Banking for food
We presented our vision entitled Banking for Food in 2014. The global population is expected to
reach more than 9 billion by 2050. Providing everyone with enough food will be a huge
challenge. Rabobank is taking up this challenge by working on the problems surrounding food
security. Banking for Food is Rabobank's vision for global food security and the bank's role in
this. Demand for food will rise significantly as a result of a growing and increasingly prosperous
global population. Businesses in agriculture and the food chains will thus have to produce
more, with fewer raw materials. As an international leading food and agri bank, Rabobank
wishes to support customers and the environment in which they operate in meeting this
challenge by providing access to funding, knowledge and networks. Our priorities and choices
with respect to how we can fulfil this role will be clearly explained in the course of 2015.
The Banking for Food ambition concerns improvements to agriculture and food production and
processing in the Netherlands and abroad. Almost one-third of the EUR 92 billion invested by
Rabobank in agriculture and the food chain is provided to food and agri businesses in the
Netherlands. Rabobank has a strong position in the Dutch food and agri sector, which in turn
has an important position in the global food and agri sector.
Market leadership in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the wholesale banking division focuses on wholesale customers in all
market sectors and provides a wide range of services with the objective of serving the Dutch
business market effectively, and, wherever possible, being nearby. Rabobank distinguishes itself
from its competitors by its in-depth knowledge of sectors, its network and its innovative
product solutions. We succeeded in maintaining our leading position in the Dutch corporate
market in 2014. Service to the Dutch market is provided in close cooperation with the local
Rabobanks.The implementation of specialist products in the areas of cash management, trade
services and export finance has further expanded the services provided to our Dutch business
customers abroad.
Operating as one bank
Much attention was devoted to the integration of Wholesale, Rural Retail and Rabobank
Nederland in 2014. The aim of this combination is that Rabobank will operate as one bank both
inside and outside the Netherlands and that customers should experience us as one bank.
We are making progress on intensifying the cooperation between the international and the
local Rabobanks.This integration has created a new business structure in which wholesale
banking is divided into customer groups.
Leading role in the global food and agri sector
Wholesale
Internationally, Rabobank is a prominent financial services provider for food and agri businesses.
We encourage a strategic dialogue with our clear vision of the future of the sector. Our extensive
network provides us with a great deal of specialist knowledge of the food chains. Rabobank
offers its Dutch customers and international food and agri customers high quality professional
financial products and services in areas including Global Financial Markets, Acquisition Finance,
Global Client Solutions (including Asset Securitisation), Project Finance and Trade Commodity
Finance. A certain degree of scale is needed to ensure an optimal cost and quality standard for
the products concerned.
64 Annual Report 2014 Rabobank Group
