Bankers' oath
The Bankers'oath has applied to members of executive boards and supervisory boards at
financial enterprises since 1 January 2013. Since that date, all members of executive boards,
boards of directors and supervisory boards in office at Rabobank, the local Rabobanks and the
banking subsidiaries have taken the oath. Rabobank, together with the other Dutch banks,
considers it to be important that everyone working in the Dutch banking sector performs their
job in an ethical and conscientious manner. Therefore, all employees of Rabobank will take the
oath in the first part of 2015 and comply to the disciplinary rules. Conduct rules that are derived
from the oath or declaration stipulate how employees are required to conduct themselves in
performing their job.
Continuing professional education
The members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board follow a number of half-day
continuing professional education (PE) courses every year.The continuing professional
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 professional education courses are taught by internal or external
experts. The document 'Compliance with the Banking Code' relating to this Annual Report on
the corporate website provides further information on this.
Duties and performance of the Supervisory Board
The chapter 'Report of the Supervisory Board' in this Annual Report provides detailed
information on the activities of the Supervisory Board in 2014.
Risk management
Risk management is a central theme of the Dutch Banking Code. Rabobank Group's
conservative risk appetite stems from the sound objectives of stability and solidity that
Rabobank has pursued for many years. Rabobank was found to have controlled most of the risks
effectively in the past few years. Rabobank is continuing its efforts to improve the quality of risk
management practices and the risk culture within the organisation.
The revised risk management organisation became effective in 2014. In addition, top-down and
bottom-up risk assessments and various stress tests were performed that included an
integrated analysis of the different risk categories. Risk management is discussed in the chapter
'Rock-solid bank; risk management'.
Risk appetite
Rabobank has a tradition and a culture of prudent risk policy, as part of which it acts with a keen
awareness of risks and uses its scarce resources with caution and due consideration.
This prudence is applied both to the taking of strategic decisions as to their implementation.
The risk strategy is aimed at continuity of the organisation.
Product approval
The product approval process is carried out at a Group entity level. All Group entities operate
within the frameworks set in the Group-wide policy for Product Approval Review. Products are
tested before their introduction, modification or withdrawal from the range actually takes place.
In addition, the full current product offering is periodically tested against the current standards
of the product approval committee. Key criteria are whether the products still meet the needs
of customers and whether they still are in their best interests. In this way, Rabobank is taking
responsibility for its relationship with customers and for the level of quality it offers.
Dutch Banking Code
