Report of the Supervisory
Board of Rabobank Nederland
2014, the transition is underway
Following 2013 - one of the most eventful years in Rabobank's history 2014
can be typified as a promising and encouraging year. It was a year in which
the beginning of a transition was clearly signposted by the start of the
Group-wide culture programme, the progress towards updating the
cooperative governance and the aim to be fully available for our customers
on the basis of the One Rabobank concept. With the arrival ofWiebe Draijer,
Rabobank has a new Chairman at the helm of an Executive Board that is
working to make the bank more future-proof and revitalise the cooperative.
The three pillars of corporate governance at Rabobank Nederland are decisive management,
effective member influence, and strong and independent supervision. The chapter on
Corporate governance in this Annual Report describes the governance structure at Rabobank
Nederland and the bank's compliance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code.
An extensive account of how the provisions of the Dutch Banking Code have been and are
being applied is given in the chapter on the Dutch Banking Code. In this section Rabobank
states that it follows these provisions for good governance in the financial sector.
The Supervisory Board agrees with what has been described in these two chapters.
In accordance with its statutory duties and responsibilities, the Supervisory Board supervised
the policies pursued by the Executive Board and the general course of affairs at Rabobank
Nederland and its affiliated institutions. In addition, it served as a sparring partner to the
Executive Board and acted as the employer vis-a-vis the Executive Board.
This chapter is structured as follows. First, it describes the main topics on which the Supervisory
Board focused in its supervisory and advisory roles.This is followed by a discussion of its role as
employer and, lastly, there is a section on its composition and performance.
Supervision and advice
Cooperative governance
In 2014, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, in close cooperation with the local
Rabobanks, invested substantial time and effort to regain the trust of stakeholders, both
internally and externally, and to set up contemporary cooperative local Rabobanks, with
appropriate support from Rabobank Nederland.To that end the Executive Board decided in
mid-March 2014 to introduce a Governance Committee. The Committee was tasked with
advising the Executive Board on an organisation and governance for Rabobank that contribute
in a future-proof way to regaining and consolidating the trust extended to Rabobank by
customers, members, employees, supervisors and other parties.The Supervisory Board is
periodically involved in the progress of the activities of the Governance Committee.
The Cooperative Affairs Committee has a lead role on behalf of the Supervisory Board in this
regard, by virtue of which it also effectuates the Supervisory Board's advisory role. In addition,
119 Report of the Supervisory Board of Rabobank Nederland
