Dialogue with society Rabobank is a socially responsible bank that actively enters into dialogues with stakeholders on social trends and issues. These dialogues lead to outcomes that are incorporated into the sustainability policy and communicated to employees, enabling them to deal responsibly and professionally with the dilemmas they face when providing services. Rabobank takes the view that engaging with stakeholders is an ongoing process in which it gains experience from which it can learn. Dialogue about issues that matter The materiality principle forms the starting point for our dialogue with stakeholders. What this means is that Rabobank wants to enter into a dialogue concerning issues that have a major impact on the bank, its stakeholders and society at large. Rabobank's aims in this area are based on the issues that stakeholders believe are important as well as the Group's own expectations for the future. The groups of stakeholders that have been identified for this purpose are clients, employees, client interest groups, government agencies and civil society organisations. In some cases, departments responsible for commercial matters conduct dialogues with stakeholders made up of clients and interest groups representing clients. In addition, Rabobank has entered into dialogue with a number of civil society organisations to discuss various social issues and the Group's social policy. Active involvement in services Stakeholders such as member councils and youth councils of local Rabobanks are actively involved in the bank's policy-making and provision of services. In addition, CSR policy is discussed with employee representative bodies, and civil society organisations are involved in the development of policy in areas such as human rights and biodiversity. Rabobank is also actively involved in international, multilateral stakeholder dialogues on creating more sustainable value chains in the food and agri sector. Examples include the UN Global Compact, the UN Environmental Programme Finance Initiative, the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), and the various Round Tables on sustainable production chains in the food and agri sector, such as RSPO (palm oil), the RTRS (soy), Bonsucro (sugar) and BCI (cotton). Dialogue, issues and policy development When developing policy and conducting dialogues with stakeholders, extra attention is paid to topical social issues that are of the greatest relevance for Rabobank. The issues shown in the chart on the next page were selected on the basis of a review of relevant literature and an analysis of social trends and issues in recent years, as part of which a dialogue was conducted with stakeholders. In 2010, issues including socio-economic, political and financial issues unrelated to CSR were identified and defined, and the way in which such issues are monitored and coordinated within Rabobank was analysed. Efforts will be made in 2011 to enhance synergy in issue and stakeholder management in the areas that have been identified. 72 Annual Report 2010 Rabobank Group

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Annual Reports Rabobank | 2010 | | pagina 73