Achmea disagrees with the Dutch tax authority on the fiscal treatment in The Netherlands of the compensation received for the divestment of its shareholding in PZU, in the years 2009 en 2010. The agreement with the Polish government at the time resulted in total proceeds for Achmea of 4.2 billion euros. The disagreement with the Dutch tax authority is regarding the tax treatment on the amount received of 1.2 billion euros. Achmea is of the opinion that this amount should be exempted from Dutch corporate tax. The court has ruled that of the amount received of approximately 1.2 billion euros, an amount of 248 million euros is exempted from corporate tax.

Achmea is in the process of analysing the ruling by the Court en will decide at a later moment whether it will file an appeal with the Dutch Supreme Court. The impact of the increase of the provision will be accounted for in the results over the first half of this year.

The Fair Insurance Guide is compiled by a coalition of NGO’s consisting of Amnesty International, Dutch labour union FNV, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Oxfam Novib, PAX and World Animal Protection. Research by the Fair Insurance Guide shows to what extent insurance companies contribute to social justice and a more sustainable world through their investments. Its aim is to make the investment policies of insurance companies more sustainable and to have their investments and business operations align with that policy. By means of their (financial) influence, insurance companies can promote the contribution to a more sustainable and socially just world by the companies they invest in.

Liesbeth van der Kruit, Director of CSR at Achmea: “As a cooperative insurer, Achmea has a natural focus on the long-term interests of all stakeholders. Clearly, sustainability is of the utmost importance to us. Corporate social responsibility is the foundation beneath our activities as well as our strategy. It is commendable to see that Achmea has shown an improvement on 10 of the 21 items that make up the Fair Insurance Guide. In spite of this strong performance, we see further room to reach an even better and even more sustainable investment policy as well as more sustainable ways of working. In the coming period, we will work hard to achieve this.”

The first storm on 3 January 2018 caused extensive damage in the provinces of Noord-Holland, Friesland and Flevoland in particular. The second storm on 18 January was exceptionally severe, with wind speeds in excess of 120 kilometres per hour and principally affected the provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Utrecht, Flevoland, Gelderland, Overijssel and the Ijsselmeer area. Because this storm also swept across the interior of the country, which happens relatively rarely, the total number of customers affected increased significantly. Wind speeds of gale force 11 were registered, making it one of the ten most severe storms of the past 50 years. The damage inflicted by both storms to houses, business premises, cars and gardens was mainly caused by roof tiles that had blown off, uprooted trees and flattened fences.

Following the 18 January storm, Centraal Beheer, FBTO and Interpolis received 62,000 claims from private customers and had more than 100,000 customer contacts. This does not include the damage to businesses and the agricultural sector. To settle the claims as fast as we could, we assisted our customers online where possible. Almost half of all private claims were handled online.

Willem van Duin, chairman of the Executive Board of Achmea: “The two storms that swept over our country in January caused a lot of damage and personal distress. Fortunately, as an insurance company, we are able to rectify the material damage as best we can, which is why customers choose us. This means that our customers can count on us. As an insurer, we are seeing an increase in the number of claims as a result of extreme weather. In the Netherlands, we need to adapt to a changing living environment and climate. Working in the insurance industry, we find ways of collaborating with our customers and the authorities to limit the cost of claims and the inconvenience to everybody.”

The claims will be accounted for in our results over the first half of 2018, to be announced on 16 August 2018. On March 22, 2018, Achmea will publish its annual results over 2017.

Van Haaften has extensive knowledge of the international finance and insurance sector and was until recently active as CFO of Graydon Holding N.V. Before that Van Haaften worked among others for Aviva in France for four years and before that he was active for three years for Aviva in the United Kingdom. He also worked for Delta Lloyd in Belgium for over six years.

Uco Vegter, managing director of Achmea International, is pleased with the appointment of Van Haaften. “Caspar has a robust financial background and has already worked in Turkey, among others for the British insurer Aviva. He is accustomed with Turkish culture and is also known as someone who fosters innovation in the financial sector. He has a good fit with our ambitions and with those of our Turkish colleagues. I wish Caspar lots of success in his role as the new CFO van Eureko Sigorta.”

