Premiums and DC volume¹

Premium and DC inflow in the Life segment increased by 40% to € 4.9 billion (2023: € 3.5 billion) driven by the additional six months' contribution of Aegon NL and growth in pension DC and annuities.

Pension DC inflow increased to € 2.8 billion (2023: € 2.1 billion). The annuity inflow increased to € 581 million. Both increases are mostly related to the additional six months' contribution of Aegon NL and organic growth.

Pension buy-outs amounted to € 69 million Assets under Management (AuM) in 2024. The announced buy-out transaction with the Pension fund for Dentists and Dental-specialists (Pensioenfonds Tandartsen en Tandarts-specialisten - SPT) on 19 December 2024 of € 1.6 billion AuM is not yet included in this figure. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), which is expected in the first half of 2025. The realised inflow and progress in pension buy-outs brings a.s.r. well on track to deliver on the growth targets in the Pension business.

AuM of Pension DC increased to € 26.7 billion (31 December 2023: € 21.9 billion), driven by growth in the number of participants, net inflow and positive market revaluations. The number of active participants in pension DC increased by 6% to over 552 thousand (2023: 521 thousand) driven by commercial success of the different DC propositions (including IORP).

Operating expenses

Operating expenses increased by € 66 million to € 467 million (2023: € 401 million). The increase primarily relates to the additional six months’ contribution of Aegon NL and IT project expenses in Pensions.

Operating result

The operating result increased by € 385 million to € 1,076 million (2023: € 691 million) primarily driven by the additional six months’ contribution of Aegon NL.

The Operating Insurance Service Result (OISR) including other result increased by € 160 million to € 442 million, mainly driven by the additional six months’ contribution of the Aegon NL portfolio. The Operating Investment and Finance Result (OIFR) increased by € 225 million to € 634 million mainly driven by the additional six months’ contribution of Aegon NL and a higher investment margin. The investment margin was positively impacted by re-risking initiatives, favourable spread developments and higher equity and real estate valuations.

Result before tax

The IFRS result before tax increased to € 1.151 million (2023: € 969 million) due to the increase of the operating result, partly offset by incidental items. Investment related incidental items amounted to € -15 million, in 2023 (€ 510 million) these items were impacted by market developments. Non-investment related incidental items amounted to € 90 million (2023: € -232 million) mainly due to changes in future services driven by non-economic assumption updates. 2023 was impacted by the provisioning related to the agreement with claim organisations on the unit-linked life insurance transparency file.

• 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.