Aegon reports strong net income in Q4 2016

 Strong improvement in underlying earnings driven by the Americas

• Underlying earnings up to EUR 554 million driven by strong expense management, improved claims experience and higher interest rates
• Expense savings reached an annual run rate of EUR 110 million, significantly exceeding the 2016 target
• Fair value items result of EUR (13) million as gains in the Netherlands from widening credit spreads and higher interest rates were offset by losses in the United States as a result of market volatility
• Net income of EUR 470 million driven by strong underlying earnings and one-time tax benefits
• Return on equity increases to 10.5%, and 9.1% excluding one-time tax benefits

Continued solid gross deposits; net outflows mostly from lower margin businesses

• Gross deposits of EUR 23 billion; net outflows of EUR 3.5 billion driven by outflows from Chinese money market funds and anticipated lapses on Mercer block
• New life sales amount to EUR 240 million partly driven by shift to fee-based solutions in NL
• Accident & health and general insurance sales down 5% to EUR 225 million following product exits in US
• Market consistent value of new business of EUR 118 million benefiting from higher interest rates

Solvency II ratio benefits from market movements

• Solvency II ratio increases to an estimated 159% driven by favorable spread movements and higher interest rates
• Capital generation of EUR 0.3 billion, excluding market impacts and one-time items of EUR 0.3 billion
• Review of current 75% level of loss absorbing capacity of deferred taxes to be completed before the end of the second quarter of 2017
• Holding excess capital increases to EUR 1.5 billion and gross leverage ratio to 29.9% as a result of senior debt issuance
• Final 2016 dividend per share of EUR 0.13 

^{All comparisons are against the fourth quarter of 2015, unless stated otherwise.}