Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Aegon's Executive Board and Supervisory Board, I welcome you to Aegon's 2022 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Just as was the case during the AGMs in the previous years, this meeting will be chaired in English. Simultaneous translation into Dutch is offered. For those of you who attend the meeting in person, headphones for the simultaneous translations were offered when you enter the meeting room and are still available on a table outside this room. For Dutch, please choose channel 1. For English, please choose channel 2. If you wish, you can ask your questions in Dutch. They will be simultaneously translated into English and answered in English. I hereby open the meeting. We are very pleased to be able to meet some of our shareholders in person again. At the same time, we are offering shareholders who prefer to participate virtually the opportunity to participate in an efficient manner throughout the webcast. They do have the opportunity to vote and ask questions in real time during the meeting. To accommodate live voting, the voting is now open and will remain open until the last voting item on the agenda. Therefore, the voting results will be shown at the end of the meeting. Our shareholders have also been able to cast their votes prior to the meeting, either by granting a proxy or by using the e-voting system. Prior to this meeting, our shareholders have been able to ask questions in writing concerning items on the agenda. We have received no questions prior to this meeting. Shareholders present in person will be able to ask questions live. You can do so by using one of the microphones. Thereafter, we will address the questions submitted by our shareholders who are participating virtually. They can ask their questions throughout the chat function. As this function is open throughout the meeting, I mandated our head of investor relations, Jan Willem Weidema, to moderate the questions that will be submitted via the chat. To give all of our shareholders the opportunity to ask questions, I would like to ask you to limit your number of questions or comments to three at a time. Questions that cannot be answered during the meeting will be answered afterwards. These questions and responses will be added to the minutes. We believe that this approach will ensure a constructive dialogue with all our shareholders, whether they participate in the meeting in person or in a virtual manner. Please note that the following members of the Supervisory Board are present and with me on stage in The Hague. Corien Wortmann-Kool, Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board. Ben Noteboom, Chair of the Remuneration Committee. Caroline Ramsay, Chair of the Audit Committee. Where's Caroline? Okay. I also wish to welcome Ms. Karen Fawcett, who is nominated to join our supervisory board. Welcome, Karen. She is seated in the front row. The other supervisory board members attend the meeting in a virtual manner. Also present here with me on stage are the members of the executive board, Lard Friese, our CEO, Matt Rider, our CFO, as well as Bieke Debruyne, company secretary. Furthermore, Joyce Leemrijse, notary, and Gert-Jan Heuvelink, our external auditor of PwC, are present in the room in The Hague. On the front row in the room, the following members of the management board are seated: Allegra van Hövell-Patrizi, Elisabetta Caldera, Astrid Jäkel, Marco Keim, Marco NieuweWeme, and Onno van Klinken. The other management board members being Deborah Waters, Will Fuller, Mike Holliday-Williams, Duncan Russell, will follow the AGM through the live webcast. Please allow me to make some further general announcements. For those of you who are present here in person, please note that audio or video recordings are not allowed throughout the building. In case you have chosen to use your own mobile device to exercise your voting rights during the meeting, you can use the link to the Lumi webpage. Alternatively, you can use the voting device that you have obtained at the registration desk. Please let our staff know in case you experience any difficulties. If you would like to speak, please go to the nearest microphone. Wait until you are given the opportunity to speak, and clearly state the name, your name for the minutes. Upon registration, you have received a voting card. This voting card will be used if the voting webpage does not work due to a technical failure. Shareholders participating in a virtual manner have been registered through the e-voting portal prior to the start of the meeting and have been directed automatically to the Lumi environment in which they can vote and submit questions through the chat. I established the following. This meeting was convened in time and in accordance with the required formalities by placing the notice and agenda on Aegon's corporate website on April 19, 2022. The AGM documentation has been made available for inspection at Aegon's head office in The Hague. The attendance list of this meeting is currently being drawn up. We come back to this later. The final minutes of the AGM of June 3rd, 2021 have been made available as of December 2nd, 2021 at our offices in The Hague and on our corporate website. The minutes of today's meetings will be kept in English by the company secretary. The draft minutes of this meeting will be available for comments on the website for three months as of August 30, 2022. The final minutes will be available as of November 29, 2022. I wish you all a good and interesting meeting. We will now move to agenda item 2, the 2021 annual report and annual accounts. Lard Friese, Aegon CEO, will give a presentation on the course of business in 2021, including the financial results. After his presentation, we will address questions with respect to the agenda items 2.1 and 2.3. Lard, the floor is yours. Thank you, Will, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Nice to see you. Today, I am very pleased that today I am finally able to meet many of you in person after two years of COVID-19 restrictions. I also welcome all shareholders who are following this meeting through the webcast. Ladies and gentlemen, let me start by saying that the first months of 2022 have been unprecedented in many ways. The Russian invasion into Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the lives of many people. This unjustifiable violence has shocked and saddened us as individuals and as a company. Our hearts go out to them and everyone who wants to live in peace and freedom. The invasion has fueled inflationary pressures and volatility on the global financial markets at a time that many economies were opening up after relaxing the COVID-19 measures. As a company, we are adjusting to this new reality. Looking back at 2021, I am pleased with the progress that we have made together in these difficult circumstances. In my presentation, I will share with you how we are executing on our strategy and our transformation plan and how we are delivering on our financial commitments. Since our responsibility extends well beyond achieving attractive financial returns, I would also like to share with you our redefined purpose and reflect on what makes Aegon relevant to its customers, the local communities, and the wider society. However, before I continue, I would like to say that I'm very proud of all our colleagues who continue to effectively support and service our customers in a very turbulent environment. In 2021, our focus remained on creating value for our different stakeholders. To our shareholders and wider investor community in particular, and I am pleased to report that we are making clear headway in executing our strategy. We have been working to build a more enduring high-performance company with a focus on our three core markets, three growth markets, and one global asset management. Businesses outside our core perimeter are managed with tight capital and with a bias to exit. Throughout our journey, we aim to maintain a solid capital position in the business units as well as the holding company. Through proactive risk management actions, Aegon is improving its risk profile and reducing the volatility of its capital ratios. As part of our strategy, we have separated our businesses within our core markets into strategic assets and financial assets. Our aim is to release capital from financial assets and from businesses outside of our core and growth markets, and to reallocate capital to growth opportunities in the strategic assets, the growth markets, and the asset management business. I want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the milestones achieved in 2021 and demonstrate the progress we have made since our Capital Markets Day in December 2020. Last year, we continued to invest in the expansion of our distribution network, and this has resulted in solid growth in our U.S. life business. We have, for instance, extended our market share in the distribution channel World Financial Group and strengthened the distribution capacity of this channel by adding 6% more licensed agents over the course of 2021 to over 54,000 agents in total. In the U.S. retirement business, Transamerica aims to compete as a top five player in new middle market sales. This business continued to build momentum with written sales of over $1 billion in each of the quarters in 2021. Looking at our Dutch strategic assets, we are leaders in both mortgage origination and new style defined contribution pensions. We saw continued growth in these businesses throughout the year. Mortgage sales amounted to around EUR 11 billion as we continued to benefit from our strong origination capabilities. About 2/3 of the origination volume consisted of mortgages intended for third-party investors through our Dutch mortgage funds. In our workplace business, we maintained a high level of net deposits for a new style defined contribution products. Assets under management for these businesses surpassed the EUR 6 billion mark at the end of the year, underscoring Aegon's leading position in this market. Moving on to United Kingdom. Asset management, assets under administration increased by 15% compared with 2021 to over GBP 200 billion at the end of the year. Over the year, net deposits improved in the workplace and retail business, reflecting stronger investor sentiment, as well as the benefits from ongoing investments in the business. Let me now turn to our financial assets. These are blocks of business that are capital intense with relatively low returns on capital employed. New sales for these blocks are limited and focused on products with a high return and a moderate risk profile. At our Capital Markets Day back in December 2020, we laid out our intention to maximize the value from our financial assets by accelerating, increasing or de-risking the cash flows of these blocks of business. We have made good progress across the board in this area, whether that is through the active management of our long-term care exposure, or most prominently through a series of management actions for our variable annuity portfolio. It started with an expansion of our dynamic hedge program in order to further protect our balance sheet from market movements. Furthermore, we successfully completed a lump sum buyout program, and our actions have led to a material reduction in the capital that is backing the variable annuity portfolio in the United States. Variable annuities now only represent 16% of Transamerica's total required capital. The progress we have made so far enables us to now engage with external parties to further explore the potential for a reinsurance transaction on parts of the U.S. variable annuity portfolio and assess if this could be value accretive to you, our shareholders. We have also improved the predictability and the level of remittances from the Dutch life business. Our aim for the Dutch life business is to turn it into a low-risk cash generator, paying predictable, regular dividends. One of the steps taken to achieve this goal is the reinsurance agreement we concluded at the back end of last year, and that provides protection against longevity risk associated with roughly EUR 7 billion of pension liabilities. Together with previous agreements, we have now reinsured 40% of our longevity risk exposure in the Netherlands. We regard our global asset manager as an important contributor to realizing our strategy, and we aim to advance its growth. I'm therefore very pleased that our asset management business celebrated the 10th consecutive year of positive third-party net deposits. Both our global platforms and our strategic partnerships contributed positively. In Aegon's growth markets, we continue to invest in profitable growth through our strong local partnerships. In 2021, new life sales increased with growth in the bank assurance channels in Spain and in Brazil. The growth was partly offset by somewhat lower sales in China, caused by an industry-wide lower demand for critical illness products. To realize our goals, we have been fully engaged in implementing a rigorous company-wide transformation program aimed at strengthening the operating performance of the company by reducing expenses, expanding margins, and growing profitability. Right, growing profitably. A total of more than 1,200 specific performance improvements initiatives have been identified as part of this program. 