Otto Thoresen has been chief executive of AEGON UK since April 2005. 

Born and brought up in Buckie in north-east Scotland, Thoresen graduated with a first class honours degree in mathematics and statistics from Aberdeen University. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries and spent two years studying management development at French business school INSEAD.

His career began at Scottish Equitable in 1978 and from 1988 he held senior marketing roles at Abbey Life, and Royal Insurance and then managing director of Royal Life International. He returned to Scottish Equitable, which by then had been acquired by Dutch insurer AEGON in August 1994, becoming Finance Director of AEGON UK in 2000, and took the helm as chief executive in April 2005.

In January 2007, Thoresen’s high profile advocacy of greater levels for financial education to help people take responsibility for their personal finances led to an invitation from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to chair an independent review of how an impartial system of generic financial advice might be made to work in practice – the Thoresen Review of Generic Financial Advice. The Review was published on 3 March 2008.

Thoresen is a Board member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), and Chair of its Life Insurance Committee. He is also a member of the Financial Services Advisory Board in Scotland, which is chaired by the First Minister and oversees the implementation of Scotland’s financial services strategy.

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