Governance

Our governance

At Achmea, sustainability is embedded in our way of working and our governance. The Executive Board is ultimately responsible for our strategy, including sustainability. Correspondingly, each member is also individually responsible for implementation within their own business units. The Supervisory Board provides oversight and recommendations.

Building trust with good governance and integrity

A culture of integrity and good governance provide the foundation for trust. For this reason, we have strict ethical rules in place, we take measures to prevent corruption and bribery, and data security and cybersecurity are top priorities. This enables us to protect our customers, employees and partners.

The following are some of the measures we have implemented to ensure integrity:

the Achmea General Code of Conduct, mandatory for all employees;
a Whistleblower Policy;
the mandatory oath or promise for the financial sector (for Dutch Employees).

We also have an Integrity and Fraud Policy that identifies and prevents risks relating to matters such as corruption, gifts and conflicts of interest. The implementation of the systematic integrity risk analysis (SIRA) is also incorporated into this.
The Ethics Committee advises on complex ethical issues such as digitisation, social care needs or socially responsible investment and discusses individual, confidential cases.

We are committed to reliable data security and cybersecurity aimed at protecting sensitive information and creating a secure environment that meets regulatory requirements. This helps to build the trust our customers and other stakeholders have in us, and contributes to confidence in our organisation and the financial sector as a whole. We regard data security and cybersecurity as an important prerequisite for privacy.

Leadership and remuneration

Our leadership and remuneration policies actively contribute to the achievement of our sustainability ambitions. We work in accordance with the principle of stakeholder value management: creating value for customers, employees, partners, investors and society. This principle forms the foundation for our strategic choices and the way we aim to have impact. Where variable remuneration applies, this is partially linked to the achievement of sustainability goals. This enables us to encourage corporate responsibility and discourage irresponsible risk-taking. The Executive Board has been set the following sustainability targets for 2025 (see also the Achmea Annual Report).

Environment

A 58% reduction in carbon emissions associated with own business operations compared to 2019
A 32% reduction in carbon emissions associated with investment and mortgage portfolio compared to 2020
Realisation of 10% impact investments in own risk portfolio

Social

Customer satisfaction (rNPS) at least equal to the market average
Eight of the 11 Sustainable Living. Together. social impact programmes on track

Governance

Increased gender diversity: 35% women in senior management

Achmea Sustainable Together

The Achmea Sustainable Together programme was established to implement the sustainability strategy in a tangible way across the organisation. This programme is governed by the Achmea Sustainable Together Programme Board, chaired by a member of the Executive Board. The Board consists of group directors and department chairs, and ensures cohesion, focus and progress throughout the organisation with respect to the sustainability goals. We also have a Sustainability Department and ESG officers are active in our business units.

Responsible taxpayer

Given our background and societal role, we are intrinsically motivated to be a responsible taxpayer. Specifically, we file all returns in a timely, correct and complete manner, and pay the tax due on time.

As a responsible taxpayer, we apply the relevant tax laws and regulations in all the countries in which we operate, and we bear in mind the purpose and intent of these rules. The commercial reality of a transaction is the basic principle: profit is taxed where the profitable activity takes place. We also take into account overarching international regulations, such as OECD and EU guidelines. We do not make use of structures whose main purpose is to reduce the effective tax rate. In other words, we do not operate in jurisdictions because they either have a favourable tax regime or do not exchange tax information.

Because we believe in the importance of openness and transparency with respect to taxes, we publish information on this in accordance with relevant national regulations, as well as applicable reporting requirements and standards, such as EU-IFRS, Solvency II and GRI 207.

Fiscal report (PDF) >

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