As of October 1st the Executive Team of Eureko Sigorta consists of Can Akın Çağlar (General Manager), Caspar van Haaften (Chief Financial Officer), İbrahim Süha Çele, İsmet Güngör and İlker Arabacı.

The Notes are priced at 355 basis points above the 10-years midswap rate. The coupon on the Notes equals 4.25%. The Notes will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange in Dublin, Ireland. The Notes are rated BBB by Standard & Poor’s (based on Achmea B.V.’s A- counterparty credit rating) and were placed by a syndicate of banks comprising of Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Rabobank and Royal Bank of Scotland. Settlement of the Notes is expected at 4 February, 2015.

More information can be found on our website: www.achmea.com

The RCF is part of Achmea's liquidity management at holding level and is currently undrawn. The new RCF does not contain financial ratio covenants or banking covenants with the obligation to redeem in case of a rating downgrade.

Achmea also announces that its solid capitalization under Solvency II is confirmed by the recently performed Parallel Run. It is required by DNB for Dutch insurers under the scope of the Solvency II Directive to calculate their financial position for the financial years 2011 and 2012 in accordance with the expected principles of Solvency II. This additional reporting is referred to with the term “Parallel Run”.

With regard to Achmea, the main outcomes of the Parallel Run are that – compared to earlier quantitative impact studies – both available capital and required capital increase, resulting in a year-end 2011 Solvency II ratio on group level of 221% of the SCR (Solvency Capital Requirement) (2010: 205%).

Achmea’s Chairman of the Board, Willem van Duin, will give an update on Achmea’s strategy and topical issues in the Dutch and International business. Danny van der Eijk, our Board member responsible for the non-life business, will discuss the non-life market in the Netherlands and Achmea’s strategy to maintain its market leading position. Mr. Van der Eijk will also give an update on the strategy behind the acquisition of the online business Independer.nl. CFO and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Gerard van Olphen, will discuss our capital position including an update on our Solvency II position.

The presentations will include these brief comments on Achmea’s performance in Q1 2012:

• Q1 results were lower as a result of higher claims ratio in Achmea’s Dutch Property & Casualty business due to January storms and a few large claims, mainly in the agricultural-sector.
• Good performance in Health. Hospital contracting nearly closed.
• Higher claims in the Dutch disability market (income protection) – mainly driven by the economic cycle. Commercial aspirations restrained; prioritising return over volumes.
• Operating costs decreased modestly.
• Selected additional provisioning for Dutch real estate investment portfolio (mainly offices). Total return in 2012 on real estate portfolio still expected to be positive. Office portfolio approximately 25% impaired.
• Solvency robust; considering using different curve to calculate solvency.

The Analyst day can be followed via a live webcast on http://www.achmea.com/ commencing at 13.30 CET.

The presentations will be available on the website of Achmea today as from 13.30 CET.

Achmea is awarding Syntrus Achmea a fiduciary mandate for almost € 1  billion of alternative investments, under which Syntrus Achmea will select and monitor the asset managers. Syntrus Achmea will also take over the part of Achmea's derivatives portfolio used to hedge its balance sheet risk. The underlying value of this portfolio is € 20 billion.

Syntrus Achmea already manages Achmea's real estate portfolio. This, together with the investments it manages for a large number of other institutional investors, makes Syntrus Achmea the largest real estate investor in the Netherlands.

Gerard van Olphen, Chief Financial Officer and vice-chairman of Achmea's Executive Board: 'Achmea is staying with its multi-manager strategy, subject to strict quality and mandate requirements. We have identified scope within that strategy for a significant and more prominent role for Syntrus Achmea.' As at year-end 2011, Achmea.s total investment portfolio was approximately € 42 billion.

Hans Snijders, Syntrus Achmea's Chairman of the Management Board, on the two new mandates: 'This award is a testament to Syntrus Achmea.s evolution as a fiduciary manager and asset manager. Our recent investment track record was also a factor in the award of these two mandates.'

The sale is in line with Achmea's de-risking policy and has no effect on Achmea's relationship with F&C Asset Management as one of Achmea's principal asset managers. The sale is expected to be settled on 20 March, 2012.

