Contents Management report Corporate governance Consolidated financial statements Financial statements Pillar 3
Sessions for continuing professional education and other
training initiatives
In 2015, the members of the Supervisory Board met five times
for sessions within the framework of continuing professional
education. In the first session, the Supervisory Board received
information on the progress of the 'Culture Collective',
Rabobank's culture programme. During the practical part
of this meeting, the members were required to carry out
a number of exercises that teams of managers and employees
are required to do during the first forum of the culture
programme. On the basis of this, the 'language'and 'rituals'
that are part of the culture movement were explained further.
The second education session focused on the current state of
affairs regarding the socio-cultural context of the Netherlands.
A number of guest speakers talked about the social, cultural
and societal problems in the Netherlands.The questions that
were discussed included: How is society developing? What is
the composition of households? Which 'population groups'
can be distinguished? What is the current situation regarding
education levels? Other issues were also raised, such as
spending power, (political) orientation, cultural/ethnic issues,
social awareness, and what people think of banks. Given that
a substantial proportion of the Dutch population is a customer
of Rabobank, we believe that the bank has to be tuned in to
what people think and to what is going on in the Netherlands,
particularly given the role we choose to play in society as
a cooperative bank. During the third session, the Supervisory
Board was informed in-depth by various internal and external
experts about the Volcker Rule and the impact it will have on
Rabobank.The fourth educative meeting was entirely focused
on 'IT, the core of banking'. Among other things, the focus of
attention was on IT developments in the financial sector, the
continuity and stability of systems, the system landscape within
Wholesale, Rural Retail, innovation within Rabobank and
the supervision of IT by the Supervisory Board. The fifth and
last session concerned talent management and management
development. Although the basic principle is that the Executive
Board takes the lead in systematically following, evaluating
and developing talent at the bank, on the basis of its role as
employer the Supervisory Board wishes to be more proactive
in forming an impression of the succession planning for the
Executive Board and the layers directly below it. During this
session, the Supervisory Board therefore delved into leadership
trends and the (future) challenges for top management in
organisations, as well as into the process and the results of the
staff potential review and development assessments of the top
200, the management development dashboard and the talent
strategy of Rabobank in light of the organisation's strategy.
Various members of the Supervisory Board also made use of
the standing invitation to attend educative sessions for the
Executive Board. The themes at these sessions were: compliance
USA, staff potential review, and performance management/
remuneration and talent management.
In 2015, the members of the Audit Committee and the Risk
Committee were informed, within the framework of continuing
professional education, about special management issues,
'Developments in personal accountability in banking', the
functioning of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), the
results of the SREP and the introduction of IFRS 9 and the
possible impact thereof on Rabobank.
Committees of the Supervisory Board
Audit Committee
This committee helps the Supervisory Board prepare for its
decision making in relation to its supervision of the Executive
Board on matters that are mainly part of the compliance
function, the internal audit function and the external auditor:
the internal risk management and control systems, the
internal and external codes of conduct, the provision of
financial information and compliance with and follow-up of
recommendations and findings of the internal auditor and the
external auditor, as well as compliance with legislation and
regulations.
The Audit Committee also looked into the Annual Report and
financial statements for 2014 and the interim report for 2015,
including the biannual memorandum on the allowance for loan
impairment charges, the audit report, the financial statements,
the annual and interim reports and the Pillar 3 report. Additional
subjects of discussion included the Rabobank report 'In Control',
the EY Management Letter (In Control Statement) and the
conclusions of the Rabobank Group Audit 2014, including
management response (plus normal progress reports), as
well as reports for the external regulators. Other documents
that were dealt with by the Audit Committee concerned
the monthly figures, the periodic update memorandum,
the quarterly reports and various audit reports from Audit
Rabobank, as well as the annual plan and the quarterly reports
from Supervision Compliance.The Audit Committee also
received regular updates on client integrity, privacy, various
compliance themes and supervisory files. The Audit Committee
also approved the revised Rabobank Group Compliance Charter.
The Audit Committee also studied the 2016 budget request
for Rabobank Nederland Support Affiliated Banks, with respect
to Vision 2016 and Mars. Furthermore, the Audit Committee
discussed the Budget 2016 of Rabobank Group, at which it
was stated that the budget would require further specification
revision per entity in light of the Strategic Framework 2016-
2020.The Audit Committee approved the Audit Plan Rabobank
2016.The Audit Committee also met with the external and
165 Report of the Supervisory Board
