Rl 'country banking' initiative continues to gather pace,
with a string of international acquisitions either recently
completed or on the cards. RI's Vice Chairman of the
Managing Board, Wouter Kolff, looks back on what the
initiative has achieved so far and forward to future
international retail operations.
Completing the picture
The 'country banking' initiative was
originally devised to acquire small to
medium rural banks, ideally with an F&A
focus, to significantly increase the bank's
activities beyond the mature Dutch market.
This initiative is proving successfui and
Rabobank is now positioned in several
new retail markets worldwide. 'It started
with the acquisition of the Primary
Industry Bank of Australia, around seven
years ago,' Kolff explains. This bank has
grown to become Australia and New
Zealand's second largest agribusiness
bank and, in 2003, it took on the Rabobank
nameforall of its operations.'
The Australian venture was consistent
with RI's wholesale banking profile, but
with its move into the US market in 2002,
through the acquisition of VIB in California,
Rl added retail banking to its portfolio. In the same year, Rl
acquired Ireland's ACC Bankfrom the Irish government. ACC
Bank's main markets are local SMEs and property financing, with
only around 7% of its activities agribusiness-related.The bank is
active in rural areas outside Dublin, however, and therefore fits
within the 'country banking' profile. And in 2003, two further US
banks were added to the 'country banking' portfolio: Lend Lease
Agribusiness, a mortgage lender with nation-wide distribution
network, and Ag Services of America, a erop input lender. This
has led to Rabobank emerging as one of the foremost financial
players in the US Food and Agribusiness.
'Within the past year, we have entered the Central and Eastern
European market,' says Kolff. 'In Poland, together with the European
Bankfor Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), we recently
acquired a majority stake in BGZ from the Polish government.
BGZ is a large retail bank with around 5,500 employees and 350
branches and it is heavily involved in agribusiness. The Polish
government was cautious about placing such a large bank in
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