1,200 initiatives. More than two-thirds of our planned initiatives have already been executed by our teams, and our focus on expense savings puts us on track to realize a significant reduction in our addressable expenses by 2023. Meanwhile, we continue to fund growth initiatives to strengthen key areas of our business, for example, by improving customer service, enhancing user experience, and developing new product. I am pleased to share that these growth initiatives are delivering positive results and contributed more than EUR 100 million to the operating results in 2021. We are not only on track with our expense savings program, but we also made steady progress against the other medium-term targets announced at December 2020. At that Capital Markets Day, we guided for operating capital generation of around EUR 1.1 billion in 2021. We ended the year with EUR 1.4 billion, partly due to favorable market conditions. Last year, the free cash flows exceeded our target, supported by the distribution of excess capital from the units to the holding company. We also made continued progress against our medium-term de-deleveraging goal, bringing our debt level to EUR 5.9 billion at the end of 2021. The sustainable growth in free cash flow allows us to grow our dividend, and that is why we today are able to propose a final dividend for 2021 of EUR 0.09 per common share, bringing the full year dividend to EUR 0.17 per common share. Looking ahead to 2022, we will continue the rigorous execution of our performance improvement plan, and we are confident that we will achieve our target of EUR 400 million expense savings by 2023, and we will continue to drive growth. In our strategic assets, asset management, and most of our growth markets, we saw continued commercial momentum in the first quarter of 2022. The actions we have taken to improve our performance also provide us with the confidence that we will deliver between EUR 1.2 billion and EUR 1.3 billion operating capital generation from our units in 2022, barring unforeseen circumstances. This will be supported by our continued high pace in maximizing value from our financial assets. We have also continued to sharpen our strategic focus. In March 2022, we announced the completion of our divestment of our businesses in Hungary to the Vienna Insurance Group. This was followed by the closing of the sale of our Turkish business in April, and both marked an important step in Aegon's transformation. This increased the cash capital of the holding company to EUR 1.8 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2022. That, in turn, enabled us to announce a EUR 300 million share buyback program and to reduce our debt even further, thereby reaching our deleveraging target range, one and a half years early. Our responsibility as a company extends well beyond achieving attractive financial returns. We actively want to contribute to help protect our environment and society in line with our purpose. In 2021, we have taken time to review our purpose and reflect on what makes Aegon relevant to its customers, local communities, and the wider society. As people generally live longer and embark on nonlinear life journeys, their financial behaviors and needs are changing, and Aegon is adapting accordingly. We champion the opportunities offered by a longer multistage life and seek to support individuals, families, and employers as they move through the resulting changes. This responsibility is at the heart of our redefined purpose of helping people live their best lives. In 1900, life expectancy was 31. Today, it's 72. Over half of today's babies born in Western nations will live for a century. 40 is the new 30. 60 is the new 40. We no longer ever really retire. We just change what we're busy with. As our time here extends, we face new decisions. How to hold onto our spark, how to stay connected, how to manage our money, how to live for today, but get the most from tomorrow. There are no universal answers, but for those with initiative, a bright future awaits. As a company, we're proud of our history. As our world transforms, it's up to us to transform with it. To be guided not only by expertise but by empathy. To help every customer enjoy the world and leave it a little better than they found it. Life's road has never been longer or more filled with possibility. That's why we help people live their best life. It's good to know that 60 is the new 40 as I turn 60 this year. By the way, our redefined purpose describes our focus on positive longevity, as we call it, and how we seek to be a force for good for our customers and other stakeholders throughout their lifetimes. We'll be guiding our vision and strategy. We want to champion the opportunities of a longer life and help to improve the quality of life and well-being for everyone. We have further embedded sustainability as a central pillar within our company strategy and have identified climate change and inclusion and diversity as key priorities. The overarching objective is to contribute to society at large and play our part in addressing the planet's greatest challenges. As an insurance company, we have the opportunities to support the transition to a climate-resilient economy and net zero world using both sides of our balance sheet. On the one hand, through our responsible investment framework, and on the other hand, by integrating ESG into our risk management processes and into the savings and protection solutions that we provide our customers. The influence we can have as an investor is particularly significant, and we have committed to transitioning our general account investment portfolio to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To ensure progress to our 2050 commitment, by 2025, we aim to reduce the carbon intensity of our corporate fixed income and listed equity general account investments by 25%. This will be followed by additional targets every five years. In line with our net zero commitment, we have set a supporting greenhouse gas emission reduction target to reduce the carbon footprint of our operational activities by 25% by 2025 against the 2019 baseline. These company-wide commitments are supported by additional actions made by our units in their local markets. Our progress is increasingly recognized by external stakeholders, as recently evidenced by the fact that we have been included in the AEX ESG Index, the new environmental, social, and governance index launched by the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange. This AEX ESG Index identifies the 25 companies that demonstrates the best ESG practices from the 50 constituents of the two main indices, the AEX and the AMX. We view inclusion and diversity as integral qualities in a robust future-proof business. Providing a welcoming and supportive environment for people from different ethnicities and backgrounds, we strive to maintain a healthy level of gender diversity at all levels of our organization. I'm pleased to observe that at the end of 2021, 50% of our workforce were women, and that the proportion of female representation among our senior management in 2021 increased by two percentage points to 34%. For this year, we have set ourselves a target of at least 36%. Alongside diversity and equality, improving openness and inclusion is a priority across the organization. That is why in 2021, we have updated how we measure these elements in our global employee survey to enable more targeted interventions and to track our progress. This brings me to my concluding remarks. I would like you to take away four things from this presentation. Number one, we're making clear headway executing on our strategy. Number two, we are delivering on our financial commitments. Number three, we are looking ahead with a renewed purpose. Number four, we are laying the foundations for a sustainable future. Ladies and gentlemen, in 2022, global economic and geopolitical uncertainty remains. For the moment, we are seeing the impact from COVID-19 subside and several central banks tightening their monetary policies to protect the economy and address rising inflation. I'm confident that the progress we're making on the execution of our strategy, the actions that we are taking to strengthen our balance sheet, and the unwavering commitment of our employees keep us on track for delivering on our strategic and our financial objectives. Thank you very much. Thank you, Lard. Plus, right? Before addressing your questions, please note that the attendance list of this meeting has been drawn up. In this meeting, we have present 43 holders of common shares and common shares B. They represent, together with shareholders who have voted through e-voting and by proxy voting, a total of 1,413,577,274 votes. That this number represents 69.55% of the 2,032,375,398 voting shares and of the issued and outstanding capital as of record date for this meeting. We will now address questions regarding agenda items 2.1 and 2.3, the business overview and the annual accounts. May I invite those of you who wish to speak to go to the nearest microphone and state your name for the minutes. To ensure an orderly discussion, please be so kind as to restrict yourself to the agenda item and to limit your questions to three at the time. Who would like to start? I have a young lady here. Please. Yes, thank you. Thank you also for the presentation. My name is Martina Kuipers from MN Asset Management for PMT and PME, among other clients. Also speaking on behalf of APG Asset Management. Let me start by saying that we want to thank you for the dialogues that we have on an annual basis. This year, yeah, we discussed, among other things, Aegon's ambitions regarding climate change and inclusion and diversity, important topics for our clients as well. Very much appreciate the open dialogue we had on actions taken and also future plans. I have two questions on Aegon's climate ambition and approach, and also I have two questions for the external auditor. In 2021, Aegon, as was shown in the presentation, Aegon committed to a net-zero impact objective for 2050 in respect to its general account investment portfolio, and the medium target was set for 2025, and that is a reduction of carbon intensity of corporate fixed income and listed equity investments by 25%. My first questions are, will the targets and actions be verified by an independent external institute? Also, are there plans to also set targets for other asset classes? I think these questions are directed to you, Mr. Friese, and then I have two remaining questions for the external auditor. Lard? Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your questions. First, I would like to cover the point of independent verification, if you don't mind. No, we have no plans for external verification. However, Aegon has become a member of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which is a well-known alliance that you can only join as a member if you adhere to a very strict protocol, among others, a target setting protocol. We want to make sure that we're part of that alliance because we wanna be seen as best practice in that area. We will look to further substantiate our commitments over the coming years with additional science-based targets in line with the protocol. This protocol of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance is regularly updated with new scientific insights. As a result, we're using that protocol as the guiding element for our commitment and substantiation of those. That is the answer to your question about verification. About the other asset classes that we would cover. Indeed, by 2025, we have committed to reduce our general account fixed income, corporate fixed income and equity, listed equity exposures, the carbon with 25%. We expect to set and we indeed, as you say, you know, will have a net zero commitment to 2050, but every five years, we'll give you, we will set new commitments to make sure that we remain on track. We expect to set a target on our real estate investments for 2025 this year, and the next set of targets for 2030 is expected to be communicated in 2025. In this way, more assets will be captured as also more methodologies become available. We view our net zero commitment on the general account assets as a first step in our net zero journey, and additional actions are underway in the local markets. It's not only that we have global commitments, but also our local markets have, in a number of cases, specific commitments. Let me name two for you. The U.K. business has already set a net zero commitment on its default workplace fund offering. While Aegon the Netherlands has committed itself to reach net zero emissions by 2050 for both the general and the separate account assets, as well as off-balance sheet investments. Those are encompassing a much broader universe. In November 2021, also our asset manager, led by Bas NieuweWeme, has signed the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, joining other big asset management groups in committing support to the objective of net zero, greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. Aegon Asset Management is committed to supporting investment aligned with that net zero emissions target and collaborating with its clients on decarbonization and helping them to achieve their own climate ambitions. Don't forget that where the general account is what we own, so we direct basically how we treat them. The asset manager, in addition to the general account assets, also manages discretionary mandates from other investors. As a result, they need to have a very active exchange to make sure that these asset owners are also contributing to the same objective, and that's what they in fact do. I think that's what I would like to ask to your second piece, and I hope that covers it. That answers my questions. Thank you so much, and also looking forward to learning more about your ambitions, for example, regarding real estate. Thank you for elaborating on that. May I also ask two questions to the external auditor? Would it be okay, because he'll be speaking a bit later? Mm. to go through the financial accounts. Oh. that we would defer those questions until he's speaking? Yes, of course. Yes. Okay. Thank you. No, that's it for now. