Dear colleaguesy EDITORIAL lt is summertime and in most countries people are preparing to enjoy their well-deserved holidays. Personally, I always ftnd this a good time to reflect on the first half of the year. A lot has happened these past few months. The credit crisis is now also starting to affect our clients. We see a clear downward trend of consumer trading and increasing supplier default risk. This, coupled to the reduced availability of working capital and growing unemployment rates affecting consumer budgets, will lead to our clients facing hard times in keeping their cash flow and balance sheet ratios on level. Being an all finance market leader in the Netherlands and a leading F&A bank worldwide, we as Rabobank feel the pain of our clients, both large and small. Consequently, it will be a challenge for us to meet our targets for this year. Based on our solid and conservative banking history, I have however great confidence that Rabobank Group and Rabobank International will come out of this experience stronger. This edition of The Word is dedicated to our cooperative, its structure, technical features and values and what they mean for Rabobank International. Bert Heemskerk, who recently ended his very successful banking career at Rabobank, provides his view on the future of our cooperative. He states, just like Bert Mertens in the cover story, that the long-term success of the Rabobank Group is linked to the future incorporation of elements of the cooperative in our regions' operational models. The goal of this effort is not to copy the Dutch model, as in other countries different interpretations of the cooperative features may be more appropriate. No matter the approach, the goal is to enable clients to have a clear 'say' and stake in the bank's future, ensuring that we stay focused on what we are good at and do not take unnecessary risks. It is important to fully understand what it means to be working in a cooperative organisational model, such as the one we have at Rabobank, and the effect this has on current and future market circumstances. We see that the general opinion on cooperative organisations is changing. There is an increasing association between cooperative structures and inherent stability and endurance. Prominent magazines and periodicals like The Economist, The Banker and the New York Times recently published articles on cooperatives and mentioned Rabobank as one of the most stable companies in the world due to its cooperative structure. In some of these articles we are even called dull. Not in the negative sense of the word, but in a way that stands for risk mitigation, solid banking and knowing what you are good at (in our case: Food and Agribusiness). Staying true to our cooperative roots and further developing them for the future is the right path for Rabobank to grow. It is about knowing, listening to and caring for our clients. But it is also about working together across the boundaries within the bank. And I am glad to see this is happening on different levels in the Rl organisation and across the different Rabo entities like Rabo Development, Rabo Foundation and Rl. These are the kind of collaborations that make our company groundbreaking, successful and trustworthy. Enjoy your holidays, have a rest and let's get ready for the next half year. Best regards, Sipko Schat issue 20 THE WORD

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blad 'RI The Word / The Word' (EN) | 2009 | | pagina 3