Moral and ethical declaration
Continuing education
Supervisory Board
At local Rabobank level, each Management Team has management information available on
the quality of the advisory services that are provided by the bank and on customer satisfaction.
This information is based, for instance, on internal audits, customer satisfaction surveys and
complaints handling. In addition, the local Compliance Officer reviews whether or not
customers are being treated with due care. The local Supervisory Committee monitors the
local Management Team based, in part, on this information.
The product approval committee, which has been operational since 2004, monitors the
quality of the products, their benefits for the customer, their safety and the quality of the
information provision. Rabobank's products and those of third parties are not added to the
product range until they meet the criteria defined by this committee.
For everyone who works at Rabobank, knowledge of the bank's founding principles provides
guidance in their day-to-day activities. The employees of the local Rabobanks and Rabobank
Nederland aim to provide top-quality, carefully weighed services. The performance targets
agreed with them are balanced, and the performance management system used within
Rabobank means that variable pay is restrained. Customer focus and teamwork have been
compulsory competencies in the performance management framework for many years.
This begins at the level of communication with the labour market and in job ads. The induction
programmes for new employees pay plenty of attention to Rabobank's core values of respect,
integrity, professionalism and sustainability. A balanced set of performance targets is agreed
with each employee. Employees who have direct or indirect contact with clients always have an
explicit TCF target. Their performance is rated based on the level to which they are concerned
with treating customers fairly. Rabobank uses management and compliance reports to
monitor the quality of our customer service and customer care on an ongoing basis. All these
aspects ensure that Rabobank's corporate culture truly focuses on treating customers fairly.
This culture and approach ensure that Rabobank is consistently awarded a high customer
satisfaction rating, as demonstrated in internal and external surveys.
The moral and ethical declaration, which was signed by every executive director as early as in
2010, has been posted online. The principles set out in the moral and ethical declaration are
continuously brought to the attention of Rabobank Group's employees, with emphasis being
placed on the Rabobank Group Code of Conduct and dealing with dilemmas. The Code of
Conduct encompasses all of the principles contained in the moral and ethical declaration.
The document pack given to new employees on joining Rabobank refers to the Code of
Conduct, and a section of the employment contract is devoted to the Code of Conduct.
Further information on the Code of Conduct can be found in the corporate governance
section of this Annual Report. Notwithstanding the moral and ethical declaration and the
Code of Conduct, Rabobank needs to demonstrate in our day-to-day conduct in particular
that Rabobank acts in accordance with the spirit of these principles. In 2013, the members of
the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board will sign the new moral and ethical declaration
as required by law.
The members of the Executive Board take a number of half-day continuing education courses
every year. The continuing education curriculum includes relevant developments at Rabobank
and in the financial sector, corporate governance in general and that of the financial sector in
particular, the duty of care towards customers, integrity, risk management, financial reporting
and audits. Depending on the topic, the continuing education courses are taught by both
internal and external experts. In 2012, the Executive Board educated itself about such topics
as risk management, operational and reputational risk, information security, pensions,
operational excellence/straight-through processing (STP) and Treating Customers Fairly (TCF).
In addition to the continuing education curriculum, newly appointed executive directors are
offered a customised induction programme, within the context of which they talk to several
internal and external experts, and make working visits.
The Supervisory Board of Rabobank Nederland has a diverse composition. New members of
the Supervisory Board follow an induction programme to prepare them for their role as
supervisory directors at Rabobank. A training programme is set up for supervisory board
members annually. The selection of topics takes account of current developments and the
expertise required within the Supervisory Board. In 2012, continuing education sessions were
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