Rabobank puts the customer's interests at the heart of its service provision, with a focus on the
long term. On the basis of its cooperative principles, Rabobank always strives to help its
customers in a responsible way, especially in times of economic difficulty. The cooperative
identity needs to be strengthened in order to maintain our distinctive profile. Rabobank is thus
developing initiatives designed to increase the influence and involvement of its members.
We want to link our cooperative mission more explicitly to the banking services.This starts with
the financial services provided to customers on a daily basis, but also encompasses stepping up
participation in local and virtual networks.
Food and agri
Rabobank is the leading bank in agriculture and food production internationally, with financing
of EUR 92.3 billion in the entire chain and in the principal agri-business countries. As a global
food and agri bank, we presented Banking for Food, our vision on food security in the long
term, and our role in it, in 2014. We support our customers by providing access to financing,
knowledge and networks.
Banking for Food
In our Banking for Food vision, we emphasise that Rabobank has a role in addressing the global
food issue, i.e. sustainably feeding more than 9 billion people in 2050. We have an excellent
starting position owing to our presence in the key food-producing and food-consuming
countries and in the food chain. In Banking for Food, we define specific targets and priorities for
a joint and integrated approach and map out the road by which they can be reached.
We prepared two infographics to clearly communicate Banking for Food; the first shows the
solutions of Banking for Food from the perspective of our customers and the second reflects
the four building blocks of Banking for Food. These infographics are available on our corporate
website.
Read more about the vision Banking for Food here.
Renewing the governance structure and updating the Strategic Framework
The local Rabobanks in the Netherlands are all individual cooperatives. The same applies to
Rabobank Nederland, their centralised organisation. The nineties witnessed the start of a debate
within the bank on its status as a cooperative. A key outcome at that time was that every
generation has to reinvent the cooperative for itself. The time has now arrived to re-evaluate
the cooperative again.
There are various internal and external reasons for a review of the existing governance structure
of Rabobank, including developments in the financial markets, the shift of supervision to the
European Central Bank and new European laws and regulations that place additional demands
on the organisation of the bank. In addition, the cost base will continue to be a focus area in
the years ahead.
Against this background, the Executive Board has decided to establish an advisory committee
on governance. The Committee is tasked with advising the Executive Board on the organisation
and governance of Rabobank. The goal is to put in place a structure and culture that are robust
and future-proof and at the same time contribute to restoring trust in Rabobank.
Annual Report 2014 Rabobank Group
