Premiums and DC volume ¹

Premiums and Defined Contribution (DC) volume for the group increased by 35.6% to € 8,825 million (2022: € 6,510 million).

The premiums invoiced in the Non-life segment increased by 25.7% to € 5,375 million (2022: € 4,276 million). P&C increased 6.7% to € 1,780 million and Disability 7.2% to € 1,593 million. Furthermore, Health increased by 63.7% to € 1,834 million, primarily as a result of an increase of almost 200,000 customers in the policy renewal season in 2022. The contribution of Aegon Nederland is € 167 million consisting of P&C (€ 80 million) and Disability (€ 87 million).

Premiums and DC volume in the Life segment increased 48.2% to € 3,530 million (2022: 2,381), primarily driven by the inclusion of Aegon Nederland (€ 1,165 million). In addition, the increase reflected growth in funeral premiums, driven by indexation of premiums, and growth in the pension DC products, which was partly offset by the decrease in the 'service book' portfolio comprising the existing Pension Defined Benefit (DB) and Individual life portfolio.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses increased by € 481 million to € 1,183 million, primarily reflecting the larger cost base, including Aegon Nederland. Furthermore, personnel-related costs increased due to the impact of the Collective Labour Agreement. The internal number of FTEs increased to 7,994 (2022: 4,313), primarily as a result of the inclusion of Aegon Nederland.

The cost ratio of P&C and Disability combined increased by 0.5%-points to 8.3%, mainly in relation to the integration of Aegon Nederland, and was partly offset by a continuing focus on organic business growth in combination with cost control.

Expenses for non-ordinary activities, classified as incidental items and, therefore, not included in operating expenses, increased by € 133 million to € 213 million. This increase partly relates to integration expenses for the business combination of a.s.r. and Aegon Nederland, as well as regulatory costs for the implementation of IFRS 17/9.

Operating result

The operating result increased by € 311 million to € 1,117 million (2022: € 805 million), mainly due to the first-time contribution of Aegon Nederland activities from the second half of 2023. All business segments showed higher operating results, partly offset by the Holding & Other segment (including Eliminations). Please refer to section 7.10 for the definition of operating result.

Operating result per segment

The operating result of the Non-life segment increased by € 122 million to € 381 million, mainly due to a higher operating investment and finance result (OIFR) in addition to the contribution of Aegon Nederland and improved underwriting results in Disability and Health. The combined ratio of P&C and Disability combined improved by 0.9%-points to 93.5% (2022: 94.4%), reflecting an increased combined ratio in P&C offset by improvements in Disability.

The Life segment operating result increased by € 98 million to € 688 million, driven by the addition of Aegon Nederland. The operating insurance service result (OISR) benefited from a higher CSM release, partly offset by a lower risk adjustment (RA) release due to higher interest rates. The OIFR increase was supported by a lower UFR drag (IFRS basis) and a slightly higher investment margin that was partly offset by higher investment expenses.

The operating result of the Asset Management segment increased by € 39 million to € 78 million, primarily driven by the addition of Aegon Nederland activities.

The operating result of the Bank segment (Knab) amounted to € 139 million, reflecting an improved interest margin on saving accounts.

The operating result of the Distribution and Services segment increased by € 5 million to € 30 million driven by the addition of Aegon Nederland entities (Robidus, TKP and Nedasco). The contribution of the other D&S entities remained stable.

The operating result of the Holding & Other segment (including Eliminations) decreased by € 91 million to € -200 million, mainly due to increased interest charges related to the € 1 billion Tier 2 bond issue in November 2022 for the financing of the business combination with Aegon Nederland, as well as for higher operating expenses.

Result before tax

The result before tax increased by € 3,712 million to € 1,389 million (2022: € -2,323 million). As operating result includes normalised investment returns, the revaluation impact of € 579 million (2022: € -2,694 million) is classified as an incidental item related to the investment and finance result. In contrast to 2023, the 2022 IFRS result was negatively affected by the revaluation of the investment portfolio (including derivatives) due to strongly increased interest rates. In addition, there was a less negative impact of other incidental items (€ 128 million) and an increased operating result (€ 311 million).

The IFRS net result attributable to holders of equity instruments amounted to € 1,086 million (2022: € -1,709 million), with an effective tax rate of 21.8% (2022: 26.1%).

Operating return on equity

The operating return on equity increased by 1.8%-points to 12.4% (2022: 10.6%), reflecting stronger growth of the operating result compared to growth in equity, adjusted for unrealised gains and losses.

Solvency II ratio and organic capital creation

The Solvency II ratio decreased to 176% (31 December 2022: 221%) and includes a 31%-points decrease due to the acquisition of Aegon Nederland and a 9%-points deduction for the proposed dividend (€ 610 million). Organic capital creation (OCC) contributed 14%-points, which was more than offset by a 20%-points negative impact from market and operational developments. Market and operational developments primarily reflect the negative impact from real estate revaluations, mortgage spread widening, provision for the unit-linked insurance file (€ 250 million settlement and € 50 million additional provision), experience variance and model and assumption changes.

OCC increased by € 285 million to € 938 million (2022: € 653 million), primarily driven by the contribution from Aegon Nederland activities in the second half of 2023.

Dividend and capital distribution

a.s.r. proposes a dividend for 2023 of € 2.89 per share, an increase of 7% compared to the dividend for 2022. Taking into account an interim dividend of € 1.08 per share paid in September 2023, the final dividend amounts to € 1.81 per share. This is in line with the progressive dividend policy and the ambition for mid-to-high single-digit dividend growth per annum until 2025

• ¹‘Premiums and DC volume’ is equal to the premiums invoiced plus the customer funds deposited by the insured DC-products and the IORP-products which, by definition, are not premiums.