De Lage Landen's service offering rated
Sustainable and innovative leasing solutions
- De Lage Landen contributes significantly to achieving Rabobank Group's targets;
partnerships with other group entities will see further improvements;
- focus is on the customer, with De Lage Landen continuing to concentrate on long-term
partnerships;
- the customer perceives De Lage Landen as a single business;
- the business is quick to respond and cost-efficient;
- the product offering is combined into a broad customer proposition.
As the behaviour of employees - both towards colleagues and towards clients - is essential
in this regard, a programme is being developed that addresses this issue at all levels in the
organisation.
Partnership with Agricultural Bank of China
In 2010, Rabobank acquired a minor interest in the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC). In light of
this participation, De Lage Landen China and ABC Financial Leasing signed a letter of intent to
form a partnership. This partnership, which focuses mainly on food and agri, cleantech and
SMEs, will allow De Lage Landen to strengthen its position in China. Both parties are exploring
options for developing products and distributing them through ABC's vast network; they are
convinced that, together, they can help develop the leasing market in China. De Lage Landen
and Rabobank International have already forged close partnerships in Poland (with Bank BGZ),
Australia, New Zealand and the US.
Forum, an independent research company, conducted a customer satisfaction survey among
De Lage Landen's factoring clients. The survey showed that 65% of factoring clients were happy
or very happy with the services offered by De Lage Landen. Another remarkable aspect was
the rating that clients gave to their contact person at De Lage Landen; no less than 92% of
clients said that they were happy or very happy with their contact person.
Independer.nl, a Dutch service for online comparison of financial products, named Freo,
De Lage Landen's online consumer credit label in the Netherlands, the most valuable provider
of consumer loans for the second consecutive year. Freo scored higher than average in 2010
on aspects such as'client accessibility','delivering on promises'and 'quality of accounts and
information'.
Corporate social responsibility in leasing
De Lage Landen's CSR strategy has four spearheads: sustainable and innovative leasing
solutions, ethical and responsible procedures, eco-efficiency, and community involvement.
These priorities are reflected in the day-to-day service provision and in developing
partnerships with vendors. De Lage Landen's efforts received external recognition by
being awarded Leasing Life Magazine's Green Lessor of the Year Award.
De Lage Landen develops sustainable and innovative solutions as a commercial proposition,
for instance in the areas of solar energy (US), combined heat and power (the Netherlands) and
sustainable lighting (US and the Netherlands). De Lage Landen expects these activities to
grow in 2011; both cleantech markets (e.g. wind energy) and different geographical markets
will be developed further in the coming year.
A partnership has been forged with Rabobank Renewable Energy Infrastructure Finance
and De Lage Landen has decided to establish a specialist Clean Technology business unit.
The Green Car initiative that Athlon Car Lease launched in 2009 for its own employees is
successful, in terms of both reduced carbon emissions and the number of participants. The
scheme allows employees to trade in their own cars against a more environmentally friendly
lease car at a good price. The commercial five-step sustainable mobility plan is also being
applied on a broader scale and will be offered to clients by several European offices shortly.
In addition, De Lage Landen explored global trends in refurbishment and remanufacturing
in 2010. In 2011, options will be studied for introducing more sustainability to the full life
cycle of leased capital goods.
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Annual Report 2010 Rabobank Group