243 ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Appropriation of profit will be determined in accordance  with the articles 31 and 32 of the Articles of Incorporation  of AEGON N.V. The relevant provisions read as follows: PROPOSAL FOR PROFIT APPROPRIATION 1. The General Meeting of Shareholders shall adopt the annual  accounts. 2. If the adopted profit and loss account shows a profi t,  the Supervisory Board may decide, upon the proposal of the  Executive Board, to set aside part of the profit to augment  and / or form reserves. 3. From the net profit as reflected in the profit and loss account,  if it is sufficient to this end after a part of the profit has been  set aside for augmenting and / or forming reserves in  accordance with 2, first of all the holders of preferred shares  shall receive, on the average amount paid on their preferred  shares, a dividend the percentage of which, on an annual  basis, shall be equal to the European Central Bank’s fi xed  interest percentage for basic refinancing transactions, to be  increased by 1.75 percentage points, all applicable to the fi rst  trading day on Euronext Amsterdam in the financial year to  which the dividend relates. Apart from this, no other dividend  is to be paid on the preferred shares. The authority to charge  the payment of preferred dividends to the reserves of the  Company rests with the Executive Board subject to approval  by the Supervisory Board. 4. The profits remaining after application of the above shall be  put at the disposal of the General Meeting of Shareholders.  The Executive Board, subject to the approval of the  Supervisory Board, shall make a proposal for that purpose.  A proposal to pay a dividend shall be dealt with as a separate  agenda item at the General Meeting of Shareholders. 5. The Executive Board may, subject to the approval of the  Supervisory Board, make one or more interim distributions  to the holders of common shares and/or to the holders of  preferred shares, the latter subject to the maximum dividend  amount set forth under 3. 6. The Executive Board may, subject to the approval of the  Supervisory Board, decide that a distribution on common  shares shall not take place as a cash payment but as a  payment in common shares, or decide that holders of  common shares shall have the option to receive a distribution  as a cash payment and/or as a payment in common shares,  in all cases out of the profit and/or at the expense of  reserves. Subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board,  the Executive Board shall also determine the conditions  applicable to the aforementioned choices. 7. The Company’s policy on reserves and dividends shall be  determined and can be amended by the Supervisory Board,  upon the proposal of the Executive Board. The adoption and  thereafter each amendment of the policy on reserves and  dividends shall be discussed and accounted for at the General  Meeting of Shareholders under a separate agenda item. It was decided not to declare the final dividend for 2009  and the interim 2010. As part of the approval granted by the  European Commission in August 2010, AEGON committed itself  not to pay any dividend to common shareholders until the  Dutch State is fully repaid. A cash dividend of 2.75% on the  amount paid-in on the class A and class B preferred shares shall  be paid to the holder of the preferred shares. 2010 2009 Dividend on preferred shares 59 90 Earnings to be (reduced) / retained 1,700 114 NET INCOME / (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO EQUITY HOLDERS OF AEGON N.V. 1,759 204 SHARPENING OUR FOCUS