choose the right products and services for their needs.

AEGON serves more than 40 million customers worldwide. More than 87% of these customers are located in the Group’s three main markets – the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. AEGON also serves a growing number of clients in new emerging markets, particularly in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.

Products

AEGON provides a variety of products and services to individuals, corporations and institutions. Most of these products and services fall into one of the following three categories:

• Life insurance
• Pensions
• Long-term savings and investments products

In some countries, however, AEGON does supply other products, including general insurance, property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and some banking services.

AEGON is committed to providing financial products and services that are clear, transparent and as easy to understand as possible. AEGON companies are expected to comply with national legislation in this respect, as well as other voluntary industry standards. In addition, AEGON takes initiatives at a country unit level to ensure the continued transparency of its financial products.

• In the United Kingdom, AEGON is supporting an initiative sponsored by UK regulators known as ‘Treating Customers Fairly’. This initiative is aimed at ensuring customers understand the benefits, risks and costs of the financial products they buy;
• In the Netherlands, a new ‘uniform pension survey’ was introduced in 2007 designed to provide customers with clear, easy-to-read information about their retirement and pension rights.

In 2007, AEGON paid out a total of EUR 21.1 billion in claims and benefits, virtually unchanged from EUR 21.2 billion the previous year.

Low-income products

Like many other insurance companies, AEGON country units have contractual measures in place to help those customers who find themselves on low incomes and, often through no fault of their own, are unable to maintain premium payments. These measures include introducing lower premium payments, grace periods and loans or, in some cases, reducing the coverage offered by a particular policy.

In addition, some AEGON units offer products and services specifically aimed at customers on low incomes. In the United Kingdom, for example, AEGON has streamlined the application process for life insurance cover, launching a new product in June 2007 called ‘Simply Life’, aimed primarily at the low-income customer segment. In the United States, there are provisions in place to help customers serving with the military overseas or those affected by natural catastrophes, such as hurricanes. In 2007, Western Reserve Life, part of AEGON USA 1, introduced a new low cost term product aimed specifically at customers on low levels of income.

Customer satisfaction

AEGON has a long-term strategy designed to improve levels of customer satisfaction based on four main goals:

• To improve the quality and transparency of the Group’s products and services;
• To use distribution means that allow customers to access products in a way that suits them;
• To deal efficiently and effectively with all customer complaints;
• To help strengthen the financial literacy of those buying AEGON’s products and services.

In the past year, work has begun on a new Group-wide customer satisfaction index based on indices currently compiled by AEGON companies around the world. This new Group-wide index will allow the Group to better monitor overall levels of customer satisfaction and address problems, when they arise, more effectively.

AEGON country units regularly monitor customer satisfaction. In addition, most have a separate unit dedicated to dealing with customer complaints. Overall, customer satisfaction levels at AEGON’s operating units rose by 9.1% in 2007 2. Figures show customer satisfaction levels rose by 16% in the Netherlands and by 7% in the United Kingdom. In other areas, customer satisfaction levels either showed modest improvement or were unchanged from 2006.

‘Know Your Customer’

AEGON companies operate a ‘Know Your Customer’ policy. This helps ensure customers get the right financial advice and are offered financial products tailored to their individual requirements. It also enables AEGON to detect errors and anomalies more quickly and helps in the fight against fraud and money laundering.

Customer complaints

Dealing with complaints efficiently and openly is an important part of overall customer satisfaction. All AEGON country units have formal procedures in place for handling complaints. AEGON regularly conducts surveys to identify specific areas where the Group is not meeting customer requirements. These surveys play a significant role in helping AEGON improve the quality of its products and services. In 2007 3, AEGON saw an overall decline of 5% in the number customer complaints.

Reducing customer complaints in Taiwan

In 2008, AEGON Taiwan is aiming to further reduce the number of customer complaints by launching a new program designed to provide extra education and training to its sales personnel. The program is aimed at ironing out possible misunderstandings by ensuring sales representatives are able to explain AEGON’s products and services clearly and precisely.

Mis-selling

During 2007, AEGON received a number of complaints regarding the mis-selling of its products and services. Where justified, the Group took steps to address these complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible. In some cases, action was taken against the salesmen, agents or brokers involved. In others, measures were adopted to strengthen sales processes or modify existing products and services. In the Netherlands, AEGON has supported efforts for greater transparency in the insurance industry following sector-wide complaints against a number of suppliers for a perceived lack of transparency in certain unit-linked products. In 2005 and 2006, AEGON The Netherlands revised its entire portfolio of unit-linked products, reducing charges to customers retrospectively and re-investing the difference. The company also took steps to improve its products and implement recommendations for greater transparency.

