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AEGON N.V. is subject to legal restrictions on the amount of dividends it can pay to its shareholders. Under Dutch law, the amount that is available to pay dividends consists of total shareholders’ equity less the issued and outstanding capital and less the reserves required by law. The revaluation account and legal reserves, foreign currency translation reserve and other, cannot be freely distributed. In case of negative balances for individual reserves legally to be retained, no distributions can be made out of retained earnings to the level of these negative amounts. Total distributable reserves under Dutch law amount to EUR 7,271 million at December 31, 2010 (2009: EUR 7,623 million). 

In addition, AEGON’s subsidiaries, principally insurance companies, are subject to restrictions on the amounts of funds they may transfer in the form of cash dividends or otherwise to their parent companies. There can be no assurance that these restrictions will not limit or restrict AEGON in its ability to pay dividends in the future. 

OPTAS N.V., an indirect subsidiary of AEGON N.V., holds statutory reserves of EUR 895 million (2009: EUR 861 million) which are restricted. Included in AEGON N.V.’s legal reserves is an amount of EUR 355 million (2009: EUR 321 million) related to OPTAS N.V. which represents the increase in statutory reserves since the acquisition of OPTAS N.V. by AEGON. 

## NOTE 47  SUMMARY OF TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSETS AND FINANCIAL LIABILITIES AT FAIR VALUE THROUGH PROFIT OR LOSS 

The table that follows summarizes the carrying amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities that are classified as at fair value through profit or loss, with appropriate distinction between those financial assets and financial liabilities held for trading and those that, upon initial recognition, were designated as at fair value through profit or loss. 

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## INVESTMENTS FOR GENERAL ACCOUNT 

The Group manages certain portfolios on a total return basis which have been designated at fair value through profit or loss. This includes portfolios of investments in limited partnerships and limited liability companies (primarily hedge funds) for which the performance is assessed internally on a total return basis. In addition, some investments that include an embedded derivative that would otherwise have required bifurcation, such as convertible instruments, preferred shares and credit linked notes, have been designated at fair value through profit or loss. 

Investments for general account backing insurance and investment liabilities that are carried at fair value with changes in the fair value recognized in the income statement are designated at fair value through profit or loss. The Group elected to designate these investments for account of policyholders at fair value through profit or loss, a classification 

of financial assets as available-for sale would result in accumulation of unrealized gains and losses in a revaluation reserve within equity whilst changes to the liability would be reflected in net income (accounting mismatch). 

## INVESTMENTS FOR ACCOUNT OF POLICYHOLDERS 

Investments held for account of policyholders comprise assets that are linked to various insurance and investment contracts for which the financial risks are borne by the customer. Under the Group’s accounting policies, these insurance and investment liabilities are measured at the fair value of the linked assets with changes in the fair value recognized in the income statement. To avoid an accounting mismatch, the linked assets have been designated as at fair value through profit or loss. 

In addition, the investment for account of policyholders include with profit assets, where an insurer manages these assets 