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Yeah. Good afternoon. My name is Keyner. I speak on behalf of VEB. Mr. Chairman, this is the eleventh year I'm attending the shareholder meeting of Aegon. Good to see you again. As your predecessor will confirm, most of those years have been very critical about Aegon. Actually, he probably hates me, and I don't blame him for that. No. The criticism was not so much directed to the strategy of Aegon, but about the execution of the strategy. I've been urging for now, more than 10 years, a higher level of urgency within the organization. As half a compliment, I would like to say, I would like to state that I've got the impression there's more urgency in the organization right now. There's new kind of energy. Of course, the new CEO definitely helps. But it seems that Aegon is waking up, and I'm looking forward to results in two or three years from now, since it takes a longer time to really see the results of the actions being taken. First question. My impression is I don't understand many of the numbers that you're presenting, but my impression is, and that was confirmed by Mr. Friese, just right now, is that you're de-risking Aegon. De-risking means lots of hedges and so on, but very often de-risking comes at a price. It means that you're foregoing, that you're not taking any kind of benefits if the market turns the other way around. To put it very concretely, Aegon has been having in the past lots of issues with dropping interest rates. Now, suddenly we are entering a phase where interest rates are increasing. Are you now stopping getting the benefits of increasing interest rates after having suffered for a decade? That's my first question. Yeah. What is the price of de-risking the company? Uh-huh. The second question relates to a very important business unit of yours, and that stays within the company as part of your new strategy, which is your asset manager. Mm-hmm. As you know, NN Investment Partners has decided to sell this part because of lack of critical mass. Aegon is slightly bigger, if I'm not mistaken. I was wondering, how are you ensuring, how will you be ensuring that this business is not only attractive for your customers? Attractive for your customers means that the products which are being offered have got a very low cost structure. Mm-hmm. At the same time, being interesting for us as shareholders as well, that is profitable for Aegon. How do you move yourself this new kind of environment where you got the huge, big players with very low cost structures which are capturing a big part of the market. You got Aegon as a midsize player, even though hundreds of billions, you're still a midsize player. How can you ensure being relevant for your customers and being profitable for Aegon itself? Third and last question for this round. I've got plenty more questions, as you can imagine. That has to do with a common thread, common theme, with all your competitors, that we've all seen the lights that we have to become more sustainable, and there are very good reasons for that. Of course, if sustainability means in the long run being more profitable, everybody's happy and we're all glad and so on. The Earth is happy, all the stakeholders and so on. However, there will be situations where some stakeholders will suffer. Actually, you're writing this in your annual report as well. There may be some circumstances where you're choosing for the benefits of one stakeholder and the other one will suffer. I'm of course talking on behalf of shareholders. As a principle, is Aegon willing to sacrifice long-term returns for shareholders and ensuring other shareholders stakeholders get more priority, whether it's the environment or suppliers, competitors maybe could also be a stakeholder, clients, employees. How strong are your principles as far as sustainability is concerned, and how strong is your commitment towards your shareholders? Those are the three questions. Thank you. All very good relevant questions. If I may suggest, in terms of the price of de-risking, I will defer that to the CFO, Matt Rider. In terms of asset management and the longer term reconciling the broader ESG matrix with profitability, I'll defer again to the CEO. Yeah. As far as the first thing is concerned, it's less of a question, how much does it cost us right now, but what kind of opportunities Mm-hmm. Will we be missing because of de-risking the company? Yes. Opportunity cost, if I may. Okay. Right. Matt? Yes, thanks for your question. I think many of you will recall, back in December 2020, we announced that we would embark upon an interest rate risk management plan that would indeed reduce our economic exposure to lower interest rates. We have done a lot of work on that and have actually done a good job in closing a lot of that interest rate gap. I think importantly, as of today, we still have an open exposure on the interest rate side. In fact, we are benefiting, economically, especially long-term, from the rising rate environment. There are, let's say, opportunity costs. If we had not done that, you know, we would have benefited even more. We did recognize that shareholders were interested more in reducing the level of volatility of our share price, and especially our sensitivity to the financial markets. This was a very conscious decision to make us quite a bit more boring, which is what we strive to do. Just to understand, you're saying you've hedged a big part of it, but you're still benefiting if interest rates are increasing? Yeah. Still, I do remember that in your sensitivity analysis, the solvency rate drops actually a little bit if interest rates increase. Is that just a short-term effect? It is a short-term effect indeed. Economically, if you look at the longer term, then we're benefiting economically. Yeah. You see that, in fact, reflected in our share price. Interest rates have come up, and that's boosted our share price. We are less exposed, far less exposed to interest rates than we have been previously. Clear. Lard, on the other two questions. Yes. On the other two. Yeah. In general, by the way, on the last point, you know, rates up are good for us because our products are more attractive for our customers. Also that helps, of course, medium and longer term. Yeah, on the asset manager and the trade-offs and sustainability. With the asset management business, given the nature of our company, we offer. We have 30 million customers. We offer in many of our jurisdictions, many of the geographies, we offer pension plans in some form. In the U.K., it's different than the Netherlands, in the U.S. it's different than in Brazil. We have all kinds of ways for people to help prepare them for their retirement. In total, we roughly have EUR 1.2 trillion that is, you know, investments that are running through those platforms. That's really a big piece of money. 40% of that, roughly 35%-40% of that is managed by our own asset manager, and all the rest is managed by other asset managers, because you cannot be all things to all people. We have already, for a long time, a platform where our own asset management business on those strategies that they are really good and distinctive in, that they run the assets. For many other asset management strategies, for instance, ETFs, et cetera, passive funds, we actually collaborate with other asset managers who are offering their products to our customers on our platform to ensure that our customers have a full breadth of investment choices available to them. Now obviously, this creates also an opportunity, because if we only manage from the total flow roughly 40%, there is 60% that we could actually increase. Now you cannot be all things to all people, but of course, one of the things that Bas is doing with his teams globally is to try and eke and get more of that percentage. That is only helpful for us because it generates more fees, and it generates more business and more returns, et cetera, for our shareholders. The second piece is that our asset manager is focused on distinction. You cannot be all things to all people. I'll say that for the third time. They're focusing on sustainable strategies. They're focusing on alternative fixed income strategies, which is part of their core DNA coming from an insurance group. Three, they are also focusing on real assets. For instance, affordable housing in the U.S., a strategy which is very successful for us. Or the mortgage fund, which is a very successful strategy for us. In... If you combine that with the thriving business we have in China, where we are benefiting from the rise of the middle class in this massive economy, if you look at the other partnerships that we have, we believe that we have an asset manager that is well-positioned to grow further. An asset management capability we believe is absolutely critical to our kind of company, given the kind of products that we give to our customers. Specialization is crucial because to your point, otherwise you cannot make the returns that you should be making. Now our returns are still not where we want them to be. The first step that our asset management business took is to create a global business line. That's number one. Number two, they are now working on implementing a complete new operating technology platform that is, once that is implemented, going to lead to a lot of efficiencies. As a result, the margin that you will see coming from the asset manager will increase. In the last four quarters you have seen the margins structurally increasing a bit, but then more of that margin increase is to be expected. We are happy with the progress our asset manager is making. We believe it's critical for our kind of products and services, and it's poised for growth in the future. On the trade-offs to the various stakeholders. You know, if I sit with my sales teams, you sometimes have the discussion, and some of you may recognize this of, you know, "What do you want, Lard? Do you want volume or profitability?" I always say, "Yes." Right? You always say, yes. The answer is yes. They look at you know, yes. In other words, it's NN. It is both. Our objective for everything we do is to create value for all our stakeholders. Sometimes you need to make a trade-off because you believe that your environment needs to come first in a return, for instance. However, so far, in our commitments that we have done, I have said, I'm treating commitments the same way as I'm treating my financial plans. I want to see the plan in detail before we announce it. Of course, I had quite some discussions with our general account investors because these questions were asked like, "All right, okay, we can remove this piece of assets from our accounts, but you know, we're gonna lose that kind of returns." I said, "You know what? That's not good enough. I'm not paying you for that. I want you to find other asset classes that can give us the same risk-return profiles to make up for it." It's hard work. But I'm fundamentally of the belief that we are able to combine both. I'm not taking no for an answer from anybody who says to me, "You know, the environment comes first, so now you're losing returns." No. If you run your business well, you will stay relevant. You have value for all your stakeholders. To me, the answer is the environment or money? I would say it's both. It's yes. Yeah, that sounds very nice, and everybody will agree with you until you go into the details. Now, for instance, if I were not from speaking on behalf of VEB, but I don't know, save the Earth company, I will tell you, don't invest in fossil fuel companies. Stop that. We have to stop that. You will say, "No, well, we will. We'll review this. We'll make sure to do step by step." I'm sure that's more or less your strategy. It means you're sacrificing them. At some point, you may take the opposite view. Now, now we really have to stop, and we take for granted that maybe we lose a few basis points of returns for your shareholders, for your own