AUDITOR’S REPORT INTRODUCTION SCOPE OPINION AEGON GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2003 145 THE HAGUE, MARCH 11, 2004 ERNST & YOUNG ACCOUNTANTS In our opinion, the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the company as at December 31, 2003, and of the result for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the Netherlands and comply with the financial reporting requirements included in Part 9, Book 2 of the Netherlands Civil Code. We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the Netherlands. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement.  An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. We have audited the financial statements of AEGON N.V., The Hague, for the year 2003. These financial statements are the responsibility of the company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.