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another financial asset to settle its contractual obligation. In addition to common shares and preferred shares, the Group has issued perpetual securities and convertible core capital securities. Perpetual securities have no final maturity date, repayment is at the discretion of AEGON and for junior perpetual capital securities AEGON has the option to defer coupon payments at its discretion. Convertible core capital securities can be converted into ordinary shares of AEGON, through a predetermined formula, or repaid at the discretion of AEGON and coupon payments are payable only if AEGON pays dividends on ordinary shares. Both the perpetual and convertible core capital securities are classified as equity rather than debt, are measured at par and those that are denominated in US dollars are translated using historical exchange rates. 

Incremental external costs that are directly attributable to the issuing or buying back of own equity instruments are recognized in equity, net of tax. 

Dividends and other distributions to holders of equity instruments are recognized directly in equity, net of tax. A liability for non-cumulative dividends payable is not recognized until the dividends have been declared and approved. 

Treasury shares are own equity instruments reacquired by the Group. They are deducted from Group equity, regardless of the objective of the transaction. No gain or loss is recognized in the income statement on the purchase, sale, issue or cancellation of the instruments. If sold, the difference between the carrying amount and the proceeds is reflected in retained earnings. The consideration paid or received is recognized directly in shareholders’ equity. All treasury shares are eliminated in the calculation of earnings per share and dividend per common share. 

A financial instrument issued by the Group is classified as a liability if the contractual obligation must be settled in cash or another financial asset or through the exchange of financial assets and liabilities at potentially unfavorable conditions for the Group. 

Trust pass-through securities and other borrowings are initially recognized at their fair value including directly attributable transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortized cost using the effective interest rate method, with the exception of specific borrowings that are designated as at fair value through profit or loss to eliminate, or significantly reduce, an accounting mismatch, or specific borrowings which are carried as at fair value through the profit and loss as part of a fair value 

hedge relationship. The liability is derecognized when the Group’s obligation under the contract expires, is discharged or is cancelled. 

## NOTE 2.19 INSURANCE CONTRACTS 

Insurance contracts are accounted for under IFRS 4 – Insurance Contracts . In accordance with this standard AEGON continues to apply the existing accounting policies that were applied prior to the adoption of IFRS, with certain modifications allowed by IFRS 4 for standards effective subsequent to adoption. AEGON applies non-uniform accounting policies for insurance liabilities and related deferred acquisition costs and intangible assets, as was allowed under Dutch Accounting Principles. As a result, specific methodologies applied may differ between our operations as they may reflect local regulatory requirements and local practices for specific product features in these local markets. In the United States we apply US GAAP and in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom we apply Dutch Accounting Principles, both with consideration of standards effective subsequent to the date of transition to IFRS. 

Insurance contracts are contracts under which the Group accepts a significant risk – other than a financial risk – from a policyholder by agreeing to compensate the beneficiary on the occurrence of an uncertain future event by which he or she will be adversely affected. Contracts that do not meet this definition are accounted for as investment contracts. The Group reviews homogeneous books of contracts to assess whether the underlying contracts transfer significant insurance risk on an individual basis. This is considered the case when at least one scenario with commercial substance can be identified in which the Group has to pay significant additional benefits to the policyholder. Contracts that have been classified as insurance are not reclassified subsequently. 

Insurance liabilities are recognized when the contract is entered into and the premiums are charged. The liability is derecognized when the contract expires, is discharged or is cancelled. 

Insurance assets and liabilities are valued in accordance with the accounting principles that were applied by the Group prior to the transition to IFRS, as further described in the following paragraphs. In order to reflect the specific nature of the products written, subsidiaries are allowed to apply local accounting principles to the measurement of insurance contracts. All valuation methods used by the subsidiaries are based on the general principle that the carrying amount of the net liability must be sufficient to meet any reasonably foreseeable obligation resulting from the insurance contracts. 

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