Our market leadership ambition requires effective
management and proper supervision. In 2003,
the number of activities aimed at increasing the
professionalism of local managers and supervisors
grew significantly.The local management model
was reviewed as well. In its report 'Members make
the difference', the Local Management working
group presented a dual-model solution.
Local Rabobanks
Evaluation of local management model
Management and supervisors of membersl banks 65
Management
and supervisors
of member banks
New legislation and guidelines,including the Dutch Corporate
Governance code ('Tabaksblat Code'), the Sarbanes Oxley Act (internal
control), the Global Reporting Initiative and the Dutch Council for
Annual Reporting (on sustainability reporting) should result in more
transparent corporate governance. Within Rabobank Group, the change
in Rabobank Nederland's top management structure implemented in
2002 has made the management model more transparent and effective.
The supervision by the new Supervisory Board was professionalised and,
in the Central Delegates Assembly, the local banks were granted more
influence on policy.
Each local Rabobank has its own local management. At the end of 2003,
1,552 managers were active in the 328 independent Rabobanks, of
whom 1,224 had been elected directly by and from among the members.
The general manager (Director) of each Rabobank completes the local
management. The local supervisory boards review the management's
policy and oversee its implementation. At 31 December 2003,1,576
supervisors were members of these boards. In the year under review,
485 managers and supervisors retired, partly as a result of mergers and
board membership reductions. Also, 170 new managers and supervisors
were elected, of whom 23 were women. At the end of 2003, their
percentage in the local boards was 13.2%.
Following the change in the central management model in 2002, the
local management model was reviewed in 2003.The Local Management
working group surveyed managers, supervisors and directors of local
banks on the functioning and future suitability of the current model,
which dates from 1998. Basing itself on the survey's outcome and on
additional research, the working group, in its final report 'Members make
the difference', has proposed a dual-model solution: the partnership
model and the management model.The partnership model is the
current one: a board of management comprising the Director plus at
least three elected members, and a supervisory board that indepen
dently monitors the policy. The working group considers it necessary to
refocus and clarify this model on a number of points. In the management
model, the board of management is made up of several appointed
professional managers. It is complemented by a supervisory board, which
Rabobank economists forecast
u
a lacklustre recovery.
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CM
