This newsletter focuses on the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (EGM) of Aegon and ASR. The shareholders have agreed, there is a time schedule and the intended cost savings are known.
Agree Merger
During the special shareholders' meetings of ASR and Aegon, the shareholders approved the proposed merger of ASR and Aegon Nederland. With this, the Dutch pensions, life insurance, non-life insurance, banking and mortgage activities will go to ASR Nederland. Aegon will have an interest of almost 30 percent in ASR and two members in the Supervisory Board of ASR. The term of ASR CEO Jos Baeten will be extended until 2026 in order to make the integration a success. He says he's interested.
Time-line
When it comes to the next steps, Jos Baeten has announced that approval from the regulators will be obtained at the earliest on July 1, 2023, and the merger between ASR and Aegon NL will take place at the earliest on October 1. After that, he wants to quickly bring the two companies together and create one culture.
Cost reduction
In the next three years, ASR wants to realize synergy benefits on systems at Non-life and AOV, to stop projects, to do accommodation in the most efficient way possible, to apply part of Aegon's internal model to ASR, which frees up capital, and to continue with slightly fewer employees. to work. All this should lead to the savings of 185 million that the shareholders have been promised.
Employment opportunities
Incidentally, Jos Baeten emphasized that his concern is not so much about having too many employees, but rather about retaining employees. Not entirely unjustified because we hear that employees who now work in The Hague don't like the travel time to the new head office in Utrecht. The travel planner OV9292 was frequently consulted after the announcement in October and we receive questions about travel time, compensation, departure arrangements, social plan and the transition to ASR.
Move
Lard Friese emphasized during Aegon's EGM that there are no plans for Aegon's head office to move abroad. But for employees in 'remainco', the question of where Aegon's head office will be located in the Netherlands does play a role. It puts pressure on the unbundling process for which you need the current employees and cannot just fly in externals. Aegon has a retention policy for senior management and HR says it will wait and see how it develops in the coming months with employee terminations.
Consultation with COR Aegon and trade unions
On January 17, 2023, the three union executives consulted with a delegation from Aegon's Central Works Council and their advisers from law firm Workx. We considered questions such as: what are the different steps and scenarios in the process, who takes on which role, how do we work together (co-creation) in the event of harmonization of employment conditions, in the future organisation, new employee participation structure and in upcoming negotiations ? A useful consultation and in a good atmosphere. If there is reason from the COR or trade unions, we will meet again.
Contact
Aegon
For questions and comments about Aegon, you can reach Emanuel Geurts at emanuel.geurts@unie.nl and by telephone 06-52522074. If you have an individual question or need advice, please contact our service center at sc@unie.nl or by phone via 0345-851963. We are happy to advise you!
ASR
For questions and comments about ASR, you can reach Harma Pethke at harma.pethke@unie.nl and by telephone 06-52522056. If you have an individual question or need advice, please contact our service center at sc@unie.nl or by phone via 0345-851963. We are happy to advise you!
