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## ❏ LETTER OF THE CEO 

AEGON in recent years has undergone a significant transformation. In response to the changing global market environment, we have sharpened our focus on AEGON’s core business of life insurance, pensions and asset management. Moreover, we have taken decisive measures to reduce our exposure to the volatility of financial markets, strengthen our financial position, implement substantial cost reductions and align our organization to better respond to the needs of our customers and the expectations of our shareholders. Indeed, these strategic actions have enabled us to put the financial crisis firmly behind us, while setting our sights toward sustainable growth. 

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Equally important has been our focus on capturing the operational and cost efficiencies necessary to create a more streamlined organization, better positioned to deliver added value to customers, business partners and of course, our shareholders. 

## Positioning AEGON for the future 

In line with our decision to sharpen our focus on our core business, we have restructured and refocused our businesses in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. First and foremost in this transformation process was our decision to initiate a thorough portfolio review to determine which businesses were supportive of AEGON’s long-term growth prospects, and which were not. This subsequently led to putting into run-off or exiting a number of businesses, including among others, our institutional markets division, as well as our bank-owned and corporate-owned life insurance business in the United States, the sale of our funeral insurance business in the Netherlands, and the sale of AEGON’s third party pension administration and employee benefits software businesses in the United Kingdom. We are confident that by shifting to a more fee-based income model (as evidenced by our focus on growing AEGON’s strong position in pensions), AEGON will be less dependent on spread-generated income and consequently, less vulnerable to the fluctuations of financial markets. 

