Market leadership expansion Subsidiaries: role and added value Product/market entities Multi-distribution 22 Rabobank Group Annual Report 2003 Rabobank Group was already the market leader in most financial retail markets, including payments, savings, investments, home mortgage loans and business financing. In 2003, the Group succeeded in strengthening its market leadership further, evidenced by the further improvement of its leading position in the mortgage loans market and the fact that Rabobank was market leader in all sectors of the small and medium-sized businesses sector for the first time in 2003. Its market share in consumer credit also grew. The successful advance in the corporate market was continued energetically, with Rabobank succeeding in consolidating its number two position in this market segment. On the basis of a client survey, Rabobank was named Corporate Bank of the year by the newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad. Further growth is called for, though. High on the agenda for 2004 is the expansion of our market share in the large cities, including the market position among ethnic minorities. In addition, Rabobank wishes to strengthen its position in real estate. For that purpose, the real estate bank FGH Bank was acquired in 2003. Rabobank Group assesses its subsidiaries on the basis of their contri bution to the attainment of its market leadership ambition. Besides achieving attractive returns, their objective is to strengthen Rabobank Group's strategic position and image both at home and abroad and to improve the total risk profile, so that the local Rabobanks can continue to offer the best-buy solutions.The subsidiaries are competence centres for the local banks. Apart from this role, virtually all of them also serve their own clients, who do not bank at the Rabobanks. Rabobank Nederland's product/market entities (PMEs) are responsible for developing and processing banking products such as savings, loans, funds transfers and securities transactions.They focus almost completely on serving the local banks. In order to support Rabobank Group's market leadership ambition, it might be beneficial for these production businesses also to perform activities for third parties on a selective basis, for example should the existing distribution channels within Rabobank Group yield insufficient economies of scale. An example of those activities is processing securities orders for Friesland Bank. To Rabobank Group, the Rabobank brand is the most important label for the distribution of financial services and products. In addition, clients that cannot be reached with the Rabobank formula are served by the Group's subsidiaries. Distribution via other channels is another way of achieving Rabobank's market leadership ambition. Multi-distribution is 'There was a direct demand from the market. Aboveground infrastructure boxes are often vandalised or knocked down. Someone literally once said: those things should really be placed underground. And so I developed the Hid-box, an under ground infrastructure box.To win the Herman Wijffels Innovation Award for this development was a complete surprise. I have used the prize money of 100,000 euros Joep Jacobs of Mid-Land Industries, winner of the Herman Wijffels Innovation Award 2003.

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Annual Reports Rabobank | 2003 | | pagina 26