Aegon, the Dutch company that owns Transamerica, could move its corporate headquarters to the United States.
E. Laird Friese, the chairman and CEO of the insurer, talked about the possibility Thursday, during a conference call with securities analysts.
Friese hinted that big changes were ahead for Aegon in 2020, when he picked Duncan Russell to be the company's chief transformation officer. Russell is now the company's chief financial officer.
Relocating Aegon's headquarters to the United States is "an important step in the transformation of our company," Friese said, noting that about 70% of the company's business now comes from the United States.
Aegon would like to move its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange, from Euronext, and move to use the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles framework, rather than the International Financial Reporting Standards it now uses, Friese said.
"As we aim to grow the U.S. business in the future, we want to be close to it," Friese said.
One potential obstacle is that shifting to GAAP reporting could take two or three years, Friese said.
What it means: Transamerica has been a big but somewhat quiet presence in the U.S. market in recent years.
A relocation of the parent company's headquarters to the United States could help the company get and keep retirement savers' attention.
The backdrop: Transamerica had its headquarters in San Francisco for decades and is famous for a pyramid-shaped headquarters office it built there in 1972.
Aegon acquired Transamerica in 1999. Transamerica moved its headquarters to Baltimore in 2011.
Aegon has its own main offices in The Hague, in the Netherlands. For regulatory purposes, its official domicile is in Bermuda.
Transamerica's results: Aegon held the analyst call to go over results for the first half of the year.
Transamerica increased net deposits from sales of registered index-linked annuities increased to $993 million in the first half, up 97% from the total for the first half of 2024.
Sales of individual life increased 13%, to $276 million.
Credit: Jerome/Adobe Stock
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