Aegon Mulls Tapping Netherlands Funding

Aegon(AEG Quote), the Dutch insurer that owns the Transamerica life-insurance company in the U.S., is considering tapping a 20 billion euro ($24.95 billion) fund established by the Netherlands to shore up its financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A decision on whether the company will seek a government capital infusion could come in the next few days, the newspaper reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. It was unclear what the terms would be, but the person said any state aid would be smaller than the 10 billion euros ING Groep(ING Quote), the Dutch banking and insurance company, will receive from the fund.

The Journal also reports MetLife(MET Quote) and Prudential Financial(PRU Quote) two of the largest U.S. insurers, are interested in exploring government cash infusions.

Reports are that the next beneficiary of the U.S. government's $700 billion rescue fund approved by Congress earlier this month could be insurance companies.

The Treasury Department wants insurance companies to participate in the troubled asset relief program, or TARP, according to the Journal . The government could take preferred equity stakes in certain insurers, the paper said.