Contents Foreword Management report Corporate governance
Consolidated Financial Statements
Company Financial Statements
Pillar 3
The Ethics Office, which supports the Ethics Committee,
contributed to a 2016 book about ethical leadership for
SMEs. This is just one way that Rabobank is trying to help
other stakeholders to deal with ethical dilemmas. For internal
purposes, Rabobank developed the Rabobank Dilemma Game,
which playfully teaches employees skills for discussions on
ethics and ethical decision-making.
In 2017, the Ethics Committee hopes to further develop
an ethical standpoint on the use of big data.
Rabobank Right: Keeping our customers' trust
We launched our worldwide employee training programme
'Rabobank Right' in 2016. The programme aims to ensure that
employees can deal effectively with operational risks in their
day-to-day work by improving their assessment and control skills,
which helps us to retain the trust that our customers place in us.
Rabobank Right focuses on developing knowledge, attitudes
and behaviour, and is mandatory for all Rabobank employees.
It takes a group-policy approach, and equips all employees
with a clear and comprehensive set of tools for developing
their risk awareness. All employees learn about the key risks
and how to deal with them, thus preparing them for taking the
right decisions in practice. Completing the programme helps
employees in enhancing their risk awareness and maintaining
a balance between commercial objectives and risks as just
another part of their job.
Values Week
Rabobank held its worldwide Values Week from
31 October-4 November 2016. This programme encourages
a productive dialogue on what Rabobank means to its
customers and society, and urges employees to reflect on how
they fit in to the bigger picture of Rabobank.
The 2016 theme was 'The Meaningful Cooperative Bank'.
We talked about how employees contribute individually to the
strategic pillar 'Meaningful cooperative', and what this means.
During this Values Week, members of the central organisation
were invited to participate in on-site dialogues with colleagues
from local Rabobanks. This gave an additional boost to internal
relations.
The dialogues revolved around how employees conduct
their day-to-day work as professionals, based on their own
influence and our combined actions. Our challenge is to put
this effectively into actions, arrive at a shared view, and make
sure our customers experience Rabobank as a meaningful bank
every day. A Values Week will be held again in 2017.
Communication and customer feedback
In 2015 the Dutch AFM performed an exploratory research
study to find out how banks approach SME customers in
Financial Restructuring Recovery, the department that assists
companies in financial difficulties. AFM concluded that banks
could improve their communication with clients, which led
us to promote more transparent communication about the
purpose of Rabobank's Special Asset Management department
and how it works.
In response to the AFM findings, Rabobank now offers their
SME customers a document which explains what Special
Asset Management stands for and what customers can expect
from Rabobank. Drafted in cooperation with the DBA and our
stakeholders, this document covers the following points:
transferring a client to the Special Assets Management
department,
encouraging entrepreneurs to make proactive statements,
the possibility of financing our customers in Special
Asset Management,
improving our approachability,
making decisions more rapidly,
informing customers about measures we have taken,
making it easier to make a complaint,
confirming agreed arrangements, and
providing better access to information.
Dealing with complaints
In 2016, Rabobank participated in a follow-up investigation
Ernst Young Accountancy performed at the request of the
DBA, a year after the AFM recommendations were published.
The aim was to find out how banks handle customer
complaints.
The study showed that banks deal with complaints appropriately.
However, customers were found to occasionally be reluctant
to make a complaint because they feared that it may be used
against them.
Rabobank saw this reluctance as a call to action. Customers are
now directly notified about the option of making a complaint,
and the complaint process has been simplified. Furthermore,
customers now receive information about the bank's motives
regarding more complex developments, such as higher interest
rates due to increased bank risk regarding finance or the
involvement of external advisers or additional costs for property
valuation.
64 Rabobank Annual Report 2016