In 2007, AEGON paid EUR 59,000 in fines linked to two separate cases of alleged mis-selling in the United States and Canada, a tiny fraction of the Group’s total revenues from the two countries.

Modifying product specifications

AEGON regularly reviews products developed and marketed in former years and, if necessary, will modify product specifications as well as processes and distribution.

United States	New products sold by the Long-Term Care Division were modified to include comprehensive benefits after it was found that most claimants wanted benefits they had not originally purchased when taking out long-term care plans.
	Transamerica Retirement Services increased customer communication and education concerning pension legislation following customer feedback on some of its retirement products.
	Following a request, Transamerica Insurance and Investment Group added a Cash Value Enhancement rider to one of its indexed products.
Canada	Action was taken in the second half of 2007 to compensate policyholders for overcharging on some of AEGON Canada’s segregated fund products.
	In response to customer demand, AEGON Canada also improved and updated its lapse process for universal life policies.
The Netherlands	AEGON The Netherlands holds regular meetings with both retail and institutional clients to assess and improve levels of customer satisfaction.
United Kingdom	AEGON UK set up a central complaints team to process customer complaints more efficiently.
Asia	In 2007, AEGON Taiwan started a new SMS service to inform customers of the issue of new business policies.
Central and Eastern Europe	In Hungary, changes in pricing with respect to motor insurance led to a strong growth in demand.

Absent policyholders

Every year, a number of policyholders fail to receive their full entitlements, often because they have forgotten to update their contact information. AEGON is committed to tracing all beneficiaries.

The Group estimates that 3% of first-time pensioners did not receive payments due to them in 2007 because they had not updated their contact information. Inevitably, some customers cannot be traced. In the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, AEGON ensures benefits and entitlements due to these customers remain accessible for as long as possible.

• In the United States, which has the highest number of such customers, all benefits remain in policyholders’ accounts and are not added to the company’s income;
• In the Netherlands, customers never lose their right to claim, no matter how much time elapses;
• In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, unclaimed benefits are transferred to an external fund only when absent policyholders reach the age of 75.

At the end of 2007, AEGON estimates that it was retaining EUR 7.67 million in unclaimed benefits because of missing or unknown addresses, 0.04% of total benefits paid during the year.

At the end of 2007, AEGON estimates that it was retaining a total of EUR 11.49 million 4 in unclaimed benefits because of missing or unknown addresses, 0.05% of total benefits paid during the year.

AEGON’s portfolio of brands

MAIN BRANDS
AEGON, Transamerica and AEGON Scottish Equitable (United Kingdom).

OTHER BRANDS
Life Investors, Stonebridge, Western Reserve Life (all United States),
TKP Pensioen, OPTAS (both Netherlands), HS Admin and Guardian (both United Kingdom).

JOINT VENTURES
AEGON-CNOOC, AEGON Industrial Fund Management (both China), La Mondiale Participations (France), AEGON Sony Life (Japan), Seguros Argos (Mexico), BT AEGON (Romania) and AEGON Taishin (Taiwan).

INTERMEDIARIES
Unirobe Meeùs Group (the Netherlands), Origen, Positive Solutions (both United Kingdom),
World Financial Group, InterSecurities (both United States) and Money Concepts (Canada).

Brand awareness

AEGON sells its products under a variety of different brand names. This approach helps the Group cater to the broadest possible range of customer requirements. In all its markets around the world, AEGON operates either under its own name, a co-branded name or a local brand.

AEGON regularly measures the performance of its brands. The Group tracks brand awareness and brand preference for more than 90% of its brands.

In recent years, AEGON has been adding the ‘AEGON’ name to a growing number of its brands, enabling local companies to use the AEGON Group’s financial strength and credentials to strengthen their market positions. In 2007, AEGON rolled out new logo and website guidelines for all its AEGON-branded entities to ensure consistency in the use of the AEGON name around the world.

Sponsoring Dutch soccer

Last year AEGON signed an agreement to sponsor Dutch football club Ajax from the start of the 2008-09 season. As part of this sponsorship deal, the AEGON name will appear on Ajax’s famous red-and-white jerseys when the new season kicks off next August. Sponsoring the Amsterdam-based club will help strengthen AEGON’s brand recognition, especially as the Group continues to expand its international presence in the years ahead.

One of the best-known names in world soccer, Ajax has won 29 national league titles and lifted the prestigious European Cup no fewer than four times – a record bettered by only three other clubs, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Liverpool. Ajax’s success, both at home and abroad, has been based for many years on the club’s famous Youth Academy, which has groomed several generations of Dutch footballers for glittering international careers, including perhaps the best known Dutch soccer star ever, Johan Cruyff. The Ajax sponsorship deal will operate alongside AEGON’s other sporting commitments – to speed-skating and rowing in the Netherlands and to golfers Zach Johnson and Taylor Leon in the United States and Lloyd Saltman in the United Kingdom.