shareholders. Ah. Ah. I'm really interested in those kind of things. There are competitors who are saying, "We're willing to sacrifice. Yeah. “Long-term returns for our shareholders for higher principles than just financial returns.” I don't hear you saying that. You're saying we can find an optimal so we don't sacrifice anybody. I don't believe that. No, Mr. Keyner. If you don't mind, this is a shareholders meeting, right? I hope you allow me a bit of debate, right? That's a different point. I mean, the question whether or not Aegon should decide to get out of fossil, right, and dump those investments and say, we need to get out in a certain period of time or not, is, to me, not a return question. It's, to me, a different perspective that we have on that answer, on that answer. Our answer is that we believe that the energy transition that needs to happen, we want to have a seat at that table. We are a very active participant in that debate. You can ask all of this and other investors on the Shell meetings and other meetings. The Shell meeting, I'm disclosing because, you know, people know about our position there. We believe that it's a massive challenge that the planet has when it comes to energy transition. It is something that we need to have. We wanna be part of that table. We wanna be part of that ecosystem. We want to push that forward. We do not believe that not having a seat at that table will help to find the answer. We wanna have a seat at that table to push the companies to give us the answers and to push them forward for the energy transition that we need to have. That's a different perspective. We do not believe that if we would stop investing in fossil, that suddenly fossil will disappear. We believe that the money will be supported by other groups of investors that may not have the similar transparency that through this debate, for instance, we are having. We have our own reasons. You sing me a song like I would sing it, actually. What is important for me to understand, you do not say that you're willing to sacrifice long-term returns for your shareholders in return for the other stakeholders. That's not what you're saying, at least. We believe that we can make the returns for all stakeholders work. Thank you. Thank you. I would just add from the supervisory board perspective that as you saw from the video, I mean, you focused on areas of potential tension. If we do it right, there's also areas for opportunity for us. Yeah. that has to be taken into account that, you know, we're in a position also to make a real difference and support, which also is in the interest of all stakeholders, including the shareholders, if we're successful. There's a lot of different components to this. There's the next question, sir. Thanks for the debate. My name is Jeroen Bach. I represent VBDO, the Association of Investors for Sustainable Development. Welcome. My first question is a general question. Aegon has reinsured a considerable part of liabilities. The question is. How do Aegon monitor this part of the portfolio regarding ESG? The second question is. The loss of biodiversity is considered as one of the greatest threats to the planet and humanity. For that reason, what action does Aegon currently take to measure the company's impact on biodiversity? Aegon reports that the company invested EUR 4.1 billion in impact investments. What part of these investments are spent on projects that advance biodiversity? The last question, the third question, VBDO would like to challenge Aegon to take the next step in the reporting on diversity. Would Aegon, for instance, consider conducting a voluntary research among the company's employees considering cultural diversity such as the Dutch Barometer Cultural Diversity? These are my questions. Thank you very much. Lard? Thank you very much. First, let's measure our impact on biodiversity. First of all, Mr. Bach, welcome, and thank you for your questions. Like you, we consider permanent loss of biodiversity systemic risk for all life on the planet and therefore also for society at large and financial institutions. We believe that we have responsibility, and that governments have responsibility to care for that and to ensure that they preserve biodiversity. Now, our impact on biodiversity is mostly through our investment portfolio. That's a little bit the nature of the kind of company that we have. Investments are guided by our responsible investment policy and in detail local policies that we have, and most notably those of the Dutch business and the, as a whole, the Netherlands fund range that we have for that. Based on these policies, Aegon the Netherlands excludes companies that derive 5% or more of their revenues. We exclude from our investments, companies that derive 5% or more of their revenues from palm oil production or distribution of that palm oil. We also exclude companies that manage forests with 75% or lower FSC certification coverage, and those companies that derive 5% or more of their revenues from oil and gas exploration in offshore Arctic regions, especially with the aim of biodiversity. We annually screen our holdings for biodiversity-related aspects, and the criteria that we use for those screening activities include controversies or adverse impact on biodiversity, including the supply chain of investee companies, and criteria to address biodiversity risks related to high-risk industries such as mining, energy, forestry, agriculture, and fishing. We engage with those companies identified in our screening process. If you look over the year 2021, 31% of our engagement practices reflected environmental topics, including biodiversity. We have also committed in the Netherlands to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge. Forgot the Dutch word for it, actually. But it's the, you know, it's the Biodiversity Pledge. A biodiversity footprint, impact metrics, and relevant disclosures are considered. At this stage, Aegon NV and NL do not have any related KPIs in place, but we are part of that pledge. That is basically the perspective that we have on biodiversity. Your point about the second point was about the EUR 4.1 billion in impact investments, right? What part of the fund we spend on projects that advance biodiversity. Yeah. Well, that's the second piece, right? Impact investments are part of Aegon's responsible investment practice and solutions practice. We seek financial returns alongside measurable positive social and environmental impacts. We use very strict definitions and criteria for impact investments, requiring both ex-ante and ex-post reporting on the actual impact pursued and realized. Now being able to define and measure the positive impact on this, on the broad topics such as biodiversity, that's very difficult and does not meet the strict criteria used for impact investments. Some of the impact investment funds contribute to biodiversity via, number one, the investing in companies or bonds of those companies that indirectly contribute to the two relevant SDGs for biodiversity, which is SDG number 14, life below water, and 15, life on land. Periodically, we screen the investment portfolio for alignment with these SDGs. We do screen it, and those are the measures that we use. 60%, roughly, of the impact investments relate to the U.S. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, focusing on positive social impact. That's low-income housing in the U.S. for public sector workers, for instance. Now then, the topic on gender balance in the company. Your question was whether we would, you know, want to conduct a voluntary research such as a Dutch barometer, cultural diversity, etc., right, Mr. Bach? Well, it continues to be our ambition to broaden the collection of data, but we should realize that there is a limit legally in many jurisdictions on how to collect data on gender diversity or on other, by the way, diversity perspectives that you could have. For privacy regulation and the like are not always, well, need to be respected, obviously, but they do not make the collection of data, objective data, necessarily easier. We are going to appoint a global head of diversity and inclusion, which will help us to drive more impetus globally to the creation and nurturing of an inclusive workforce and a diverse workforce. As we still intend to see what we can do more structurally in this space, gender balance, we do measure, and you have heard me say that we are now at 34% for senior management and 50% for the entire workforce. We still, you know, see what we can do more structurally. In the interim, we're building the data that we can collect, and we are using that as much as we can where we can do it. In the Netherlands, for instance, we have conducted additional research, a so-called glass ceiling research. I don't know whether you've seen that in the newspapers because it was covered there as well. In Transamerica, which is our U.S. business, we are building functionality in Workday to capture the participation of our employees in employee resource groups. We have many employee resource groups that we support and nurture to ensure that they are regularly consulted, by the way, also in business ideas, et cetera. We have in the asset manager we've developed a dashboard at senior manager level that captures trends on a variety of diversity measures. By no means are we gonna stop our efforts to create more urgency because it stems from a very fundamental belief in our company, and that is that you can only be a company that maintains relevance and can create outperformance if your workforce feels safe, if they feel included, and if they are really diverse. And that is something that we're striving for and need to improve on every day. It's a journey in that sense. Okay. The first question is about reinsured liabilities. Yes. How do you monitor that part of your portfolio? Well, as part of the Net-Zero Alliance. I did share with you earlier, I think to your question, that we are part of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. Yeah. Part of the protocols is to develop screening methodologies, et cetera, to screen that appropriately. We're using that, and we're expanding on that as those protocols are being further refined. That's not what I mean, exactly. Mm-hmm. You reinsure part of your liability to a third party? Yeah. You hand over the liabilities and also the assets, some assets, money. Yeah. How do you monitor? This is a kind of outsourcing how I see that. Well, what we do. Reinsuring is a kind of outsourcing, so you're still responsible. Correct. Yes. But- How do you monitor your responsibility? What we do. First of all, I would not say that it's outsourcing, but I understand. Technically you're right. I understand where you're coming from. We have a complete panel of reinsurers that we work with to make sure that the coverage that we provide to all our customers and are embedded in the products, that we are able to do that in a way which is financially attractive for our customers. At the same time, you know, we need to make sure our risk on the balance sheet is not too high. As a result, we need to syndicate that risk out to ensure that we maintain a strong financial position. The people we work with, so the reinsurance companies on the panel, as we call it, we have a panel of reinsurers. Yes. Those are well-known reinsurers. What we do, like we, by the way, do with all, vendors that we work with, is to check how they are performing. I hope that that's what you meant, how they are performing in their ESG strategies. Yes. Is that what you're? Yeah. What you're driving at? Yes. Yes? Maybe you are that embedded in the reinsurance contracts. It's not embedded in the reinsurance contract. Oh. It's not embedded in the reinsurance contract, but we do know what they are doing. Actually, we have, for all our purchasing vendors, we use technology, it's EcoVadis, that's the name of that piece of technology, so that we screen how the criteria they're using, you know, how are they progressing, et cetera. We do have that in place, of course, as part of our own scope to ESG practice. Yeah. Reinsurer is a part of that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, sir. Good afternoon. My name is Alexander van der Graaf, a private investor. I have two questions, and I would like to ask my questions in Dutch. Yes. My first question to Mr. Friese is the share price of Aegon. Since you joined as CEO, you have undoubtedly obtained a clear picture of what Aegon had been before you joined, what Aegon is today, and what Aegon can become. Previously, you worked at Aegon. You left in 2003. After 2000, Aegon's share price plummeted. Let's disregard the extremely high share price for a moment. That was unusual. In 2003, it fluctuated between EUR 11 and EUR 13, the Aegon share price. Aegon's share price has not even approached double digits for many years. Half doesn't even appear to be tenable. How do you see the current stock price of Aegon? Is it correctly valued? Is it undervalued or is it overvalued? What do you believe Aegon's potential is? Waiting a moment to ensure that everybody's. Well, by the way, it's all Dutch, right? You've all heard and understood the language. Is it