Things turned around during 2014. The decline in the bank's reputation came to an end, and
there has been a cautious recovery. We will strive to achieve to further restore our reputation in
2015.
1 These figures are based on a survey by the
research agency No Ties. Every year, over
5,000 people in the Netherlands are
interviewed about the reputation of the
various banks in the Netherlands.They are
asked which reputation indicators they
associate most strongly with which banks
(multiple answers are possible).This results
in scores for the banks on each of the
various reputation indicators.
Bank reputation for cross-section of the Netherlands1
Second half
2014
First half
2014
Annual average
2013
Annual average
2012
Rabobank as a cooperative
Awareness of Rabobank as a cooperative
80%
77%
81%
76%
Positive rating of Rabobank as a cooperative
51%
52%
56%
57%
Rabobank's image
Trustworthy
No. 134%
No. 133%
No. 1:39%
No. 1:46%
Lead over no. 2
6 percentage
points
4 percentage
points
12 percentage
points
14 percentage
points
Bank preference
Preference for Rabobank
No. 150%
No. 146%
No. 1:52%
No. 1:53%
Lead over no. 2
6 percentage
points
3 percentage
points
9 percentage
points
10 percentage
points
Similar figures are not available for the other countries in which Rabobank operates.
The reputation of Rabobank in the area of food and agri will be measured in a number of
countries in 2015.
Improvement measures post-Libor
In October 2013, Rabobank reached agreement with various authorities in relation to the
investigations of the internal processes for Libor and Euribor submissions. The bank
acknowledged that certain employees had acted inappropriately, and on the publication of the
findings committed itself to introducing measures and reforms to prevent further inappropriate
conduct and to restore confidence in the bank.
Rabobank has subsequently introduced or initiated a wide-ranging package of improvement
measures. These measures are an important element in the current wider change to the
Rabobank organisation. During its own internal investigation, Rabobank has already invested in
improving its interest rate benchmark processes. New systems and tighter controls have led to a
robust benchmark process that meets the new market standards and requirements set by the
supervisors. Moreover, in recent years extensive attention has been devoted to the bank's risk
profile and the functioning of the internal control environment. This has led to an adjustment of
the risk profile and composition of the activities in the financial markets to better reflect the
current market, the bank's strategy and the needs of its customers. Significant improvement
processes have also been initiated to strengthen the compliance, risk management and audit
functions and to improve their mutual cooperation. Improving the bank's risk management is
an important focus of these processes. Finally, the Culture Collective programme initiative is
designed to bring about a change of culture throughout the bank with the aim of improving
the culture of the organisation and its associated behaviour.
Rabobank has designed a programme structure to maintain an overview of the implementation
of the various improvement measures and to monitor progress. The programme puts the
Executive Board in a position to make immediate and effective changes if necessary and also
ensures that supervisors are regularly updated on progress. Implementation of the measures is
now at an advanced stage and the programme is expected to be completed in the course of
2015. The improvements will be audited as part of this programme.
42 Annual Report 2014 Rabobank Group