Many aspects of the financial services industry are currently under review. The government plans major pensions reforms from 2012. Our regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), is reviewing the way the industry distributes products. And there’s an initiative to design a new form of 'generic' financial advice to give consumers some basic help with their finances.

With so much under review, AEGON believes it’s vital that all proposed changes are considered from a consumer perspective. We need to understand what consumers want improved and we must make sure these reviews deliver that.

That’s why we’re a strong believer in consumer research as a way of informing the reviews and why we’re putting increased importance on researching consumers. We also want to make research findings available to anyone who has an interest in contributing to the debate about the future of our industry. So we've set aside a section of our website for consumer research. This will include research we’ve carried out ourselves, as well as links to relevant and interesting research from other sources.