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New climate related products and
services
New participations in banks in
developing countries
V Xm
does justice to their specific markets. For example,
the European real estate market, where the real
estate organisation operates, has issues that
differ from those for Rabobank International
clients in the sugar industry. The manual
became formally effective in February 2007.
Rabobank Group believes that the climate
market offers business enterprises an oppor
tunity to meet the statutory requirements for
reduced CO2 emissions in a flexible and cost
effective way. Rabobank focuses on leveraging
the opportunities this market offers to sustainably
operating businesses. In the year under review,
a lot of effort was put into the development of
new products and services for both corporate
and private clients. At the end of 2006, Robeco
placed the Robeco Clean Tech Certificate and
the Robeco Clean Tech Fund II with investors.
Early in 2007, Rabobank, together with World
Wildlife Fund, launched a new credit card
featuring a climate contribution.
By being more energy efficient, Rabobank
Group responds to the drive to reduce CO2
emissions, also on a local level. For example,
Rabobank West-Groningen developed a
special mortgage for a new housing project.
Clients buying a house there can turn to this
local Rabobank and get an interest-rate
discount if their house has energy-conscious
features. The higher the energy efficiency of
the house, the lower the interest rate.
It is Rabobank's ambition to make financial
services more accessible to people in develo
ping countries. To this end, the Rabo
Development Program was established in
2004. Rabobank's target to invest in a few rural
banks in developing countries was achieved
in 2006.
4
Tools for low-literates
An estimated 1.5 million Dutch
have trouble reading and
writing. The Reading Writing
Foundation (Stichting Lezen
Schrijven) is committed to
creating broad awareness of
this social problem. Rabobank
is one of its active founders and
has helped construct the
mijnabc.nl web site. It also col
laborates on the documentary
'Ongeletterd' (Illiterate),
which contributes to greater
openness on illiteracy and low
literacy. In addition, Rabobank
supports an educational multi
media project to improve the
reading and writing skills of
adults. In its banking services,
Rabobank is also mindful of
clients that have difficulty
reading. In 2006, three tools
were developed: a spotting
guide enabling bank employ
ees to recognise and assist
low-literate clients, the "Stap
voor stap bankieren" customer
brochure explaining the
banking services in simple
terms, and a Readspeaker on
www.rabobank.nl, that reads
aloud texts on the site. This has
made Rabobank the first bank
in the Netherlands to equip its
site with an audio reader
function.
Corporate social responsibility 95