okay, Mr. Chairman? Yes. Thank you. May I answer the question in Dutch? May I answer the question in Dutch? On the webcast. First of all, Mr. van der Graaf, thank you for your question. When I joined Aegon two years ago and was elected at this stockholders meeting to be your CEO, I've done a lot of analysis because, of course, I was intrigued. I have, like you, witnessed that Aegon, for a long time, has not been performing very well. That was actually one of the reasons why I wanted to join, because I'm intrigued, and I aim, together with my colleagues, to make it much better. I'm not the one who is. I should not comment on. I believe it's up to you to measure and to value the company, to believe what you think the company is worth and how we're doing. What I can tell you is that I've done my analysis at the time on what I felt was driving the underperformance, and it was basically four areas, in my view. The persistent underperformance in my view was driven by four things. Number one, an unwieldy strategy. A strategy which was not very well understood. We were all things to all people, actually. We were in many different markets, and not all the markets had the right focus, and not all the markets were profitable. But honestly, that was the first piece. We believe that more focus is needed to ensure that the company's performance improved. That's number one. Number two, the other driver of the underperformance is the risk profile of the company. A part of the analysis I did was to listen to stockholders. I've met many institutional investors, and I've just listened to them and asked them questions like, "What do you believe is the trajectory of Aegon? What do you believe should happen," et cetera. The overriding feedback was that the volatility of the results and the unpredictability of the results was not very helpful. That's what they told me. That is driven by the risk profile of the company. That's the second area. The third area has to do with the execution track record of the company, where you have plans, but then you need to, in order for those plans to become a reality, in real tangible results, you need to have, you know, you need to be good at creating plans, thinking them through, and executing on them in great detail. If, you know, during the execution, things are not going well, you need to adapt and block and tackle, and then you need to get the right outcomes. That's the third area. The company, in my view, did not have a really good execution muscle, if you will. The fourth area has to do with the operating model, where we felt that the. I felt that the company's operating model is too decentralized and that the role of the functions and the relationship between the corporate center and the companies, et cetera, was not tidy enough, not disciplined enough. What we have done is we built a plan. We've done a couple of things. At the Capital Markets Day at the end of 2022, first, by the way, when I came in, we reviewed a number of balance sheets and put assumptions into place where we believe, and I believe, that we're comfortable. You may recall that three months after my announcement, we took quite a big decision in the U.S. to adjust the assumptions on the balance sheet to make them more where we believe they should be. That took a charge, but we were happy to take that charge because it was needed to set it right. Then we went through the entire balance sheet. Now, at the Capital Markets Day, we gave our plan. We made our strategy very focused. We said, "Look, three core markets, the U.K., the U.S., the Netherlands, those are the core markets of Aegon. Three growth markets, Spain and Portugal, by the way, Brazil, China. Then the fourth one is the global asset management business." That's it. That's the core of Aegon. That's where we're gonna focus all our attention, talent, capabilities on, investments in, to ensure that we focus. That's one thing. Secondly, within the core markets, we made a very clear distinction to what product lines do we wanna grow, what product lines do we wanna stop and not grow anymore because they're not making money, and the products are not attractive enough for our customers. Stop them. We created closed blocks. What we then did is on the risk profile, we've taken a great number of measures. Matt was talking earlier about interest rate management and making the company less dependent on market volatility. We will always be dependent to some extent to market volatility, but not to the extent that we want to have in the past. We did a lot of work to do that. We worked on a variable annuity block. We've worked on a lot of other areas to really calm down the overall financial profile of the company. Finally, we've done a lot of work to make the company more disciplined in its operating rigor, hence the 1,200 initiatives that we defined. We have now delivered 80% of those, and we track every week. I'm sitting with my entire team together to see where we are. Every week on Thursday afternoon, we sit for two hours to ensure that we measure progress. Finally, we change the operating of the model of the company. That's what we're doing. You know, we believe there is a lot of opportunity in this company. It's a great firm with great positions. However, we believe that the four areas need a lot of work. We are now two years on our way. It's the start, I would say, of the journey, because these things take time to take hold. It's up to our stockholders to determine whether they believe that we are making good progress in making Aegon a more predictable, a more focused company with a great talent base that continuously creates value for the company. So far, you and I have seen how the stock price is doing. I always say I look not only at the stock price itself as one of the metrics, by the way, but also at the relative, so how are all the competition doing both in Europe and in the U.S. to see where we are. Yeah. Thank you, Lard. Okay. My second question concerns dividend. I've addressed this topic previously at shareholders meetings, and I'm delighted to see that there's going to be a share buyback this year. I suggested that earlier, and I'm very grateful and happy that it's happening now. I'm less happy about the dividend because you may know that in the past, the dividend was quite a bit higher than it is now. After the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, at the orders of De Nederlandsche Bank, Aegon skipped a round of dividend. Even though Aegon indicated that they could afford it was never caught up on. That's a missed opportunity. Since you became CEO, you reduced the dividend considerably. Despite the fact that the dividend is now rising, compared with the past, we're still in the red. I don't consider t his dividend increase to be a higher dividend, but a dividend that's being pared down less. Are structurally higher dividends in the future, feasible and tenable? When I started, we decided to, the board decided to reduce the dividend trajectory because we felt that the company needed to prioritize other things first, which is risk profile reduction and deleveraging of the balance sheet. We made a conscious decision to do that, to change the overall financial profile of Aegon. That's number one. Number two, we set ourself a target that we want to run the company with a target of EUR 0.25 per share by the end of 2023. Okay. Originally, we had guided the market that we would start from a certain base, and then we would, in the beginning, see a more muted pattern, and then, you know, we would get to the EUR 0.25 per share. The progress that we have made has allowed us to increase the pace, to accelerate the pace toward that EUR 0.25 per share path objective that we have. Hence, the proposal that we have on the table today, which combined with the interim dividend, gives you a EUR 0.17 per share dividend. We aim beyond that, of course, to grow our dividend per share in line with the growth of our free cash flow generation. Yeah. Yeah. By now you've missed one step. Compared to the past, I still feel that, we're down. That's why I made this point. I can only say what the reason why we took this step in 2020 to reduce the dividend path that we were on is because we felt we needed to prioritize the reduction of the risk profile of Aegon and the leverage reduction of the debt of the holding company first. What we're now seeing is that we're actually have a more accelerated path than we originally envisaged to the EUR 0.25 per share. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. I think this allows us. You, one more. Yeah. Keyner of VEB. Actually, we've got plenty of questions, but I will limit myself to one, and probably one where I think Mr. Friese would like to elaborate on. It concerns not only opportunities. I think I appreciate very much the previous questions. The previous person. That was excellent. Excellent answer. More towards the opportunities of the companies. You also spent, I think, 23 pages in your annual report about the risk factors. Mm-hmm. Of course, I read them. I tried to value, are these relevant or not? Are these likely or not? Actually, I got stuck primarily at the financial risks. Not surprisingly, this is a financial company. When I look through the financial risks, there are plenty of them. In my assessment, it's not unlikely that half of those will materialize in the next 2-3 years. That was at least my expectation, but I may be totally wrong. Especially with financial risks, they tend to come in groups, which means the one financial risk triggers the other one, and you get a whole cascade of financial risks. I would like to hear from the CEO, if possible, a scenario, not impossible, but a likely scenario that what he expects that could happen when some of those financial risks could be grouped, could be cascading, and what the impact would be on Aegon and its performance. It's more or less your crystal ball, but it's not unlikely that it would happen since interest rates are increasing. There's a lot of leverage in some companies and so on and so on. Maybe you could describe a scenario, what that would mean for Aegon. If I may I defer that to the CFO? Okay. Thank you. Matt? Yes, certainly. As you say, we are exposed to financial risks. We have EUR 158 billion in our general account portfolios. This means we're exposed to interest rate risk, credit risk, and a whole variety of, let's say, operational risk, but let's focus on the financial ones. At present time, the biggest risk that we have on our balance sheet is our exposure to equity markets. This is one, particularly in, let's say in the U.S. businesses, variable annuities and the like, where we have indirect exposure to equity markets. What does this mean? It means that we are generally charging fees on account balances which have as underlying funds, equity market funds. This is in many respects, much like an asset manager. Now, it goes through our balance sheet, and we tend to really control and report on those risks. You had mentioned earlier that you had gone through, I think, some of the solvency sensitivities. You see this very clearly in the numbers that we publish, but you'll notice that we operate sufficient capital margins and we have capital targets within each one of the companies to be able to withstand those types of shocks to the system. You can see very clearly in those disclosures where we are mostly exposed, and mostly it would be in the equity risk. All right. Thank you all for your questions. We now move to agenda item 2.2, the Remuneration Report 2021. The chair of the Remuneration Committee, Ben Noteboom, will present the 2021 Remuneration Report. Ben, please. Thank you, Will. Ladies and gentlemen, before we ask you to cast your advisory vote on the 2021 Remuneration Report, I would like to share a summary of what was disclosed in the 2021 report and answer your questions. As part of our commitment to transparency and readability, we have made an effort to further improve the Remuneration Report, including a simplification of certain tables. The remuneration policy that applied to the supervisory board members in 2021 was approved by our shareholders in 2020. There were no deviations from the policy. The level of the base fees, attendance fees, and travel fees for supervisory board members remained stable compared to the year before. The total remuneration of the supervisory board members in 2021 was slightly higher compared to last year. This reflects an increase in the number of meetings and an increase in travel movements as a result of the gradual relaxation of the COVID measures. Similar to the supervisory board, the remuneration policy that applied to the executive board members in 2021 was approved by the shareholders in 2020. There again were no deviations from the policy in 2021. For the 2021 performance year, Lard Friese was allocated EUR 1.485 million in fixed compensation as part of his EUR 3.5 million in total compensation package. Matt Rider was allocated EUR 968,000 in fixed compensation as part of his EUR 2.3 million total compensation. Lard Friese's compensation package was equal to the year before. While Matt Rider received a 5% increase of his fixed compensation as of