About this
Report
Chairman's
Foreword
Corporate
Management Report Appendices Governance
Consolidated Financial Company Financial
Statements Statements
The Future of Food
As a leading global Food Agri (F&A) bank, we are committed to
making a significant contribution to securing enough healthy and
sustainable food for people and planet alike. Overall, our
Wholesale, Rural and Retail (WRR) loan portfolio grew steadily,
increasing by 7% to EUR 109.0 billion, of which 61% was invested
in the F&A sector. Our Wholesale team was involved in a number
of landmark deals this year. Our Rural and Retail business also had
a successful year, two highlights of which were the opening of the
new office in Peru and the start of rural activities in Argentina.
Banks are primarily known for their financial solutions. But
Rabobank also sees its knowledge and networks as important
sources of value for customers. Building on years of experience
organizing regional client meetings, in July 2018 we brought
together members of our international F&A Advisory Boards,
Client Councils, the Rabobank Foundation and local Rabobank
Supervisory Boards to discuss global trends in the F&A sector and
how we can further support them.
Climate Change Risks
We support our clients and staff in times of need. Many of our
clients and some of our employees, were confronted with the
effects of severe climate conditions last year, including droughts,
hurricanes, typhoons and forest fires. To mitigate these risks, we
are incorporating more research on the impact of climate
changes in our sector analyses. We are working with external
parties to quantify and incorporate these risks in our risk models.
The first pilots have been performed and the outcomes are
currently being analyzed. At the same time, we are integrating
sustainability in strategic client dialogues. Our Sustainably
Successful Together program is helping more clients adopt more
circulareconomy practices. Innovation and digitalization can play
a key role in helping clients deal with the risks of climate change
while also creating new market opportunities.
New F&A Innovations
Innovation is key to Rabobank's future growth and client focus.
Our F&A Innovation Fund, which was established in 2017, made
four equity investments in the reporting year: Biolumic (New
Zealand), Vence (United States), Telesense (United States), and
Enko Chem (United Kingdom). Our pitch program for food start
ups, FoodBytes!, has already held 14 events on 3 continents, with
more than 1,200 applications from eager start-ups from more
than 59 countries, generating 35 award winners. In cooperation
with Wageningen University, Rabobank ran the third edition of
"F&A Next" in May 2018, a two-day program that brings together
investors and start-ups from around the world who are active in
the food and agtech space. Our global accelerator program,
TERRA, attracts start-ups and corporates from all over the world,
and has already hosted two cohorts for a total of 32 food and
agtech start-ups. Cohort III is already underway. We also hosted
the 2018 Rabo Sustainability Innovation Prize. Over 350
companies submitted entries. Three companies (Kipster,
Peel pioneers and Somnox) each won EUR 20.000 and an intensive
coaching program from Rabobank to develop their innovations.
Rabobank continues to see potential in blockchain technology for
corporate clients. In September, Rabo Frontier Ventures, a
subsidiary that invests in high-potential, early-stage financial and
food agricultural companies, participated in the blockchain
platform Komgo SA. Komgo was launched by 14 of the world's
largest institutions, including banks, 'energy majors', trading
companiesandan inspection company. Komgo seekstodigitalize
the trade and commodities finance sectorthrough a blockchain-
based open platform.
Future-Proofing Our Own Organization
To enhance our innovative capabilities, Rabobank uses an
innovation funnel model to investigate a constant feed oftech-
and society-driven innovative solutions. A standardized way of
working based on Agile and 'Lean Start-up' principles accelerates
our innovation and helps us find new areas of business. Several
innovations have already emerged from the innovation funnel
model.
IT Landscape and Data
We are simplifying our IT landscape. Decoupling and reducing
applications will result in cost savings in 2019. A simplified IT
landscape allows for a flexible and quick response to changing
customer needs. Our data foundation optimizes data use in our
services and our internal processes. Once integrated control over
data and different programs is established, structural
improvement will result in better availability and quality of
data. The uptime score for both internet and mobile banking in
2018 was 99.9%.
One Digital Workspace
In 2018 we started the One Digital Workspace (ODW) program.
The aim is to make a completely renewed and integrated
workplace available for all Rabobank's global branches in the
coming years. The main objectives of the ODW program are to
integrate Rabobank's international and domestic workplace
environments; provide modern workplace functionalities such as
Windows 10 and Office365; reduce costs with cloud technology,
and massively improve the security of the IT workplace. During
the roll-out in 2018, an impressive 80% of our employees switched
to ODW. The roll-out will continue in 2019 with a large-scale
adoption program to introduce our staff to these new
possibilities. The ODW program is crucial to our ambition of
facilitating employees' collaboration with each other and our
customers.
Annual Report 2018 - Management Report
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