Dear colleagues
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the second edition of The Word for 2009.
We think it is an important edition, as it focuses almost
exclusively on the revised strategy for the international
part of our bank, and we hope the stories in this magazine
will provide you with clarity on our future direction. Mind
you, it is not a complete turn-around regarding our current
international strategy. Rather, it emphasizes the strengths
that are already very much apparent in the organisation.
What we have agreed on and put forward to the Central
Delegates Assembly on 18 March is that our Wholesale
business outside the Netherlands will focus completely on
the Food and Agribusiness (F&A) sector. Our ambition for
the coming years is clear: we want to become the world's
leading Food Agribusiness bank.
F&A is firmly rooted in our history and is simply what we
are best at. We have a proven track record in F&A, having
grown from a local Dutch agricultural bank into a financial
institute that provides financial services to major F&A clients
around the world. We need to further build on that strength
and create a firm F&A footprint internationally that lays a
solid foundation for our Dutch clients abroad, but also for
our international F&A clients doing business across national
borders.
While we have grown to serve bigger clients over the
years, we should still be true to our core cooperative values
of being close to our clients, understanding them and
helping them to grow. We need to focus on cliënt intimacy.
Knowing what drives our clients, understanding their
ambitions and dreams and helping them achieve these
goals, in life and work. If we manage to build and maintain
such relationships with our clients and are able to offer a
product suite from across the bank, then we will definitely
take the next step in Rabobank's history, while staying close
to our roots, values and beliefs.
Focusing on our core-business, F&A, also means being
disciplined in the products we offer to the market. We have
already started to tailor our professional products more
to the F&A market, with GFM now specifically supporting
F&A business needs, such as capital restructuring and
commodities hedging. We also started to offer innovative
F&A products, such as the Rabo FARM fund, which is
described in detail in the sector special in this magazine.
And our recent strategie alliance with Rothschild provides
us with the unique opportunity to present Rabobank as a
serious international advisor in the fields of M&A and Equity
Capital markets advisory regarding the F&A sector. All are
clear actions to further strengthen our commitment to
F&A internationally.
In order to become a top-five F&A bank in each region
we operate in, it is of utmost importance that we work
across the borders of our organisation in order to provide
our clients with the right products and services. We have
many great financial providers in our Group and when we
start working together more frequently and more intensely
we can unlock an enormous amount of value in the
organisation.
These are difficult times, but there are also opportunities,
especially in the F&A sector. We expect a lot of changes and
consolidations in the sector over the coming years and we
believe Rabobank is fit to act as one of the main financiers
and advisors to many of the F&A companies worldwide.
We know the people, the products and the markets and it
is one of our values to maintain sustainable relationships
with our clients. To be there in good and bad times. That is
why people appreciate our bank. It is part of what makes us
Rabobank. If we stay close to what we are and what we are
good at, we will be all right and ready to grow in the future.
Keepyour heads up!
Bert Heemskerk Sipko Schat
Chairman Executive Board Vice-Chairman
and Managing Board Rl Managing Board Rl
ISSUE 19 a: w THE WORD 3
