Governance  Report of the Supervisory Board 96 The four Committees are the: ■ Audit Committee; ■ Risk Committee; ■ Nominating Committee; ■ Compensation Committee. As per December 31, 2013, the composition of the Committees  is as follows: The Audit Committee Audit Committee:  Shemaya Levy (Chair); Antony Burgmans;  Ben van der Veer; Dirk P.M. Verbeek; Dona D. Young. Risk Committee:  Irving W. Bailey, II (Chair); Kornelis J. Storm;  Ben van der Veer; Dirk P.M. Verbeek; Dona D. Young.  Nominating Committee:  Robert J. Routs (Chair); Shemaya Levy;  Kornelis J. Storm; Leo M. van Wijk.  Compensation Committee:  Leo M. van Wijk (Chair);  Irving W. Bailey II; Robert J. Routs. Committees meetings are open to all members of the Board,  regardless of membership of the Committees. The Chairman  attends all meetings in whole or in part. The Audit Committee held seven meetings in 2013, one of  which was a combined meeting with the Risk Committee of  the Supervisory Board. A meeting held at the headquarters of  Aegon United Kingdom in Edinburgh focused on the United  Kingdom insurance market, and Aegon’s position and financial  performance in that market. Aegon business leaders reviewed  industry developments and the response of Aegon’s United  Kingdom businesses, principally the adoption of online platform  technology. The Audit Committee meetings were attended by Aegon’s CFO,  the Corporate Controller, the Chief Risk Officer and the Internal  Auditor. Representatives from Aegon’s external auditor EY also  attended these meetings. Members of Aegon’s Group Risk, Group  Legal and actuarial departments were present at some of these  meetings.  In 2013, Audit Committee discussions focused on the quarterly  results, the annual accounts and the audit process, actuarial  analyses, accounting principles defined by IFRS, financial  reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,  capital updates, internal control systems and compliance, the  external auditor’s engagement letter and the audit plan for  2013, tax matters, and information technology. The latter  two topics were discussed in the aforementioned combined  meeting of the Risk and Audit committees. Throughout 2013,  business unit managers provided various topic updates to the  Audit Committee. At various meetings the Audit Committee and  the full Board also reviewed the proposed changes to Aegon’s  In 2013 the Risk Committee convened five times, including  one meeting in Washington with the Chief Risk Officer of  Aegon Americas. The company’s Chief Risk Officer attended  all meetings, while the members of Aegon’s Executive Board  attended most of the meetings. Representatives of other  businesses or functional areas presented on specific topics.  For example, Aegon Asset Management provided insight into  developments in Aegon’s general account investment portfolio.  Recurring items on the agenda in 2013 were the quarterly risk  dashboard and the Board risk list. The Risk Committee also  discussed risk priorities for 2013 and Aegon’s risk strategy  The Risk Committee assists the Supervisory Board and Audit  Committee in overseeing the activities of Aegon’s Enterprise Risk  Management (ERM) framework. The Committee also advises the  Supervisory Board on the company’s risk management strategy  and policies. Consequently, the Committee regularly reviews the  company’s ERM framework, risk exposures and compliance with  company risk policies. The Risk Committee The Committee confirmed that Mr. Shemaya Levy and  Mr. Ben van der Veer qualify as financial experts within the  terms and conditions of both the Dutch Corporate Governance  Code and the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the United States. The Audit Committee also discussed Aegon’s compliance with  the Sarbanes Oxley Act of the United States, regular reports  from the Group Compliance Officer on operational risk issues  such as fraud and general compliance issues. In addition, the  Committee reviewed quarterly legal updates.  The internal auditor attended the meetings of the Audit  Committee in 2013 and provided quarterly updates on the  activities of the internal audit function and provided details  of progress on internal audits. The Audit Committee approved  the internal audit plan. The Audit Committee also held private  sessions with the internal auditor and the external auditor to  discuss the findings. Members of the Executive Board were not  present at these sessions. As announced at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders  in 2012, the audit of Aegon’s accounts from 2014 was put to  tender in 2012. In February 2013, after a thorough process  the Audit Committee and the Board decided to propose to  shareholders to appoint EY as the company’s independent  auditor for the annual accounts of 2013 and PwC as the  company’s independent auditor for the annual accounts of  2014 through 2016. These proposals were approved at the  Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on May 15, 2013. accounting policies related to deferred policy acquisition costs  and longevity reserves as part of the execution of the financial  strategy, as announced in January 2014, together with the  redemption of USD 550 million in perpetual capital securities.  Annual Report 2013