Aegon May Not Be Pretty, but It Is Getting More Appealing, Slowly

Aegon has long been plagued by what is sometimes considered a strength of the insurance industry: diversification of products and geographies. The problem with this lies in the point at which a company chooses to diversify and whether it has pinned down expertise and market leadership before moving on to another product or region. In this case, a business can apply what it has learned through establishing the local and narrow competitive advantage to its new country or product group. In sum, diversification should be carried out only with core ascendency and should be carried out in a focused and strategic way. Aegon had not done this.