19 Results 2013 worldwide Net income Underlying earnings before tax Fair value items Aegon's 2013 net income amounted to EUR 849 million. Increased  underlying earnings before tax of EUR 1,945 milion were impacted by a loss  of EUR 1,309 million on fair value items driven by losses on the hedging  programs and long-term economic assumption changes. This was partly offset  by lower impairment charges and lower other charges since 2012 included  a charge of EUR 265 million in relation to the acceleration of product  improvements for unit-linked insurance policies.  Central & Eastern Europe due to the introduction of the  insurance tax in Hungary and the divestments in Spain and  Aegon Asset Management.  Net income decreased to EUR 849 million compared to EUR  1,582 million in 2012. Higher underlying earnings, realized gains  on investments, lower impairments and other charges were more  than offset by losses from fair value items. Aegon’s underlying earnings before tax in 2013 increased 5% to  EUR 1,945 million compared to EUR 1,851 million in 2012.  Underlying earnings before tax rose from business growth,  deleveraging, the positive effects of favorable equity markets  and the net positive impact of one-time items. These positive  one-time items were only partly offset by the loss of earnings  due to divestments in Spain and Aegon Asset Management and  the impact of unfavorable currency exchange rates.  The results from fair value items amounted to a loss of  EUR 1,309 million. The loss was mainly driven by equity macro  hedges (EUR 590 million) and long-term economic assumption  changes (EUR 405 million) in the Americas and a loss of  EUR 118 million in the guarantee portfolio in the Netherlands,  which is mainly the result of the tightening of Aegon’s credit  spread and model refinements.  ■ Total holding costs decreased 50% to EUR 113 million,  mainly as a result of lower net interest costs following debt  redemptions, lower operating expenses and a gain of  EUR 18 million related to interest on taxes.  ■ Underlying earnings before tax in the Americas improved  slightly to EUR 1,369 million. Growth in Variable Annuities  and Pensions offset the impact of unfavorable currency  exchange rates, lower earnings from Fixed Annuities, higher  sales and employee related expenses, and additional  investments in technology. At constant currencies, underlying  earnings increased by 3%. ■ In the Netherlands, underlying earnings before tax increased  9% to EUR 355 million. Higher Pension earnings, driven  mostly by a benefit resulting from observed mortality of  EUR 25 million and improvement in Non-life more than offset  lower earnings in Life & Savings, due mostly to reduced policy  charges on unit-linked products of EUR 28 million as part of  the acceleration of product improvements to unit-linked  insurance policies. ■ Underlying earnings before tax in the United Kingdom  amounted to EUR 98 million in 2013, a decline of 11%  compared to 2012. The positive impact of higher equity  markets was more than offset by adverse persistency of  EUR 22 million following the implementation of the Retail  Distribution Review and investment in technology. ■ Underlying earnings before tax from New Markets declined  14% to EUR 236 million. Higher earnings in Asia and  Aegon Asset Management, which benefitted from higher  asset balances were more than offset by lower earnings in  In 2013, to reflect the low interest rate environment, Aegon  lowered its long-term assumption for 10-year US Treasury  yields by 50 basis points to 4.25% and extended the uniform  grading period from 5 years to 10 years. Aegon also changed  its assumed returns for US separate account bond fund to 4%  over the next 10 years and 6% thereafter from its previous  assumptions of 4% over the next 5 years and 6% thereafter.  In addition, Aegon changed its long-term equity market return  assumption for the estimated gross profit in variable life and  variable annuity products in the Americas from 9% to 8%. In  total, these assumption changes led to a negative impact on  earnings of EUR 405 million in 2013. Both the assumptions for  the bond fund and that for the long-term equity market are gross  assumptions from which asset management and policy fees are  deducted to determine the policyholder return.  The loss on fair value hedges in the Americas was mainly driven  by the loss on the equity macro hedges, which have been set  up to protect Aegon’s capital position, as a result of strong US  equity market performance in 2013. Aegon restructured its  equity hedges as the equity collar hedge expired at the end of  the year. 