settlement. In doing so, the bank reached the conclusion, on the basis of legal advice, that the
provision of information had to remain limited. A second view that was often voiced concerned
the position of Mr Schat as the director bearing executive responsibility on Executive Board for
the business unit in which the inadmissible conduct on the part of employees took place.
The large volume of questions and the associated emotions prompted the Executive Board and
the Supervisory Board to decide to host sessions for employees and representatives of local
Rabobanks.The options for restoring the compromised trust in Rabobank were discussed in depth
during the sessions with Chairmen of Local board of directors and Chairmen of the Supervisory
Boards of local Rabobanks. It became clear in the course of those consultations that the basis of
support for retaining Mr Schat as a member of the Executive Board had been seriously eroded.
This put the Supervisory Board in a difficult position, as the external regulators and the
Supervisory Board had expressed their confidence in him and Mr Schat had committed himself
fully to continuing the implementation of the recovery measures in connection with the Libor
case in order to justify the faith placed in him. The Supervisory Board nonetheless
felt compelled to follow up on the urging of the local Rabobanks and their members, as is
appropriate for a Supervisory Board in a cooperative structure. With the departure of Mr Schat,
Rabobank lost a highly experienced and capable international banker, who made a significant
contribution to the bank in almost 30 years of service.
The Libor case and its consequences are extremely regrettable, but do not in any way invalidate
Rabobank's strategic choices.These are unchanged. The cooperative Rabobank continues to
put its customers' interests first. Rabobank is and remains a cooperative in which members of
the bank are closely involved in its policies. Consequently the cooperative local Rabobank will
continue to be clearly rooted in the living and working environment of our customers. A bank
that invests in services and advice that cater to today's and tomorrow's virtual communities.
The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, together with the local Rabobanks, will focus a
great deal of time and effort on initiatives to regain the trust of all stakeholders, both internally
and externally, and to establish contemporary local Rabobanks, with suitably tailored support
provided by a suitably tailored organisation of Rabobank Nederland.
Vision 2016
In 2013, the Supervisory Board monitored the progress of Vision 2016 in every meeting.
Accordingly, at the start of 2013, the Supervisory Board considered the Vision memorandum
2016 as a transposition of the Strategic Framework and considered the suggestions of the
co-making groups with regard to the themes of the modernisation of the cooperative,
customers and markets, operational excellence and finance and control. Later in the year the
Supervisory Board consulted with the Executive Board on the implementation of cooperative
customer services by local Rabobanks, in the course of which the minimum scale of local
Rabobanks and several desired merger initiatives were also discussed. With a view to
benchmarking, the Executive Board outlined options for local Rabobanks to save costs and
increase their commercial productivity and efficiency.The Supervisory Board also repeatedly
consulted with the Executive Board on the impact of Vision 2016 on the workforce, in terms of
employee numbers as well as profiles. The Supervisory Board also asked for a continued focus
on serving customers' interests as part of the Vision 2016. The Supervisory Board wishes to
express its appreciation for the way in which representatives of the local Rabobanks, Rabobank
Nederland and the Executive Board have addressed the various sub-programmes in the context
of Vision 2016.
Annual Report 2013 Rabobank Group
