❏ OUR BUSINESSES REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD Chief Financial Officer, Jan Nooitgedagt, explains how the company’s  business performance is a result of its sharpened focus on its core  businesses - life insurance, pensions and asset management.  He also reflects on AEGON’s commitment to fully repurchase  all core capital securities from the Dutch State by the end of  June 2011 and outlines the company’s strategy up to 2015.  AEGON is today a different company from  what it was a few years ago. The financial  crisis accelerated key aspects of our strategy.  We have sharpened our focus on our core  businesses of life insurance, pensions and  asset management. How would you describe AEGON’s results for 2010? AEGON delivered a solid performance in 2010.  Underlying earnings and net profit for the year were  strong, at EUR 2 billion and EUR 1.8 billion respectively.  Sales overall increased, demonstrated by an increase of  5% in new life sales to 2.2 billion, while gross deposits  for 2010 increased significantly compared to the  previous year to EUR 32.6 billion. We also achieved a  reduction of 2% in operating expenses in 2010, excluding  restructuring charges and currency effects. This was the  result of strict expense management in our established  markets while continuing to invest in our new markets. Indeed, one of AEGON’s keys strategic priorities continues  to be to improve its risk-return profile. We have reduced  our exposure to equity and credit markets and are  shifting our focus from spread to fee-based business,  particularly in the United States and the Netherlands.  These actions make AEGON a more balanced company  with an improved risk-return profile.  INTERVIEW WITH THE CFO One of your priorities during the last two years has been  to improve AEGON’s risk-return profile. Could you outline  the steps taken so far?