A notification of the disposal is being made to F&C Asset Management plc and to the UK Financial Services Authority in accordance with Chapter 5 of the UK's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

The fund will be managed by Life Sciences Partners (LSP) a pan-European investment firm specialized in health care and biotechnology investments. LSP has recruited a dedicated investment team consisting of investment and technology specialists as well as experts for health economics and health care processes.  The team will target European and US-based companies that have products close to or on the market.  The main focus are companies offering promising technologies or products targeting indications such as cardiovascular diseases, lung disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia - diseases that more and more people are afflicted with and for which society pays a high price.

New technologies and products for these indications can lead to better control of health care costs while improve the quality of patient care, for example by using better diagnostics, applying minimally invasive treatments or preventing complications. In spite of this, it is the experience of Achmea and LSP that many of these companies struggle to penetrate the market quickly due to an insufficiently developed health economics case; this is often due to the fact that the technology has not been developed together with health care providers, not all stakeholders have been considered, and that a sales process that requires addressing each individual physician can slow down market take-up.

Through the unique cooperation between an insurance company and an investment firm, Achmea and LSP can efficiently support such companies in bringing their technologies to the market. Achmea will provide access to its know-how, expertise and database to help build the health care economics cases.  Moreover, Achmea will help companies to find their way in the health care market, and will bring new technologies to the attention of health care providers.

Achmea and LSP have jointly developed the fund’s concept, building on their longstanding successful relationship.  In 1998, Achmea was the founding investor of LSP, and has participated in many of LSP’s consecutive funds. Since its initiation, LSP has built over 60 companies, created over 25 successful exits, and raised over € 600 million. For example, with Achmea’s funding, LSP was one of the founding investors of Crucell in 1998, one of the market leaders in vaccinations and antibodies for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Last year, Crucell was acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $ 2.3 billion.

Jeroen van Breda Vriesman, member of the Executive Board of Achmea: “By establishing the LSP-Health Economics Fund Achmea hopes to provide an active contribution to the quality of health care in the Netherlands, while at the same time controlling the associated costs.  Of course, we also hope to achieve a good return on investment; and we are confident of a positive outcome due to our longstanding experience with LSP, the firm’s track record and the experienced team.”

René Kuijten, General Partner LSP: “We see many smart technologies in the market that can play an important role in controlling the costs of health care, while improving its quality at the same time. However, they often do not find their path to market quick enough. With Achmea as a trusted and active partner we are in the unique position to quickly build and strengthen the health economics case for the most promising technologies and support the companies regarding the implementation in the market.”

Achmea will fully impair the goodwill related to its Life and Pension activities.The impairment to an amount of €279 million is a consequence of the structurally deteriorated circumstances in the Dutch life insurance market. As a result of the impairment, Achmea reports a negative net result over the full year 2011. Excluding the impairment, Achmea reports a positive net result over 2011 in the range between  €40 million and €80 million. This result includes all negative effects from financial markets. In light of transparent disclosure principles, Achmea has decided to publish these results before March 13, when the Group is scheduled to present its full year results.

The Dutch life insurance market has been shrinking for the last five years and the decline is seen as structural. One reason for the decline is the growing customer demand for 'bank savings products' in the Netherlands that offer the same tax advantages that once applied exclusively to life insurance products. The slump in the housing market and less customer interest for unit-linked policies further contribute to the decline in demand for mortgage-related life insurance products.

When calculating the in use value of its Life and Pension activities, Achmea has taken ´economic value principles´ (MCEV) into account from a standpoint of prudence, as these offer a better representation of the future value development.

As the leading insurance company in the Netherlands, Achmea deems it fair to reflect the fundamental change in the Dutch life insurance market in the value of its Life and Pension activities. This in spite of improvements achieved in operational performance and cost levels at Achmea's life insurance activities. The impairment relates to the goodwill that was taken on Achmea's balance sheet following the nterpolis merger in 2005.

Operationally, the following applies to Achmea's results over 2011:

• Solvency has remained strong thanks to earlier de-risking and is expected to be over 200% ultimo  2011
• Operational reduction targets of €300 million in costs and of 2,500 staff (FTEs) achieved
• Property and Casualty and Health show improved performances
• Achmea intends to write off its Greek government bonds portfolio with 77%
• Underwriting insurance losses in its Income Protection business will have a negative effect
• Application of the average three-month swap curve, in line with guidance from the Dutch Central Bank,
• in discounting certain insurance liabilities in our pension operations has a positive effect on results

However, increases in Health ensured total gross written premiums for the Group increased slightly to €11 billion. We remain financially strong and, in the current turbulent economic climate, a stable partner for our customers.

