Strategy

In January 2016 we updated our strategy and set financial targets for the next three years. We're confident that the direction we set in 2010 is still valid, so our strategy update very much builds on this.

Aegon has three main sources of revenue: fees and commissions, income from the investments we make and, by far the most important, premium payments from our policyholders.

We've identified seven material issues currently affecting Aegon and the financial services industry. These issues play an important role in shaping our strategy.

Ensuring that we always meet our long-term commitments to our stakeholders by delivering sustainable financial results and maintaining a strong and stable balance sheet.

We have made significant progress in improving the quality of our products and services, in line with our customers’ needs across the various stages of their life cycle.

We've set the goal to become closer to our customers – or, as we call it, to become truly customer-centric. We set a target to become the 'most recommended by our customers'.

We know that the more motivated our employees are, the better our ability to serve our customers. We treat our employees not only as important stakeholders, but also as important assets for Aegon.

Our objective is to increase our return on equity to 10% by 2018. We will achieve this through growing our fee-based business and reducing operating expenses.