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COVER STORY
g Bert Mertens:
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Today's cooperative
Rabobank has a long and proud cooperative history that
stretches back more than 100 years. The aim of the original
cooperative banks that merged to form today's Rabobank
was to provide financing and insurance to small farmers,
who at that time had limited access to credit, According
to Bert Mertens, Head of the Cooperative and Administrative
Affairs Division, although Rabobank's cooperative values are
clear and straightforward, they are sometimes forgotten.
"Rabobank was founded by people who wanted the bank to
serve them, although over time that purpose has perhaps
been forgotten. However, it's important to remember that
the bank has two simple purposes: the first is to serve the
interests of its customers, and the second is to serve the
collective interest of customers and members. If we look
back at the essence of the savings and credit cooperative,
we see that the spirit of cooperation existed at all levels in
local society. So if one customer had a surplus of savings,
they were prepared to lend those excess funds to customers
who needed credit. Subsequently, the local community
ensured that the loans were repaid. This social control and
intricate knowledge and understanding of the local situation
reduced the information asymmetry between the borrower
and the lender."
Clearly, today's banking sector and the market it has to serve
is far more complex, diverse and international than the
model developed more than a century ago. And according
to Coert Beerman, CEO Rabobank Rotterdam, the market
nowadays is much more pragmatic and primarily driven by
the need to find the best product from the best supplier
at the right time. "We see that the public sector is rewarding
the strategy line that Rabobank is following and - other things
being equal - private companies are increasingly doing
so as well. The latter holds especially true for innovative
companies active in sustainable business, where good
business practices and customer loyalty are rewarded."
"What hasn't changed though are the needs of customers
and their appetite for a trustworthy, long-term relationship
with their bank," says Bert Mertens. This comes from the
fact that if people trust some of their resources to an
organisation, or have loans or credit with the organisation
and are dependent on its continuity, then the clients want
assurance that they can rely on this organisation at all times.
A bank should always be a safe and reliable organisation,
something that is ensured by our cooperative structure
and embedded in our cooperative values.
According to Bouke de Vries, senior economist at Rabobank's
Economie Research Department, the cooperative model
used by Rabobank is based on three main pillars: proximity
to customers; on providing customer value; and on a
governance structure where members have real influence
on the decisions made within the bank. 'Today, in the
midst of the credit crisis, a lot of things have gone wrong,"
he says. "A lot of trust in the fïnancial sector has gone, and
the cooperative model is able to help regain that trust.
The cooperative structure also allows the bank to have a
conversation with its customers and members, and ask:
Z ISSUE 20
THE WORD
