Essential to our long-term success is creating an internal culture  of customer-centricity, innovation and shared responsibility.  Equipping our leaders with the resources they require to promote  this culture is among our most important objectives. During  the past year, we have introduced a number of training and  development programs to enhance the professional skills and  competencies of employees at all levels. Mindful of the pace  of technological advances in today’s digital environment, we  also recognize the need to attract talented individuals from  outside our industry who are able to embrace and accelerate  the changes we are implementing. Encouraging new ways of  thinking and responding to the considerable opportunities we  have identified is a pre-requisite of management, and key to  our long-term success. My Management Board colleagues and I wish to express our  gratitude to the dedicated men and women of Aegon who have  contributed to our solid results and strategic progress over the  past year. Through their focused and determined efforts, we  have enhanced our ability to better serve our current and future  customers by delivering consistently high quality products and  services, while strengthening our prospects for sustainable,  profitable growth going forward. We also wish to reaffirm our  commitment to you, our valued shareholders, who have likewise  made possible the achievements of recent years through your  abiding confidence and support. Thank you for your ongoing interest in Aegon and in all that  we are doing to assist our current and future customers in  planning and achieving a secure financial future. Ensuring that  we continue to be in a strong position to deliver on our promises  remains our most important priority. Beyond what we have done to fulfil our commitments to our  customers over the past year – paying just over EUR 20 billion  in claims and benefits – our businesses have also contributed  financially and our employees given generously of their time and  talents to make a difference in the communities in which they  live and work. Aegon takes seriously its broader commitments  to the communities where we operate and to society at large.  In addition to maintaining sound corporate governance standards  and practices, we believe this can have a positive impact on  issues related to the environment, responsible investment,  financial literacy, and other socially sustainable concerns.  This, we believe, is as critical to our long-term business success  as our disciplined risk and financial management. Sincerely,  Alex Wynaendts Chairman of the Executive Board of Aegon N.V.  and Chief Executive Officer