Financial literacy

AEGON plays a role in ensuring its customers have the information they need to make the right long-term financial decisions for themselves and their families. In each of the Group’s three main markets, AEGON organizes and supports initiatives aimed at improving overall levels of financial literacy in its local communities.

In the United States:

• Monumental Life has developed special software designed to instruct customers about insurance needs;
• AEGON companies contribute to LIFE – the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education – a non-profit organization that instructs people on the importance of life insurance and sound family financial planning.

In the Netherlands:

• AEGON has set up an extensive training program for salesmen and other intermediaries designed to improve the advice they give to customers on insurance and long-term savings products.

In the United Kingdom:

• AEGON is backing the UK government’s National Strategy for Financial Capability to improve levels of financial education;
• AEGON UK supports pfeg, an educational charity providing school leavers with basic financial skills;
• AEGON UK has also provided backing for ‘Moneyplan’, a partnership between national charity Citizens Advice and the Personal Finance Society. ‘Moneyplan’ is aimed at providing free-of-charge advice to those who turn to the charity to help resolve their money problems.

In addition, AEGON country units in Europe, the Americas and Asia organize regular seminars and training sessions for salesmen, intermediaries and brokers to improve the quality of financial advice they are able to give potential customers.

‘Money Guidance’ in the United Kingdom

In 2007, the UK government asked Otto Thoresen, Chief Executive Officer of AEGON UK, to chair a task force looking into providing impartial and easy-to-understand financial advice, especially to those on the lowest incomes. The initiative was part of broader efforts to strengthen financial education in the United Kingdom, important at a time of rising household debt and growing economic uncertainty. In March 2008, Mr. Thoresen ‘s task force published its report, recommending the creation of a national Money Guidance service, funded jointly by the UK government and the country’s financial sector. The proposal has already been given the backing of the UK government and will now be taken up by the country’s Financial Services Authority. The new service would provide free, impartial advice to as many as 19 million potential users.

“This is not a service designed for those in crisis,” said Mr. Thoresen. “It must be preventative, helping people budget and plan for today and the future. Good money sense needs to be as much part of people’s lives as healthy eating and keeping fit.”

Distribution

AEGON uses a number of commercial channels to distribute its products, including agents, brokers, banks, direct marketing, as well as partnerships with other companies. This approach enables customers to access AEGON products in a way that best suits them.

Online services

Providing financial services online can help reduce transaction costs and cut down on the need for business travel and printed materials. Most AEGON country and business units provide online services of one sort or another. These services include:

• Information on financial products;
• Online application forms;
• Modifying personal data;
• Modifying premium contributions;
• Accessing quotes;
• Online calculation tools.

Most AEGON companies operate IT fraud detection systems and all units use feedback loops to compliance officers to ensure the Group’s online platforms remain safe and secure at all times. Approximately 5.7 million people visited AEGON websites outside the United States during 2007 5. In addition, the Group’s US-based websites received some 93 million separate ‘hits’ over the year. More than 50% of visitors requesting information online went on to buy a financial product or service from the company (or, just over 18,200 in total, a small but growing part of the Group’s overall customer base).

Supporting the Duisenburg School of Finance

AEGON has committed EUR 500,000 a year over the next five years to help support the new Duisenburg School of Finance in Amsterdam. Named after former European Central Bank president Wim Duisenburg, the School will act as an academy, training future generations of business leaders and financiers. The School of Finance’s board will be chaired by Jos Streppel 6, AEGON’s Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board.

1. Please note that ‘AEGON USA’ refers to all subsidiary companies operating in the United States.
2. Based on 56% of AEGON’s businesses worldwide (as measured by numbers of policies). Excludes the United States, where AEGON’s operating companies measure customer satisfaction separately. In addition, country units were asked to indicate overall 2007 customer satisfaction levels on a scale of 0 to 100 as an initial step toward the creation of a trackable, Group-wide index. The weighted average, based on seven country units (the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic) was 80.
3. Based on 49% of AEGON’s businesses worldwide (as measured by total revenues).
4. Figure does not include the United States.
5. Refers to the number of ‘unique visitors’, i.e. the total number of Internet users visiting the site or sites during 2007. Information is compiled on a 24-hour basis and then aggregated over 12 months to avoid single visitors being registered several times in any given 24-hour period.
6. Please note this is an unpaid position.