Contents Foreword Management report Corporate governance
Sustainable bonds
The support for sustainable frontrunners as described above has
also evolved progressively in 2016 in the debt capital markets,
as we have been more and more involved in issuing green and
sustainable bonds for large corporations in 2016. As capital
markets are increasingly interested in sustainable investments
and asset classes, we have seen that corporates are more and
more open to issue green and climate related investment
vehicles.
Rabobank has acted as a green bond lead manager and green
structurer for several of its core clients, including Heerema
Marine Contractors, and FrieslandCampina. Rabobank has
been involved in inaugural green bonds issued by Dutch
Sovereigns, Supranationals and Agencies (SSA) and non-
financial corporates (mostly as a green structurer and has acted
as the green structuring adviser for the first Green Schuldschein
issuance structured according to the green bond principles
and for the first green European Private Placement (EUPP) in
2016. Rabobank is an executive member of the Climate Bond
Initiative and is one of the drafting parties of the Food, Agri,
Forestry (FAF) Climate Bond standards.
In October 2016, Rabobank issued its first own EUR 500 million
green bond to institutional investors. The proceeds were
invested in renewable solar and wind energy projects. This bond
meets the growing demand for sustainable investments from
pension funds and other investors. The benefits are twofold: it
broadens our spectrum of funding instruments and contributes
to Rabobank's sustainability objectives.
These products and services showcase Rabobank's contribution
to giving sustainability leaders priority. The underlying figures
give a numerical breakdown of our sustainable financing
proposition.
KPI: Rabobank gives priority to sustainability leaders in financing
and will double the volume of the services provided to them1.
Results
Financing in millions of euros
2016
20152
2014
Sustainable financing
14,039
15,044
14,868
Access to finance
1,642
1,573
1,659
Community services
3,110
2,623
2,973
Total sustainable financing - corporate
customers
18,791
19,240
19,501
Results
Sustainable funding in millions of euros
2016
2015
2014
Rabo Green Bonds3
500
23
24
Rabo Green Savings
1,867
1,957
2,093
Rabo Green Deposits
18
31
31
Rabo Socially Responsible Deposits
100
111
216
Total
2,485
2,122
2,364
Consolidated Financial Statements Company Financial Statements Pillar 3
Results
Transaction volume of other services
in millions of euros
2016 2015 2014
Financial transactions supervised by Rabobank
(Including Green Bonds, IPOs and M&A
transactions)
5,250 6,322 2,393
The total volume of sustainable finance showed a slight
decrease to EUR 18.8 billion. This is mainly due to the fact
that we decided to raise the criteria which we applied in the
selection of companies with a sustainability label. This resulted
in a decrease of the volume of finance to companies with
a sustainability label from EUR 8.9 billion to EUR 7.6 billion.
Next to this technical decrease in the volume of loans with
a sustainability label we increased the volume of sustainable
financing in green loans (with EUR 103 million compared to
2015), we increased the volume of Clean tech financing by
DLL (with EUR 60 million compared to 2015) and we increased
the volume of loans to customers in sustainable sectors (with
EUR 177 million compared to 2015). This means that when
filtering out the methodology change for measuring loans with
a sustainability label the total volume of sustainable finance
increased by EUR 273 million compared to 2015.
The total of sustainable funding increased to EUR 2.5 billion
because Rabobank issued its first EUR 500 million Rabobank
green bond to institutional investors. The proceeds are invested
in renewable solar and wind energy projects.
Rabo Groen Bank B.V.
The funding of the Green Bank of Rabobank is realised through
the green savings account of Rabobank (Rabobank GroenSparen).
Private investors with a green savings account benefit from
a tax reduction. This means cheap funding for Rabo Groen
Bank. This benefit is transferred to companies with sustainable
investments through a discount on the interest of the green
loans; thus stimulating green investments. Since the introduction
in the end of 1995 both products; green savings and green loans,
have been popular. In 2016 Rabo Groen Bank has issued new
1 We measure and report the total of sustainable finance, sustainable
funding and other sustainable services. We give priority to
sustainable leaders which is a rule of conduct which is not captured
in a reporting value.
2 We made a correction in the total of sustainable project finance for
2015. The amount reported in the Annual Report 2015 was adjusted
from EUR 4 billion to EUR 3.4 billion. This adjustment was required to
reflect the correct volume of the portfolio per yearend 2015.
3 Green bonds in 2014 en 2015 include bonds issued by the Rabo
Groen Bank, Green bonds in 2016 includes the first Rabobank Green
Bond issued at group level
95 Our output and impact: promoting a circular economy