June 2021, following his reappointment last year in this meeting. Both received higher variable compensation awards compared to last year due to strong business and individual results. On a performance scale with 100% as target and 150% as maximum, Aegon's overall business performance result was 123%. This was driven by maximum or close to maximum results on several indicators, such as free cash flow, operating result, market-consistent value of new business, and the execution of our transformation plan. To calculate the variable compensation for our executive board members, the Aegon performance result is converted into a result on a scale with 80% as targets and 100% as maximum. It's a percentage over percentage obviously. For 2021, this result was 89%. To calculate the variable compensation of our executive board members, Aegon's performance result of 89% had 70% weight for the EB. The remaining 30% weight is driven by individual performance indicators related to the development of the strategic roadmap, the execution of capital initiatives in line with the strategic roadmap, the proportion of women in senior management positions, and lastly, ESG strategy development for Lard and finance strategy execution for Matt. Based on a total result of 92%, Lard Friese was allocated EUR 1,359,000 in variable compensation. This was calculated by multiplying his fixed compensation level of EUR 1,485,000 by the total result of 92%. Matt Rider, based on a total result of 91%, was allocated EUR 884,000 in variable compensation. Let us move to compensation for 2022 on the next slide. In accordance with the supervisory board remuneration policy, the fees for the supervisory board members have been indexed with 5% as of January 2022 in response to the economic developments. This is the first increase in three years' time. In accordance with the executive board remuneration policy, Lard Friese's fixed compensation has been increased with 5% as of January 2022. The increase will keep his total compensation aligned with internal and external compensation levels, as well as economic developments since he started at Aegon two years ago in March 2020. There are no changes foreseen to the compensation package of Matt Rider in 2022. Thank you. Back to you, Will. Thank you, Ben. We will now address questions regarding agenda item 2.2. Are there any questions? Yes, sir. Yeah. My name is Keyner on behalf of VEB. I've got no issues with this year's pay remuneration, so. The reason why I don't have an issue, because performance is there. That immediately is the starting point for my question to the Remuneration Committee of the Supervisory Board. It's very obvious that in the last decade or even more, Aegon has been having issues in performing. Some of the factors were external. We all appreciate that. You know, the credit crisis and so on and so on. But overall, there's no way how, looking back, we can be satisfied about the performance of Aegon in the last decade. How does Aegon review its remuneration system that in several of those years, any variable pay was being granted to the executives while performance was lacking? Yes. Thank you for your question. We've had this discussion before, of course. Yes. Last year and the year before. All the years previous as well. Yeah, yeah. We also said that we shared your sentiment about it. The issue is, of course, then you requested to have more KPIs based on financials. However, of course, as you are aware, this is illegal. In this country, we're not allowed to have more than 50% of the remuneration, flexible remuneration, based on financial KPIs. The non-financial KPIs were met. That resulted indeed in a reasonable, maybe high level of flexible compensation in a time where the financial performance was maybe not satisfying. Yeah, you know. I share your point of view. But that- I will be standing next to you to lobby to change the legislation to go back to a bigger part of financial KPIs in financial institutions. Unfortunately, our hands are bound. At the same time, we have tried to listen. We have increased transparency. We have shared now what we are looking for 2022, which is good because of its transparency. If you overdo it also could be a basis of instability, but that's for maybe a different discussion. We have tried to put in more KPIs with a longer horizon to try and optimize the performance and the flexible pay of the company. We are trying to listen and making an effort. Yeah, we're not fighting against lawmakers. I don't think, actually I'm sure there is no law that forces you to grant a bonus if the actual economic performance is not up to speed. To be very practical, if in a given year, the non-financial performance has been excellent and the economic performance has been lousy, I think the results should be zero bonus. There's no law that says you have to give a EUR 500,000 extra to this executive. This law doesn't exist. The opposite, I also agree with. In a year where it's fantastic economic, financial performance, but people have been dying because it's an unhealthy work environment, or you've been cheating your customers and so on, there should be zero bonus for any of the executives. The one can be used as a prerequisite for the other one. Yeah. There's no law that forces you to grant a bonus. If we state that if the financial performance is not satisfying, results in zero payouts, it means that we made 100% of the variable pay dependent on financial KPIs. That is against the law. I can't help it. The other way around. If other things happen like a fraud or something else, yeah, we should. No, but the other way around is the same thing. Yeah. Okay. If the financial performance is great. Maybe we can take it offline because we really look. Of course. We should talk to lawyers. We did. It depends on. We cannot make it 100% dependent on financial performance. It is a given. Yeah, the law doesn't say that you should be granting any kind of bonus if there is a good performance on any kind of sustainable factor. There's no law like that. The law says you cannot only have economic things. I agree with you, I'm fine with that. You can decide, as a non-executive board, there will be no bonus if there are no minimum performance on the economics. Likewise, you can say there will be no bonus if there's a very bad performance for sustainable factors. There's no law that forces you to do that. If I may. We agree to disagree. The point is the legislation is set out to minimize the board's subjectivity. It's all meant to be purely objective data. That is where the restrictions come about because it is meant to be so objective that if you just meet those criteria that have been set out, and frankly, we share with you, then it's almost formulaic. That's the issue that we always confront. It leaves little room for judgment. Now, in the case of what you mentioned, a fraud or gross negligence or willful misconduct, yes. In terms of normal circumstances, the system is set up that way in financial services, I'm afraid. There's little wiggle room. Yeah, or if the share price drops by 50%, but you're doing great as far as employee satisfaction. Then it's- It doesn't make any sense. It's a comparison against other financial institutions. You know, are you underperforming compared to your peers? Then it becomes that's a different discussion. This is. We have restrictions and again, it's meant to be as objective as possible. Okay. Do you have any other question? Thank you. Any other questions regarding remuneration? Yes, please. Thank you. Again, this is Martina Kuipers from MN, also asking these questions on behalf of APG Asset Management. We were very pleased to read that for 2022, a 20% weight is allocated to ESG-related performance indicators. One of the indicators with a weight of 5% is to complete milestones related to three sub-indicators, that is integrating ESG priorities in Aegon's strategy, sustainability reporting, and reaching the 2025 carbon emission reduction target. That is my first question. What is the carbon emission reduction target for 2022, specifically, and the weight of this specific sub-indicator? My second question, does Aegon intend to increase the 5% overall weight for the overall performance indicator related to these three sub-indicators, and/or the sub-indicator related to carbon emission reduction? Okay, thank you. Ben? I don't know the answer by heart. Somebody text me what the answer is. 5? It's 25. These targets, 25% reduction in weighted average carbon intensity by 2025. We have a stepped approach to that year. Yes. It is one of the sub-indicators of the higher level indicator that is related to complete milestones related to integrating ESG priorities, et cetera. Yeah. We're interested in this specific part of that indicator and what weight do you allocate to that, and what is your specific target for that? Well, the weight we have. We haven't quantified it, right? Ladies and gentlemen? Nope. We have not quantified that yet. Okay. No. That's maybe something we. To follow. Yeah. Can follow up on. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions on remuneration? Good. Thank you all for your questions. Ladies and gentlemen, prior to this annual shareholder meeting, our shareholders have been enabled to cast their votes either by granting a proxy or by using the e-voting system. Furthermore, the option to vote live during the meeting has been enabled. We now show you how you can vote live via the app. The voting app displays the following options. For, against, and withheld. After having voted, the display will show your vote. If you want to change your vote, you can do so until the voting is closed, which will be after the last voting item on the agenda. For our shareholders in the room, if you have questions about your voting app, please raise your hand and someone will assist you. Agenda item 2.2 is subject to an advisory vote. If you vote for, you advise in favor of the Remuneration Report 2021. If you vote against, you advise against the report. The voting results will be shown after the last agenda item. Any other business. We already discussed the financials of 2021 and related questions. Therefore, I now ask Gert-Jan Heuvelink from PwC, our Independent Auditor, to make a few comments. Please note that Aegon has released PwC from the obligation to observe confidentiality to allow them to comment on the audit of and the auditor's report on financial statements of Aegon NV. Gert-Jan. Thank you, Will. Dear shareholders, I'm pleased to provide you with some insights into our audit of Aegon's 2021 financial statements. We issued an unqualified audit opinion on these financial statements. First, I would like to provide you with certain details of our audit. The selected materiality level determines the scope and depth of our audit work. We set our materiality level at EUR 130 million, and consistent with last year, our materiality was determined using 0.75% of adjusted shareholders' equity. We also took potential misstatements into account that, in our judgment, are material for qualitative reasons. We agreed with Supervisory Board that we would report to them misstatements identified during our audit above EUR 6 million. We performed an in-depth risk assessment based on our understanding of Aegon's organization and its business environment, whereby we evaluated, among others, the risk related to fraud, going concern, cybersecurity, and climate change. Based on our risk assessment, we determined the relevant audit risk and designed audit procedures to detect potential material misstatements in the financial statements. Regarding the risk of climate change, we evaluated management's assessment on how the risk of climate change impacts the strategy, operations, and financial positions of the group. The impact on the 2021 financial statements resulting from the risk of climate change is considered limited. Hence, the risk of climate change on the group did not warrant a key audit matter. We established our scope based on the way Aegon is organized. We performed audit work on the most important regional units where Aegon has operations. In the Americas, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, we performed full scope audits due to their relative size, while in the other relevant units, we performed audit procedures over specific account balances. As the group auditor, we issued instructions to the component audit teams in our audit scope. These instructions included our risk analysis, materiality, scope of the work, and other relevant topics. We discussed the risk assessment and audit approach with each of the component teams, which particularly concerned the risk of fraud, revenue recognition, significant estimates, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the risk assessment. For instance, the risk of working in a remote and/or hybrid environment. We conducted virtual site visits and held regular virtual meetings with the component auditors to challenge and review significant audit matters and judgments. We analyzed the reports received from the component auditors and held virtual closing meetings. We also performed a review of selected working papers via remote access to our