OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has assigned Aegon Funding Company LLC's USD6bn debt programme a 'A-' rating for senior debt and a 'BBB' rating for Tier 2 and Tier 3 subordinated debt. The programme is guaranteed by Aegon N.V.'s (Aegon; Issuer Default Rating A/Negative).

The ratings are assigned to the programme and not to the notes issued under the programme. There is no assurance that notes issued under the programme will be assigned a rating, or that the rating assigned to a specific issue under the programme will have the same rating as the rating assigned to the programme.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
For senior unsecured debt issued under the programme, a baseline recovery assumption of 'below average' will be applied with the rating notched down once from the IDR.

For Tier 2 and Tier 3 debt issued under the debt programme, we will use a baseline recovery assumption of 'Poor' and a non-performance risk assessment of 'Moderate'. The rating will be notched down three from the IDR, comprising two notches for recovery and one notch for non-performance risk.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
The programme's ratings are subject to the same sensitivities that may affect Aegon's Long-term IDR (for more details, see Fitch Revises Aegon's Outlook to Negative; Affirms IDR at 'A'' dated 15 March 2016 at www.fitchratings.com).

Fitch currently rates Aegon as follows:
-Insurer Financial Strength Rating of core insurance entities: 'AA-'; Outlook Negative
-Issuer Default Rating of Aegon N.V: 'A'; Outlook Negative

Date of Relevant Rating Committee: 15 April 2016

(This is an amended version of a press release issued earlier today and contains revised information on the definition of recovery prospects.)