4 To understand Rabobank you need to look bevond the legal issue and realise that it's about the culture ofRabobank Investors' opinion about Rabobank COVER STORY RABOBANK'S WAY OF WORKING Bruce Dick (1950) holds a degree in Eco- nomics from Otago University, New Zealand. He joined Rabobank in 1999 as General Manager Rabobank New Zealand. Since then he has held a number of senior management positions within the bank, including General Manager Australia New Zealand and Chief Executive Officer and Director, Rabobank Australia New Zealand Group. Dick is currently Managing Director of Rabo Development. The beating heart of Rabobank is the cooperative model, and for many it's this structure that has led to the bank's ongoing success since its foundation in the 19th century. And yet understanding Rabobank isn't as simple as knowing that its principles are based on a cooperative framework. According to Bruce Dick, an Australian who now leads Rabo Development, the bank's strength can't be pinned down to something as dry as a legal structure. 'To understand Rabobank you need to look beyond the legal issue and realise that it's about the culture of the company," Dick says. "And that's something that is unique to Rabobank. It's about the way we work at connecting with our clients, about how we make ourselves accountable - from the member banks to the outreaches of the organisation and back again - and how we ensure that our clients are constantly involved in what goes on within the bank." Sander Pruijs, Chief Commercial Officer of region East within Rural Retail Banking, agrees and adds that there are a number of elements that melt together to produce Rabobank's particular culture. 'The focus of the cooperative is the customer," Pruijs explains. "And that's rule number one within the bank, which is both a powerful starting point and different from so many other organisations. And you have to remember that our customers influence the policy and strategy of Rabobank as a whole. Client participation, which goes to the very heart of the bank's operations in the Netherlands, is legally determined, and that is unique. We also have advisory boards in place in Rabobank Australia and Rabobank North America, where we try to mirror that sort of cliënt participation without introducing cliënt ownership." Like all banks, Rabobank also raises long-term funding in the capital markets by issuing bonds to institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers and retail investors. Rabobank has currently around EUR 150 billion in senior unsecured bonds and EUR 7.5 billion of subordinated bonds outstanding. Although a bond's yield - or the return received by investors - varies depending on the length of time to maturity and the interest rate at the time of issuance, it is also highly dependent on how safe investors believe the bank issuing the bond is. When investors ISSUE 29 >be i RI WORLD purchase Rabobank bonds, they typically receive a lower yield than is available with bonds issued by banks with a lower credit rating. The reason? Investors believe Rabobank is extremely reliable. The bank's capital position is robust, its profits are consistently strong and its strategy is clear and consistent. But what supports this capital and liquidity strength is the cooperative model and cross-guarantee system, which connects local member banks, Rabobank Nederland and some of Rabobank Nederland's subsidiaries and ensures that any shortfall in assets in one of the entities will be covered by all the other entities in the Group. Because Rabobank has no shareholders and makes no dividend payments, it can operate a more conservative capital position than other banks. It's a model that has worked for over a century and will continue to work in the future.

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'RI World' (EN) | 2011 | | pagina 14