Number of complaints received by
local Rabobanks (first line)
Number of complaints received by
Rabobank Nederland (second line)
Share of mortgage market
Mortgages
The fine-tuning of the investment framework serves as an example of the embedding of the
principles ofTreating Customers Fairly in our Private Banking policies. Investing is not so much
an end in itself as a means to achieving the customer's financial goals.
The Rabo Asset Management Concept was further implemented in 2012. Using this concept,
local Rabobanks team up with specialists of Schretlen Co to offer a broad range of services
to high net-worth individuals. Rabobank developed this concept to offer the products and
services that this target group wants.
Integrated complaint management
Rabobank wants to know about complaints, customer perceptions and opportunities for
service improvements. In the past few years, Rabobank did not know enough about how its
customers perceived Rabobank's complaint handling and there was no organisation-wide
overview of the number and nature of complaints. That is why, in 2012, Rabobank decided
to change its complaint handling procedure. The crux of the new integrated complaint
management policy is that Rabobank listens to complaints, resolves them and uses them
to improve.
15,000
12,500
10,000
7,500
5,000
2,500
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Jan Feb Mar
Most of the complaints that were filed to the local Rabobanks were about payment
processing, malfunctioning of cash deposit machines, and interest, commission and/or fees
for payment transactions. Complaints submitted to the Complaints Desk of Rabobank
Nederland were mostly about disputed ATM withdrawals, credit cards and the registration
of persons who have defrauded financial institutions in the past through deception, scams
or money laundering.
in
40
30
20
10
0
2010
2009
2008
2011
2012
Situation on the housing market
The number of housing transactions in the Netherlands continued
to drop in 2012 and average selling prices of existing residential
properties were down too. More and more vendors could not
lower the selling price of their house without incurring a residual
debt. In addition, the economic situation and the uncertainty
about mortgage interest relief made people wanting to move up
the housing ladder as well as first-time buyers hesitant about
moving house. Although the Dutch Cabinet's plans and measures
for the housing market will bring some degree of reform of the
housing market in the long run, they may trigger a further drop in
house prices in 2013. Government budget cuts will weigh down purchasing power on the one
hand, and the mortgage repayment requirement that was introduced on 1 January 2013 will
result in higher monthly expenses and a lower borrowing capacity on the other. Many
customers acted ahead of the new rules and decided to quickly take out a new mortgage loan
at the old conditions. As a result, some local Rabobanks saw the number of mortgage loan
applications double in the last few months of 2012.
Rabobank Group's share of the mortgage market fell to a limited extent in 2012, dropping
to 31.1% (31.7%). The market share of the local Rabobanks was down 3.4 percentage points
to 22.8%, while Obvion's share of the market increased by 2.3 percentage points to 7.8%.
Friesland Bank's share of the market stood at 0.5%.
35 Broad range of services in the Netherlands
