J/Vhat's NewS
The Netherlands
Rabobank -
100 YEARS LATER
Supplement for What's NewS February 1997
LEEUWARDEN
GRONINGEN
Statistics are useful and informative and provide an
indication of strength or weakness. It is gratifying to
know that in Holland, Rabobank is market leader, for
example, in the home mortgage sector and provides
more than 90 percent of finance to the country's F&A
industry. However, the numbers which confirm
Rabobank's strength in the domestic market do not
even hint at the bank's roots, its past achievements or
its role in local communities throughout the
Netherlands.
AMSTERDAM
UTRECHT
- ERMELO
- PUTTEN
ROTTERDAM
MAASTRICHT
One of our local
Rabobanks.
We may be celebrating a
century next year, but in fact
1998 has been selected as a
kind of mean. Some local banks
are much older, others
somewhat younger. But
whatever their age all were
established based on the same
need and philosophy. Anyone
who has seen Vincent van
Gogh's early drawings of
19th-century Dutch farmers
scratching a living from the soil
and who also knows that today
the Netherlands is the third
largest F&A exporter after the
US and France would be
forgiven for wondering how
that dramatic change came
about. Part of the answer is
Rabobank.
SELF-HELP
In the mid-19th century much
of Dutch farm land was owned
by absentee landlords whose
main interest was squeezing
their tenants. This took two
forms - high rents and access
to finance only at exhorbitant
interest rates. It was not only
small farmers in Holland, but
those elsewhere in Europe who
seemed doomed to eternal toil
solely for their landlords
benefit. The hero in this true
tale is a German called
Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen.
He came up with a kind of
'self-help' plan for local
farming communities. The
basic Raiffeisen concept was
beautiful in its simplicity. The
farmers joined together and
became members of a
cooperative bank. Each
member guaranteed a specific
amount of money in case the
bank got into difficulties. The
deposits, however small, were
then used to advance loans to
members who needed them at
reasonable interest rates. These
cooperative banks were often
located in someone's living
room, with the funds secured
in a safe in the private home.
CENTRAL MOVE
Although this distant past may
seem rather primitive in these
times of exotic deritatives,
global Communications and so
on, the cooperative movement
met an essential need (as many
emerging markets are currently
discovering to their benefit).
The idea took off in Germany
and rapidly moved to
neighbouring countries,
including Holland. Farmers'
cooperatives sprang up
throughout the primarily
agricultural Netherlands and a
need was soon feit for a central
organization which could
capitalize on the excess
revenues held by the member
banks. The insight into
political, social, geographic
and religious history of the
Netherlands needed to
p COÖPERATIEVE WORTELS
Voor veel nieuwe medewerkers en onze collega's in het buitenland zijn de coöperatieve structuur van onze bank en de
besluitvormingsprocessen vaak onduidelijk. Reden om in deze special aandacht te besteden aan onze historie, de ontwikkelingen
die leidden tot de bank die wij nu zijn, onze structuur en een impressie van een locale bank.Onze bank heeft in de ontwikkeling van
de agrarische gemeenschap een grote rol gespeeld. De coöperatie, opgezet om elkaar te helpen, is de reden dat wij nu nog steeds sterk betrokken
zijn in de locale gemeenschappen.