In 2019 a.s.r. issued an employee share purchase plan (ESPP or ‘the plan’). a.s.r. employees are thereby given the opportunity to acquire a.s.r. shares at a discount. a.s.r. can suspend or withdraw the plan at any time. There is no option under the plan for either a.s.r. or the employee to settle in cash or other assets. Therefore the plan is an equity-settled share-based payments plan.

The members of the EB are required to participate in the plan by investing a predetermined part of their renumeration in a.s.r. shares. Other employees participate voluntarily.

Under the terms of the plan the granting and vesting is predefined. The grant date of the plan is the moment the employee registers to participate in the plan. The shares vest immediately on the transaction date when cash is received from the employee, unconditionally, subject only to a post-vesting transfer restriction of five years. Otherwise, there are no specific restrictions to the share (i.e. voting power, dividend restrictions).

The employees purchase the shares at a discount of 18.5%. The fair value of the a.s.r. share with a lock-up of five years at the grant date equals the purchased price by the employee. The ESPP has an impact on equity through the adjustment in the treasury shares and retained earnings. See chapter 6.5.13.4 Treasury shares for more information.

The number of shares purchased by employees during the reporting period was 126 thousand for an amount of € 3.77 million (2020: 122 thousand for an amount of € 3.25 million).