Rabobank Nederland's wholesale banking business performed well, given the economic conditions in 2002.The disappointing income development was offset by cost saving measures.There was even an improvement on the gross profit in 2001. Rabobank Nederland Corporate Clients Rabobank International Wholesale banking 29 Wholesale banking business Rabobank Nederland Corporate Clients (RNCC) focuses on the full breadth of the Dutch corporate market. RNCC also operates in Belgium. Rabobank International (RI) is Rabobank Group's internatio nal business bank. It operates on a global scale, focusing specifically on enterprises in the food and agri-business sector and also has international activities with advanced financial products aimed at professional counterparts in the financial markets.Group Treasury provides for Group divisions' liquidity needs and their need for instruments to hedge their interest rate and currency exposures. Group Treasury also manages Rabobank Group's balance sheet. Rabobank Nederland Corporate Clients (RNCC) is primarily responsi ble for delivering the best possible service to corporate clients (enterprises, associations and institutions with more than 20 employ ees and turnover exceeding EUR 10 million) in the Netherlands. With the formation of RNCC, Rabobank's services to clients in the corporate market were concentrated within a single formula. RNCC offers a broad range of financial products and specialist services and works together with sector teams and regional teams. In co operation with the local Rabobanks, these teams offer an Allfinanz- package that is tailored to the client's specific wishes. Partly as a result of this customer-focused approach, RNCC's market position was strengthened significantly and last year's result showed a strong increase. In addition, a survey of the corporate market has shown that Rabobank scores highest (7.1) on customer satisfaction compared with other large Dutch banks. The activities of Rabobank International range from advising on mergers acquisitions to stock transactions, lending and providing special financing arrangements. In 2002, Rabobank Group's interna tional business bank was confronted with a global economic down turn and the consequences of the corporate accounting scandals in the United States, which caused downward pressure on income. As a result of strict cost control, Rabobank International nevertheless turned in a positive performance. The activities in both corporate finance and traditional lending con tributed to this achievement. The second half 2002 showed a clear increase in structured trade and export financing. Despite the economic slowdown, the investment banking activities also performed better than in 2001, with a particularly important contribution from the arbitrage activities in credit and credit deriva-

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Annual Reports Rabobank | 2002 | | pagina 31