Integration Aegon Nederland N.V.
This section describes the progress that has been made in the integration of Aegon NL since closing in July 2023.
The integration of Aegon Nederland N.V. (hereafter: Aegon NL) with ASR Nederland N.V. (a.s.r.) represents a pivotal step in creating a leading insurer in the Netherlands. Following the successful completion of the business combination in July 2023, the integration is well underway. This new combination, designed to leverage the unique strengths of both organisations, supports a.s.r.'s strategic goal of reinforcing its position as a leading insurer in the Netherlands, enhancing the company’s ability to deliver value across non-life and life insurance, pensions, activities relating to asset management, and distribution services.
The integration to date confirms the strategic and financial merits of the combination with Aegon NL, and a.s.r. is committed to continue to deliver on the planned integration path ahead.
Reached milestones so far
Building on the early milestones of the integration in 2023, such as securing regulatory approvals, developing a robust integration plan with enhanced cost synergies, and completing the legal merger of the Holding and Non-life entities, which marked the employer merger. Throughout 2024, a.s.r. has maintained its pace towards integrating Aegon NL.
At the start of the year, the sale of Knab was announced, leading up to the closing of the sale at 1 November 2024. Meanwhile, Mortgages finalised their agreement with the Stater platform on the business process outsourcing (BPO) of mortgage activities, and the first migrations of policies were successfully concluded within the Disability domain. Within the staff functions, the payroll migration was completed, and during the remainder of the year, most staff functions achieved their respective target operating models, including location changes, enabling the closing of the Den Haag office by the end of 2024.
In addition to these integration milestones, steps were taken to increase focus on employees, with the organisational environment and culture as key elements for becoming a leading insurer in the Netherlands. A culture programme was rolled out in every department of the organisation, focusing on creating an integrated and unified culture that attracts and retains the best talents. Ongoing initiatives such as employee surveys and culture assessments are being deployed to measure employee sentiment.
In parallel, a significant reduction was realised in the number of Transitional Service Agreements (TSAs) originally established between a.s.r. and Aegon Ltd. to ensure business continuity during the integration period. These agreements help maintain essential services, such as IT infrastructure, while integration progresses. Most remaining TSAs will be unwound in H1 2025, with IT Transitional Service Agreements (ITSAs) continuing for a longer period, until all business migrations planned for 2025 and 2026, such as Life, Pensions and Mortgages, are completed.
Lastly, in the final quarter of 2024, a.s.r. completed the transfer of all P&C and Disability insurance policies into its core IT systems, integrating both policy administration and processes. This marked Non-life as the first major business line to be fully integrated into a.s.r. During the migration of the non-life policies, both end-customers and intermediaries were actively engaged, ensuring a smooth transition from the Aegon NL landscape to a.s.r.
This year (2025) marks a new and important year of integration and is off to a good start. As per 1 January 2025 the IORP entities Aegon Cappital and ASR Premiepensioeninstelling N.V. were legally merged. Most of the in scope asset management services have been formally transferred, and since mid-January the newly produced Aegon NL label mortgages are processed through the end-state BPO with Stater, marking an important milestone for the mortgage business line integration. Meanwhile ample efforts are being directed towards trial migrations laying the foundations for Life and Mortgages migrations later this year.
Outlook
The final phase of the integration will focus on expanding the partial internal model (PIM) to include a.s.r. Life, finalising all planned legal mergers, and completing the data and policy migration for both Individual life and Mortgages, which will enable the closing of the Leeuwarden location per the end of 2026. In terms of IT, all ITSAs will be terminated, and the associated systems decommissioned, ensuring that all systems operate on a.s.r.’s target IT architecture.
To finalise the integration, it is crucial to maintain strong governance anchored by senior management engagement and accountability. The overall integration is supervised and monitored by the Integration Management Office and various other governing bodies, which remain focused on tracking progress and ensuring that all integration efforts are completed before the end of 2026.
Key challenges include the conversion of portfolios with minimal impact on customers and business partners, while managing dependencies between business lines and staff functions, such as IT, to make sure unbundling and migration plans can be rolled out as planned. The integration may affect prioritisation of existing business plans and put additional pressure on the organisation, which is compounded by the requirements for migrations from regulatory, accounting and internal control perspectives. Thus far, these efforts have been well balanced. Smaller planning challenges aside, a.s.r. remains well on track to deliver on the integration and remain confident in achieving overall timelines and synergy targets.
Quality assurance is safeguarded via timely involvement of the first line Risk Management, second line Risk Management and Compliance and third line Internal Audit. Integration progress is also discussed at senior management level through steering committees that report to the Management Board (MB), to ensure sufficient management awareness.
By completion of the integration, a.s.r. will have strengthened the robust and reliable company that is even better positioned for the future, while strengthening the strategic positioning of a.s.r. on all strategic pillars.