57 Events after the reporting period
52 Management report on internal
control over financial reporting
53 Approval of the Supervisory Board
Contents Management report Corporate governance Consolidated financial statements Financial statements Pillar 3
After discussions between:
1. Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A.,
Amsterdam;
2. The cooperative member banks of Coöperatieve Centrale
Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A.
decided at the respective meetings of the members'councils
of the banks concerned (2) on 2 December 2015 and at
the General Meeting of Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-
Boerenleenbank B.A. on 9 December 2015 to enter into a legal
merger as of 1 January 2016.
One of the consequences of the decisions taken was that the
former bank (1) received the assets of the banks referred to (2)
under universal title and the banks referred to (2) ceased to exist.
During the aforementioned General Meeting, the bank (1), in
connection with the merger, decided to change its name to
Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. as of 1 January 2016. The legal
merger has no impact on the consolidated figures.
The management of Rabobank is responsible for establishing
and maintaining adequate internal control over financial
reporting. Management is also responsible for the preparation
and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements.
Rabobank's internal control over financial reporting is a process
designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation and fair
presentation of financial statements for external purposes in
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as
adopted by the European Union.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed,
have inherent limitations. Due to the inherent limitations,
internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or
detect misstatements. At the same time, future projections
on the basis of any evaluation of the effectiveness of internal
control are subject to the risk that the control measures may
become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that
the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may
deteriorate.
The management has assessed the effectiveness of the
internal control over financial reporting in Rabobank as of
31 December 2015 based on the framework set out in 2013 by
the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of theTreadway
Commission (COSO), as defined in Internal Control - Integrated
Framework. On the basis of that assessment, management
concluded that, as of 31 December 2015, the internal controls
on the internal financial reporting in Rabobank provide
a reasonable measure of certainty based on the criteria
established by COSO.
Ernst Young Accountants LLP, which has audited the
consolidated financial statements of Rabobank for the financial
year ended 31 December 2015, also examined management's
assessment of the effectiveness of the internal control over
financial reporting in Rabobank. The report of Ernst Young
Accountants LLP is included on page 246.
W. Draijer B.C. Brouwers
Utrecht, 17 February 2016
The publication of these financial statements was approved
by the Supervisory Board on 17 February 2016.The financial
statements will be presented to the General Meeting, to be held
on 20 April 2016, for adoption. With regard to the adoption of
the financial statements of Rabobank, the Articles of Association
state: 'The resolution to adopt the financial statements will be
passed by an absolute majority of the votes validly cast by the
General Members'Council'.
On behalf of the Executive Board
W. Draijer, Chairman and CRO a.i.
B.C. Brouwers, CFO
R.J. Dekker, Member
B.J. Marttin, Member
H. Nagel, Member
J.L. van Nieuwenhuizen, Member
On behalf of the Supervisory Board
W. Dekker, Chairman
R. Teerlink, Vice Chairman
I.P. Asscher-Vonk, Secretary
L.N. Degle
S.L.J. Graafsma
A.A.J.M. Kamp
E.A.J, van de Merwe
M. Trompetter
245 Notes to the consolidated financial statements