Aegon enters into national cooperation agreements with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications

Aegon-CNOOC Life Insurance Company Ltd., the 50/50 joint venture of Aegon with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), has signed national cooperation agreements with two leading banks in the Peoples Republic of China: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Bank of Communications (BoCom). 

These agreements will give Aegon-CNOOC the opportunity to provide a broad range of life insurance and accident and supplemental health insurance products to the customer bases of both ICBC and BoCom. 

These national agreements with ICBC and BoCom strengthen Aegon-CNOOC's range of distribution channels that includes banks, agents, brokers and direct marketing and will support the company’s geographic expansion across the Peoples Republic of China.

About the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Established in 1984, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest commercial bank in the Peoples Republic of China. ICBC, which is headquartered in Beijing, offers a wide range of businesses to about 100 million personal clients and 8.1 million corporate clients and utilizes over 20,000 domestic outlets and 70 overseas outlets. As of the end of 2003, ICBC’s total assets of RMB 5,279 billion were equivalent to about a fifth of the total assets of all financial institutions within the Chinese banking industry.
 
About the Bank of Communications
Established in 1908, the Bank of Communications is the fifth largest commercial bank in the Peoples Republic of China based on its total assets of RMB 1,145 billion at December 31, 2004. BoCom, which is headquartered in Shanghai, has three principal lines of business: corporate banking, retail banking and treasury operations. The bank has a network of over 2,500 domestic outlets and more than 1,400 self-service centers in 137 cities in China. As of June 23, 2005, BoCom has been listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.