32 Rabobank Group Annual Report 2004
Core activities
and pressure (Tussen passie en pressie), Rabobank draws the conclusion
that labour, in particular, will be a bottleneck in the otherwise positive
outlook for dairy farming in the Netherlands.
Also in 2004, Rabobank championed the promotion of the agricultural
sector. For this purpose, it supported nationwide initiatives, including
Friends of the Countryside (Vrienden van het Platteland) and Come into
the Greenhouse (Kom in de Kas), as well as business innovation projects
such as Agro Co and the Closed Greenhouse Project (Gesloten Kas
Project). In the autumn of 2004, Rabobank made an intensive contribu
tion - in terms of both funding and content - to the surprisingly popular
FHolland in Business (Nederland in Bedrijf) television show, in which the
achievements of the agricultural sector were brought to the attention of
a large audience.
In both good times and bad
The stronger focus on the agricultural sector was in part inspired by the
unfavourable price development across the agricultural and horticultural
sector. Rabobank wants to be a bank of and for agricultural entrepre
neurs, in both good times and bad. If financial problems occur, Rabobank
together with the client continuously tries to find the best solutions.
Because of its exceptional position as an agricultural knowledge bank,
Rabobank is able to provide solutions that are fully tailored to the entre
preneur and his business. This approach deserves merit particularly
given the decline in the number of agricultural businesses. This decline
was 2% in 2004, with mixed farms and horticultural businesses being the
main fallers. Not surprisingly, customer satisfaction in the agricultural
sector is exceptionally high. More than three-quarters of agricultural
clients are satisfied with the service provided by Rabobank. Even in these
times of economic uncertainty, customer loyalty increased to 66%.
Lending again higher
Lending to the agricultural and horticultural sectors continued its
growth in 2004. A striking feature was the further growth in demand
for 'green' financing for sustainable investments, relating mainly to
investments in 'Green Label Greenhouses', wind energy and agricultural
nature management. Demand for green financing for the biological
sector was stable.
New branch policy
Customer needs have changed greatly in recent years. Clients still
appreciate personal contact and tailored advice, but they largely use
the direct channels, such as Internet, telephone and cash dispensing
machines, for their day-to-day banking needs. In the past 25 years, the
number of personal contact moments has fallen drastically, from 260
million in 1980 to an expected 10 million in 2005. In light of this,
Rabobank formulated a new branch policy in 2004. The local Rabobanks
will increasingly have service points for simple money transactions and
standard products, in co-existence with a reduced number of offices
that clients can turn to for specialist advice and more standard products
such as mortgages and life insurance. Because of the ever-increasing
popularity of electronic banking, the number of branches will be reduced
further in coming years. Flowever, this will be compensated by an
increase in the number of cash dispensing machines in public places,
Rabobank Cash Points in shops and the number of places with a
Rabobank presence in ServiceWinkels. These Service Shops are multi
functional desks for municipal services and services in the fields of finan
ce, mail, housing, labour and healthcare. The total number of points of
contact, including branches, Service Shops and cash dispensing machi
nes in public places, grew by 165 to 2,965. This number is expected to
rise even further in the coming years, by 10% to approximately 3,200.
Thus, Rabobank will remain the 'bank near-you', also in the future.
Rabobank contact moments
in millions
500
400
300
Total bank contacts
200 y
■3 Use of direct channels
100
Branch visits 10 million
o
in 2005
'80 '85 '90 '95 '00
'05 '10
Customer satisfaction remains high
In a customer satisfaction survey, private clients again gave the local
Rabobanks an excellent score of 7.7 (7.7). Especially their reliability,
knowledge and personal advice were highly appreciated. Last year,
corporate clients rated the services with a score of 7.5 (7.4). These are
very reasonable scores against the background of claims from society
about the ever declining level of banking services. This certainly is not
the case for the local Rabobanks. Rabobank clients have cash dispensing
machines available to them within an average radius of 1.5 kilometres.
Basic services are available within an average radius of 3 kilometres and
more complex financial services within an average radius of 10 kilome
tres. In addition, Rabobank provides a number of standard services that
enable its clients to continue to independently and effectively use the
payment services as long as possible.
Still near-you via direct channels
Rabobank not only wishes to be near to the client physically, but also
via the virtual Rabobank direct distribution channels. Users highly
appreciate that virtual accessibility. In December 2004, the Dutch public
voted www.rabobank.nl the financial website of the year. At almost two
million unique visitors a month, the Rabobank site was by far the most
frequently visited financial Internet site in the Netherlands.
