Aegon insurance company plans head office move to United States

Aegon insurance and pensions company is the latest major firm to announce it wants to leave the Netherlands.

It is considering a head office move to the United States where most of its clients are based, according to Dutch media reports.

The Financieele Dagblad reports that two years ago its chief executive Lard Friese had pledged to stay in the Netherlands but now believes the company should become an American firm. “Seventy percent of our business is in the United States, so for us it is logical to move our head office there,” he said. “Then we can better support growth.”

The announcement adds to concerns about competitiveness for businesses in the Netherlands, after the departure of Unilever, Shell, the former Reed Elsevier and DSM.

Aegon’s roots lie in one of the first co-operative funeral businesses in the Netherlands, “De Broederlijke Liefdesbeurs”, set up in 1759. It has been called Aegon since 1983 since a merger between insurance companies AGO and ENNIA.