Remuneration policy

a.s.r.’s remuneration policy is based on the principle that the average level of total remuneration should be just below the median of the peer group. Every three years (two years for the EB), an independent consultant performs a market-based comparison of the remuneration benchmark. The 2022 reference group for a.s.r. employees is the general market; from 2023 this will be financial institutions (excluding the EB, Asset Management and the Real estate front office). The relevant peer groups for the latter two are the asset management market. The EB’s peer group is described in chapter 5.3.

In line with the remuneration policy, the remuneration of a.s.r. employees consists solely of a fixed payment. a.s.r. does not have a company-wide variable remuneration scheme; for more information, see chapter 5.3. There is a type of variable remuneration for extraordinary performance of specific employees: the 'Boter-bij-de-vis' (incidental bonus). In 2022, 97 employees (2021: 97) received this incidental bonus.

Equal pay

At a.s.r., jobs are weighted regardless of gender, resulting in a gender pay gap of 0%. Women and men with similar work experience, performance and potential receive equal pay. a.s.r. monitors possible wage gaps between women and men through the annual gender pay gap analysis.

The differences between the wages of women and men are calculated on the basis of the gross hourly wage in order to exclude differences caused by part-time and full-time positions. The gross hourly wage of women is often lower than that of men. However, the analysis shows that this difference can be explained by two factors:

• There are gender differences in the type of jobs men and women do. At a.s.r., for example, more women are employed in customer service and support positions. Whereas, traditionally, more men work in the more specialised, technical insurance positions and in management, often in the higher salary scales.

• The average service years of female are three years lower than that of males. Men thus reach a relatively higher position on the salary scale for the same job level compared to women. Therefore this difference between men and women based on work experience should disappear over time.

When adjusted for the above mentioned factors, the gender pay gap analysis showed that there was no pay gap (0%) between women and men for equal work and a comparable number of years of work experience. The differences presented in the graph below are explained by the number of years of service and job type.

• ¹ The figures for the EB include CEO’s compensation.

For the complete a.s.r. remuneration policy and the Remuneration Disclosure, see www.asrnl.com.

Employee Share Purchase Plan

a.s.r. has had an employee share purchase plan (ESPP) since 2019, through which employees can acquire a.s.r. shares at a discount. The plan is an equity-settled share-based payments plan. Under the terms of the plan, employees can participate after the publication of the full-year and half-year results.

The members of the EB are required to participate in the ESPP by investing a part of their income in a.s.r. shares. Other employees participate voluntarily. The employees purchase the shares at an 18.5% discount, which reflects the opportunity costs of the lock-up period of five years. The fair value of the a.s.r. share with a lock-up of five years at the grant date equals the purchase price paid by the employee.

The number of shares purchased by employees in 2022 was approximately 124,000 for a total amount of € 4.06 million (2021: 126,000 for an amount of € 3.77 million). The ESPP has an impact on equity through the adjustment in the treasury shares and retained earnings. See chapter 6.7.6 for more information.