Group solvency increased once again during the reporting period to 224% while the solvency of the insurance entities grew to 233%. The programmes we introduced to reduce organisational complexity are moving forward according to plan.

The creation of integrated back offices that can provide our brands with customer focused, affordable products are on track. During the first half of 2011, the cost-reduction programme has demanded our full attention, specifically in terms of personnel costs.

This is primarily because we are in the process of creating a new health organisation and have accelerated the integration of Achmea Health and Agis as well as improvement initiatives on, for example, health procurement to improve the quality of healthcare.

As part of our strategy, we announced in 2009 an efficiency programme and one of the primary goals was to reduce the complexity of our organisation. Part of that programme involves merging the Achmea and Eureko holding companies. We have set that process in motion and have opted to retain the Achmea name for the new holding company. The aim is to finalise the merger in the second half of this year.

• Negative net result at €2.1 billion compared to a net profit of €979 million in 2007, due mainly to losses on investment portfolio and associated companies
• Total contributions insurance and investment contracts at €19.6 billion (2007: €15.6 billion)
• Value of new business (life insurance) at €41 million (2007: €67 million)
• Total equity down 28 per cent to €7.5 billion
• De-risking balance sheet ongoing, cost efficiency programmes initiated
• Proposal to not pay dividend on ordinary shares, proposal to pay dividend on preference shares; coupons to be paid on perpetuals due in May and June

Eureko will publish its 2008 Annual Report and Embedded Value Report on 10 April 2009.

Eureko’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards – including International Accounting Standards (IAS) and Interpretations – as at 31 December 2008 and as adopted by the European Union. All figures in this press release are unaudited.

Statement Executive Board

Moving forward in times of crisis
The reporting year, 2008, with its unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets, turned out to be a difficult year for Eureko. Against the backdrop of severe falls in equity markets, Eureko reports a sharp decrease in net result for 2008. The negative result amounts to €2.1 billion after tax compared to €979 million profit in 2007, driven primarily by impairments, losses on equity instruments and widened credit spreads.

The negative results on our investment portfolio also affected our capital position, down €2.9 billion. The solvency ratio decreased in 2008 as a result of this. At year-end the solvency ratio stood at 150 per cent at group level. We are thankful that our shareholders Vereniging Achmea and Rabobank confirmed their confidence in Eureko through a €1 billion capital increase which will take place in April 2009. As a consequence of this capital increase, the group solvency ratio pro forma improved to 175 per cent based on year-end 2008 figures. More steps were taken. We will reinforce our risk management framework and we have reduced our exposure to equity instruments.

Operating results
Our operating results from insurance activities did not meet expectations, mainly as a result of the declining Life market and shrinking margins in the Non-Life business. Our Health business and Banking operations contributed well to net profit. Competition in our home market in the Netherlands is fierce. In an environment in which operational results from insurance activities are under pressure in general, gross written premiums rose 30 per cent mainly as the result of the successful merger with Agis.

We did expand our European activities in 2008. Oranta Insurance in Russia is a Non-Life specialist with a multi-channel distribution network with strong growth prospects.

Necessary measures
The Executive Board has reinforced sense of urgency. In the beginning of 2009 we have accelerated the implementation of a strategic refocus called ‘SENS’ designed to boost operational performance. SENS is a proven method to gain efficiency that will improve all processes related to customer needs within Achmea, Eureko’s Dutch operation and will also lead to optimised operations. It impacts both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. In 2007 this program has already been implemented in our Health business with very positive results.

In the current year we have also introduced an important cost reduction program. This program concentrates on various cost centres company wide.In 2011 the estimated impact of these measures will be the reduction of 2.500 FTE’s and a cost reduction of €300 million.

Moving forward
Eureko has had a very challenging year and 2009 will be anything but easy. We have a comprehensive package of policy-driven measures aimed at reinforcing our position. These will require full commitment from our employees, in the Netherlands and around Europe. In 2009, we will strongly focus on organic growth and creating value so that we reinforce our current presence in both the Netherlands and Europe.

Willem van Duin
Chairman of the Executive Board, Eureko B.V.

17 March 2009

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