component audit files, which was fully supported by the use of the global PwC electronic audit file program. In addition to the meetings with the component teams, we also held virtual meetings with various members of the local Aegon management teams responsible for the main components. During these meetings, we discussed relevant business developments, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a remote and/or hybrid working environment had on processes and controls in order to obtain a good understanding as a group audit team of the local situation. By performing these procedures combined with additional procedures at the group level, we obtained sufficient audit evidence on the group's financial information as a whole to provide a basis for our opinion on the financial statements. I will now say a few words about the work we performed on the risk of fraud and going concern. For more information, please refer to our auditor's report. Together with our forensic specialists, we evaluated fraud risk factors with respect to financial reporting fraud, misappropriation of assets, and bribery and corruption in order to consider whether those factors indicated a risk of material misstatement due to fraud. We evaluated the design and the implementation of internal controls that mitigate fraud risks, and where relevant, we tested the operational effectiveness of those controls. We also tested manual journal entries, evaluated key estimates and judgments for potential management bias, and incorporated elements of unpredictability in the selection of audit procedures that were performed this year. We also considered the outcome of our audit, other audit procedures, and evaluated whether any findings were indicative of fraud or noncompliance. In all our audits, we pay attention to the risk of management override controls, as this risk is always considered to present a significant risk of fraud. Our work did not lead to specific indications or suspicions of fraud with regard to the override of internal controls by management. In respect of going concern, we have evaluated management going concern assessment by performing procedures which include, among others, considering whether management assessment includes all relevant information of which we are aware, management inquiry, evaluating management assessment of the adequacy of the solvency position, and the sufficiency of free cash flows to cover projected dividends and other cash outflows, and understanding and evaluating stress testing of liquidity and regulatory capital requirements. Our procedures did not result in outcomes contrary to management assumptions and judgments used in the application of the going concern assumption. Next, I would like to address the key audit matters, which are those matters that were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements. We identified three key audit matters in 2021. These key audit matters are mostly related to the nature of the group and are therefore expected to occur year over year. Our key audit matters have been selected because they contain a significant level of management judgment, and as a result are more susceptible to material misstatement. The first key audit matter concerns the valuation of certain assets and liabilities arising from insurance contracts. These assets and liabilities involve the use of valuation models that use significant inputs that are not market observable and significant judgments over uncertain future outcomes, including the timing and ultimate full settlement of long-term policy liabilities. As a result of these factors, these balances are more likely to be subject to a material misstatement, either due to error or fraud. The second key audit matter concerns the valuation of certain level three investments. This matter is related to level three debt securities and investments in real estate that are illiquid and/or have significant unobservable inputs, and this requires significant management judgment in determining the valuation. The third key audit matter concerns uncertainties in policyholder claims and litigation. The insurance industry continues to face consumer activism and regulatory scrutiny over product design and selling practices. Aegon has encountered claims and litigation in this respect. Based on our audit procedures, we concurred with the position taken by management in respect to the aforementioned key audit matters. Finally, I have a few remarks on the audit information included in the annual report. Based on our knowledge and understanding obtained during our audit, we have concluded that this information is consistent with the financial statements, does not contain material misstatements, and contains all information as required by Part Nine of Book Two of the Dutch Civil Code. The scope of the procedures performed over the audit information was substantially less than the scope of procedures performed in our audit of the financial statements. We have not been requested to provide any additional assurance on the non-financial information in the annual report. Thank you very much for your attention. Oops. Thank you, Gert-Jan. Miss Kuipers, you had a question? Or two. Thank you, and thank you for the presentation, Mr. Heuvelink. Back to my questions on climate change. In the Eumedion audit firm letter that was sent last year, we also asked each external auditor to describe the climate risk assessment and his or her response to the risks identified. In Aegon's independent auditor report, it is stated that a discussion took place with management on the assessment of risk related to climate change and on the planned actions to realize the net zero objective and the medium-term target. Could you perhaps elaborate on the discussions that took place, and in particular on your assessment of the alignment of Aegon's reduction targets with a 1.5-degree scenario, and Aegon's action plans to realize the targets? Sorry, my second question in addition to that, so in light of all this, could you also share your view on the outcomes of DNB's report on the quality of the disclosures provided by insurers on transition risks? Thank you, I'm more than happy to answer the questions. The risk related to climate change was one of the risks that we evaluated in our in-depth risk assessment for audit of the 2021 financial statements. We assessed the risk that can affect the financial statements materially. Regarding this risk, as you mentioned, we had discussion with management and evaluated management assessments on how the risk of climate change impact the strategy, the operations, and financial positions of the group. The impact on the 2021 financial statements resulting from the risk of climate change on the insurance activities is considered limited due to, among others, the size and nature of the property and casualty portfolio of the group. As the investment portfolio is largely valued at market value based on market observable inputs, the risk of climate change on this portfolio does also not lead to material risk from a 2021 financial statements perspective. Aegon committed to a net zero impact objective in respect to its general account investment portfolio and an operational greenhouse gas emission reduction. We discussed with the management the planned actions which in their view should lead to realization of the commitments. This, amongst others, consists of engagement with carbon-intensive investee companies to drive reductions in emissions and using responsible investment exclusion criteria. We also discussed the organizational setup and how management monitors the progress of the realization. We evaluated the impact of the planned actions on the 2021 financial statements. Assessing if the planned actions are sufficient to meet the commitments is not part of an audit engagement. Regarding your question on our opinion on the alignment of the reduction targets with a 1.5-degree scenario, such an assessment is also not part of audit engagement, and I would like to refer you to the company for further insights. Very good. This is based on the management assessment and not as much on an own assessment method that you use when you're looking at such information. The inspected commitments you mean? Yeah. What we do is inspect commitments and ensure that the planned actions, if they have an impact or could have an impact on the financial statements. Mm-hmm Are properly reflected in the financial statements or in preparing the financial statements. Okay, regarding the second question, because we're, yeah, very curious to hear your opinion. Yeah, I think I can say something about that. We, first of all, I think we think it's important that the Dutch Central Bank draws attention to improve in reporting by financial institutions on sustainability risks. Climate change and the transition to a sustainable economy involve risk for financial institutions that must be managed. For financial institutions, these physical and transition risks translate into, amongst other things, market and credit risk. We think it's important that stakeholders can obtain adequate insight in, for example, annual reports about how institutions manage these risks. The survey conducted by the Dutch Central Bank among 37 insurance companies mentioned that only half of them indicate that they report on how they manage sustainability risk. The report does, however, mention that all large institutions do report on this. The outcome of the survey underlines that, in general, the reporting about sustainability risk by insurance can be improved. Okay. Thank you for elaborating on this. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, sir. My name is Keyner, and I speak on behalf of VEB. Mr. Chairman, I have to admit, a lot of the things, a lot of the numbers of an insurance companies I don't understand. I think I understand just a few things, but more things I don't understand. I fear that a lot of people in the same room have got the same issue as I have and hope the people who are more on that side, that you do understand what you're reporting. Now, I've been reviewing lots of years. A number of insurance companies have been reviewing the numbers and strategies and so on. What struck me when I went through your numbers of the last two years, that when you look at your income statements, the income statement of a normal company is fairly straightforward. Normally everything runs through the income statement and is very clear. With an insurance company, however, there are different rules. It means the adjustments coming after the income statements can be much bigger than the net profit that is being reported by a company. That's not normal. With normal company, not an insurance business, the small adjustments, rounding issues. However, the insurance company, the adjustments coming after the income statements can be very big. I noticed that with Aegon the last two years, that hasn't been the case. I was wondering, is this just pure coincidence that the adjustments coming after the income statements or the comprehensive income statement, if you will, is a coincidence that the adjustment have been fairly small as a result of your strategy of de-risking the company? Is coincidence or is this the result of your strategy? I think this is actually a question for the CFO. I hope so, and then And you have- If he can answer that it would be conclusive. You have him there standing, acknowledging or not. Go ahead. Yeah. Maybe I answer. I think what you're talking about is what we would call non-operating results. We generally report an operating result, which is a normal run rate for what's happening in the underlying business. Below that, for non-operating results, there are a variety of market value movements, mismatches between hedging programs, and the way that, let's say, the financial accounting works. It is somewhat coincidental that for the last couple years, that has been relatively tame. It could be big, it can be small. The important thing to recognize, though, is that we always run the company based on capital, on capital management, which is not so much reflected in our financial accounts. Now, I can give you a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, although I don't know if it is light. We will be- It can't get worse. WE will be changing our reporting standard beginning in 2023, and we will then adopt and implement what is called IFRS 9 and IFRS 17, which will be a whole new thing to be able to learn about our companies. I think the most important point is that there will now at least be a relationship between the income statement and what's happening on the balance sheet. Right now you don't necessarily have that. That, in part, is causing some of the big mismatches that we have, what we see in the non-operating results. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Very good. Agenda item 2.3, the adoption of the annual accounts 2021 is a voting item. I would like to remind you that the voting is open during the entire meeting and will be closed after the last voting item on the agenda. Before we move to the next agenda item, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you, Gert-Jan, and also Albert for your services during the last years. It was a pleasure working with you, and I look forward to continue working with the new partners at PwC. We now move to the agenda item 2.4, approval of the final dividend 2021. In the annual report 2021, published on March 17, 2022, Aegon announced its proposal for final 2021 dividend of EUR 0.09 per common share and EUR 0.0225 per common share B in line with the group's dividend policy, which can be found on the corporate website. If approved, in combination with the interim dividend paid over the first half of 2021, Aegon's total dividend over 2021 will amount to EUR 0.17 per common share and EUR 0.025 per common share B. We will now address your questions. Any questions regarding the dividends? Thank you. Okay. Agenda item 2.4, the approval of the final dividend is a voting item. I would like to remind you that voting is open during the entire meeting and will be closed after the last voting item on the agenda. We now move to agenda item 3, the release from liability. We will start with agenda item 3.1. We propose that the executive board members be released from liability for their duties to the extent the exercise of such duties is reflected in the annual report 2021, or has otherwise been disclosed to shareholders prior to the adoption of the annual accounts 2021. You now have the opportunity to ask questions about agenda item 3.1. Okay. That allows us now to move to agenda item 3.2. This is the release from liability for the supervisory. We propose that the supervisory board members be released from liability for their duties to the extent the exercise of such duties is reflected in the annual report 2021, or has otherwise been disclosed to shareholders prior to the adoption of the annual accounts 2021. We will now address questions from our shareholders regarding agenda item 3.2. Okay. Thank you. That allows me to go to the next point, which is to remind you that agenda items 3.1 and 3.2, the release from liabilities, are voting items. We now move on to agenda item 4, the composition of the supervisory board. We will first discuss agenda items 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3, after which we will address questions regarding these agenda items. The Supervisory Board regularly assesses the Supervisory Board profile to ensure that the Supervisory Board composition is balanced and diverse, that addresses regulatory and other developments, and that it is being kept up to date. The Supervisory Board has prepared an update on the Supervisory Board profile, which can be found in annex 1 to the agenda. We will address any questions you have regarding items 4.2 and 4.3. Any questions? Yes, sir. Yeah, my name is Keyner, and I speak on behalf of VEB. I've got a question about 4.2, the reappointment of Mrs. Wortmann-Kool. I don't have an issue with her at all, by the way. However, in the Dutch Corporate Governance Code, I'm not sure if this is a best practice or the kind of new insight that we have. Only in exceptional circumstances after 8-year period, another two years may be added, and if there's even more exception, another two years. I was wondering what kind of exceptional circumstances do we have at Aegon right now that you're asking for another two years. This is indeed the point that was discussed in the nominations committee. As you pointed out, we have the opportunity to go two plus two. We propose that Corien Wortmann-Kool on the basis of she has now been eight years with us. She is one of the leading members of the board. She provides tremendous insight, frankly, in terms of Holland. She's a key member as well in terms of her contribution. Quite frankly, is someone that we would really value in terms of keeping her as part of Supervisory Board for the next two years and potentially two years after that. Yeah. 'Cause you will have probably the same conclusion in two years from now. I may not surprise you. In four years from now, you say, "Unfortunately, we cannot break the law, but. That is indeed the case, but this is someone who, based on, for all of us, we had this as a joint decision at our Supervisory Board. It was unanimous, the view, that this is someone who is a great contributor, and we would like to retain on the Supervisory Board. I'm a practical person, so I don't object. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions on this point? Okay. There's more information on her in terms of the background there. We also proposed the appointment of a new Supervisory Board member, Ms. Karen Fawcett. We proposed to appoint Karen Fawcett because of the broad strategic experience and customer focus, which together with her experience with digital transformation, her pragmatic mindset, and good sense of how to improve business performance, will contribute to the desired expertise within the Supervisory Board. Following the publication of the AGM agenda, the proposed appointment of Ms. Fawcett was approved by the DNB. Ms. Fawcett will now briefly introduce herself through a short video. In 1900, life expectancy was 31. Today, it's 72. I'm originally from the United Kingdom and have lived in Singapore for over 30 years. I've been married to Alistair for over 3 decades, who's an architect. My interests outside work are quite broad. From music, I'm still playing the violin, and I really enjoy sailing as well as walking. My career can be split neatly into two halves, consulting and then banking, with interaction with the insurance industry throughout. First stint in strategy consulting when I was a partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, consulting to financial institutions across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. This was followed by nearly two decades in banking with Standard Chartered, running two global businesses. First, transaction banking for corporates and institutions, where a major part of the business was with insurance companies, managing their cash and custody for all their investments. After that, I was CEO of the retail banking business globally, covering all products, including life and general insurance for individuals. Also, I led the digital transformation of both those businesses. I hope to bring my strategic skills to Aegon to help build on the path which has already commenced. Aegon's supervisory board sees opportunities for growth across many regions, and I look forward to bringing my experience across some of Aegon's growth markets. In addition, we can also see how fast the insurance industry is changing, and continual need for digital transformation is going to be critical. My experience in digitizing relationships, both with individual and corporate clients, can help Aegon's journey. Joining the supervisory board allows me the opportunity to work with a diverse and very talented team to help Aegon achieve its strategic objectives. Thank you, Karen. She's here. Any questions regarding the appointments for the Supervisory Board? Very good. Thank you. Just as, again, a reminder, what we have here now, agenda items 4.2, 4.3 are our voting items. We now move to agenda point 5, in which we'll address the cancellation, authorization to issue and authorization to acquire shares. Let me begin to briefly cover all four proposals of item 5 before taking your questions. Let me first discuss the proposal to cancel common shares and common shares B as described on page 5 of the agenda of this meeting. This regards shares which have been repurchased by the company in connection with the share buyback program that followed the 2021 interim dividend. Secondly, we propose that you authorize the executive board to issue common shares with or without preemption rights, which is also described on page five of the agenda. This resolution is similar to and will replace the authorization granted to the board in 2021. Thirdly, it is proposed that the shareholders authorize the executive board to issue common shares in connection with the rights issue. The proposal is described on page six of the agenda. These authorizations are limited to 25% of the issued capital and may only be used to safeguard or conserve the capital position of the company. The rights issue will be conducted in line with market practice, offering eligible existing shareholders the right to subscribe for the new shares in proportion to their shareholding to prevent dilution. Upon adoption, this resolution will replace the similar authorization granted in 2021. Finally, we propose that the shareholders authorize the executive board to acquire shares in the company. This proposal is described on page six of the agenda. This resolution is similar to the authorization granted in 2021, and upon adoption, will replace that authorization. We will now address the questions for the agenda items 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4. Are there any questions? Okay. Thank you. Before we move on to agenda item 6, please note that the agenda items 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 are voting items. Also, please be reminded that the voting will be closed after this agenda item. We now move on to agenda item 6. Before we come to the conclusion of the meeting, I would like to ask if there are any further questions. Okay. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, item 5 was the last voting item on the agenda. Within a few moments, we will close the live voting. Please submit your votes now if you have not already done so. I'll give everyone a few seconds to do that. The voting is now closed. Within a few moments, we will show the voting results for the agenda items. Bieke, when they're up. Bieke, could you please read out the voting results for each agenda item? Sure, Will. Thank you. With respect to agenda item 2.2, the advisory votes on the remuneration reports, 97.5% has voted in favor of the resolution, 2.5% against. Agenda item 2.3, the adoption of the annual accounts 2021, 99.95% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.5% against. Agenda item 2.4, the final dividend 2021, 99.99% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.01% against. We continue with agenda item 3.1, release from liability for the executive boards, 98.5% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.5% against. Item 3.2, release from liability for the supervisory board, 98.5% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.5% against. Agenda item 4.2, the reappointments of Mrs. Wortmann-Kool, 98.45% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.5% against. Thank you. Agenda item 4.3, the appointments of Mrs. Karen Fawcett, 98.82% has voted in favor of the resolution, 1.18% against. Thank you, Bieke. I'm sorry. Five. Sorry. Again. Last year as well. Because we have four more items to follow. First, agenda item 5.1, the cancellation of common shares and common shares B, 99.93% has voted in favor of the resolution, 4.07% against. Item 5.2, authorization to issue common shares, 96.79% has voted in favor of the resolution, 3.21% against. Agenda item 5.3, the authorization to issue shares in connection with the rights issue, 95.41% has voted in favor of the resolution, 4.59% against. Lastly, agenda item 5.4, the authorization to acquire shares in the company, 99.81% has voted in favor of the resolution, 0.90% against. Will. Thank you, Bieke. I did the same last year, by the way. Oh. Okay. I now establish that the meeting has voted in favor of the remuneration report 2021, that the meeting has adopted the annual accounts 2021, and approved the final dividend, final dividend over 2021. I establish that the meeting has released the members of the executive board and the supervisory board for their duties performed during 2021. I establish that the meeting has reappointed Corien Wortmann-Kool as a member of the supervisory board and appointed Karen Fawcett as a member of the supervisory board. I establish that the meeting resolved to cancel common shares and common shares B. That the meeting authorized the executive board to issue common shares with or without preemption rights. To issue shares in connection with a rights issue, and to acquire shares in the company. Finally, I establish that the meeting has discussed the supervisory board profile. I would like to congratulate Karen on her appointment to the supervisory board. Karen, also on behalf of the other members of the supervisory board, we all wish to congratulate you. We look forward to having you on board. I would also like to congratulate Corien on her reappointment. I think I said enough before as to why it was so important. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes Aegon's 2022 annual general meeting of shareholders. Before I close the meeting, I have a couple of announcements to make. Drinks will be served outside this room in the hall, where we look forward to engaging with you in further conversations. If you have used a voting device from us, please make sure you return the device to the staff at the exit of this meeting room. This also applies to the headsets. Thank you very much for your continued support and for your active participation during this meeting. I really look forward to seeing you all next year. Ladies and gentlemen, I now close this meeting. Thank you.