Vision and strategy in the food and agribusiness
Successful new Rabobank products
Money View is an independent research agency for banks, insurers and advisers. In a Money
View survey of savings-linked mortgages, the RaboOpbouwHypotheek (build-up) mortgage
received the highest rating for pricing and flexibility. Obvion's SpaarGerusthypotheek (safe
savings) mortgage was also awarded five stars for flexibility. Consumers increasingly opt for
bank savings products such as the RaboOpbouwHypotheek and SpaarGerusthypotheek
mortgages to accumulate assets.
2010 saw the introduction of Rabo Stimuleringskapitaal (incentive loan), which is intended
for small and medium-sized agricultural and other businesses. Under this scheme, customers
who need a long-term capital injection are granted a subordinated loan. Because the loan is
subordinated, it strengthens the business's capital base. No repayments are due on the loan
during the first five years, which allows enterprises to apply it fully towards their business.
Obvion named mortgage lender of the year
Obvion was named the mortgage lender of the year at the second edition of the Dutch
Insurance Awards, where it received the Golden Shield award in acknowledgement of the
transparency and quality of its financial products as well as its efforts to provide clients
with excellent services and the best possible quality over the years.
Rabobank: a bank for the agricultural sector
Rabobank has a unique connection with the agricultural sector, serving this sector as a financier,
sparring partner and centre of expertise. Rabobank sees agriculture as an innovative sector
with great potential for bringing about further sustainability improvements. After a number of
difficult years, the sector now seems to be recovering slowly. But 2010 was still a challenging
year for some segments. Many goat farmers lost their livestock, which had to be destroyed
because of Q fever. Goat farmers made plans in 2010 to rebuild their businesses. Rabobank
helped them by offering advice and knowledge, and keeping farmers informed about the
business outlook for goat farming. The horticulture sector became an area of concern in 2008
and 2009 due to the economic crisis and the required increases in scale. Prices did recover
somewhat in 2010. In addition, 2010 was the year of the public debate about expansion of
intensive farming and about the ecological infrastructure to maintain and increase biodiversity
in the Netherlands. Rabobank made an effort to table these types of issues in relevant networks.
A report entitled 'Sustainability and security of the global food supply chain' was presented at
the Duisenberg lecture 2010. This report addresses the challenge of raising the sustainability
of the world's food chain.
Food and agribusiness, and value chain policy at Rabobank
Rabobank further fleshed out the implementation of the Food and Agribusiness Principles
and value chain policy in the financing process, for instance by teaching 'Finance in Balance'
workshops to persons involved in the financing process, such as account managers, risk
managers and credit committees. These workshops take a practical approach to weighing
commercial and socially responsible aspects in order to arrive at ethical financing decisions.
Via sector promotion days, sector specialists were informed about specific ethical risks in
their respective sectors.
Rabobank makes investments for its clients in vision and knowledge development in the food
and agribusiness. The initiatives that Rabobank undertook included a survey of the arable
farming agenda of 2020, which was commissioned by the Arable Farming Marketing Board,
and the publication of reports outlining the bank's vision of the outlook for arboriculture,
bulb growing, glasshouse horticulture and floriculture. Rabobank organised online seminars
for the glasshouse horticulture and floriculture sectors, allowing entrepreneurs in these
sectors to participate from behind their computer.
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Domestic retail banking