Edinburgh-based Aegon UK — owned by Dutch investment giant Aegon NV — said on Thursday it delivered underlying earnings of £61 million in the second half of 2019 and its total assets administered in the UK rose to £179 billion.

Commenting on Aegon UK’s full year 2019 results, new CEO Mike Holliday-Williams said: “I can clearly see that the decision to reposition Aegon from a traditional life company to a modern, digital platform business means that we are incredibly well placed to lead in the retail and workplace markets and deliver on our mission to help customers achieve a lifetime of financial security.

“Our Digital Solutions business (which contains our modern platform propositions) is contributing a growing share of our earnings.

“This is largely due to us realising the benefits of managing our platforms from a common set of IT having completed the underlying technology migrations and other economies of scale.

“Our Existing Business, managing our established pension plans, continues to provide a strong contribution to the business through good retention levels and its 1.3m customers will benefit from the increased investment in proposition and service that our partnership with Atos will deliver. 

“All of this is reflected in the financial performance of the business.

“In 2019 we generated underlying earnings of £61 million in H2 taking the total to £122 million for the year while the total value of assets we manage on behalf of our nearly four million customers reached £179bn.”