Rabobank as your new employer

Who are we

With nearly 2 million members, Rabobank is one of the largest cooperatives in the Netherlands. Our history stemming from the agricultural cooperative banks remains at the heart of our vision: driven to find solutions that benefit everyone.

From 1895, farmers and horticulturists joined forces to start credit cooperatives according to the Raiffeissen system. The Rabobank Group was created in 1972 through a merger between the Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Banks and the Coöperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank into the Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank. The new bank used the name Rabobank as a trade name, because it found Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank too long and too difficult to remember. The name is derived from the initials of Raiffeisenbank-Boerenleenbank. Since 1980, the bank has only been referred to as Rabobank.

Members are the basis of the cooperative bank. Rabobank once started as a credit cooperative to help farmers with good loans and thus contribute to improving the standard of living in rural areas. The world looks very different now. Our customers and members have different needs than then, but our mentality is still the same: always looking for ways to empower ourselves & the world around us

What we’re going for

We are a cooperative bank with a mission. Together with our stakeholders, members and partners we are dedicated to create a future-proof society and tackling major societal challenges.  Our starting point is: together we can achieve more than we could individually.

Each generation faces its own unique challenges – big and small. And in every era, people have joined forces in search of solutions to these diverse issues. Rabobank has been doing this for almost 125 years. ​​​​​​​It started with inventive farmers: what they could not do on their own, they were able to achieve together. This farmers’ cooperative turned into a bank, which today is embedded in society thanks to its members.  

We now operate in 38 countries, with over 43,000 employees. In the Netherlands, we serve retail and corporate clients with a wide range of financial products and services. Across the world, we focus on entrepreneurs and companies in the food and agriculture sector. The Rabobank Group also includes BPD, Obvion and DLL (see Subsidiaries and affiliated companies), with which we offer our clients housing and leasing solutions, respectively.

That is why we embrace innovation, growth and making society more sustainable. We work together and especially invest in joint solutions that are beneficial for everyone: our clients, their neighbourhoods and the world. We also invest part of our profits in the community, both locally – like in your neighbourhood – and globally. For example, by ensuring that African farmers get a fair price for their products.

We are involved in what is going on in society. We contribute to strengthening our shared living environment and making it future-proof – so that people can make the choices that matter most to them, both now and in the future. That is what our mission “Growing a better world together” represents: making the way in which we live and work more sustainable. To do that, we focus on three major global transitions: the food transition, the climate and energy transition and the transition to a more inclusive society.

Rabobank is more than just a bank. First of all, we are a cooperative – that is what sets us apart from other banks. Our cooperative banking allows us to exert a more positive influence on people and society. This comes in useful, as major challenges such as climate change and growing financial and other inequalities shape the world in which we live. With our partners and members, Rabobank wants to contribute to positive change and promotes a more sustainable, inclusive society in which everyone can pursue their ambitions.

Watch the full video of our Mission & Vision

How we do it

Big transitions shape the world we live in. As a cooperative bank rooted in the world of food and in the Netherlands, we focus on the key transitions that we can have an impact on through our propositions. We can shape these propositions by offering products and services, as well as our network and knowledge, to our customers. A significant and urgent shift in the following transitions is needed to leave a better world for future generations.

Food Transition

A more sustainable way to feed the growing world population (Food Transition) is a crucial transition, encompassing many Sustainable Development Goals. After the Climate Challenge, it is one of the most pressing and complex challenges the world faces.

• Proposition: Sustainable Food
  Sustainable food is a fundamental part of our international Banking for Food strategy. We aim to play a prominent role in the public debate on the food transition. Our networks allow us to connect producers with consumers. Our knowledge allows us to actively participate in roundtables on sustainability within selected agribusiness value chains worldwide.

Climate and energy transition

Climate change and the transition toward a more sustainable energy supply (Climate & Energy Transition) is urgently needed to address the climate change currently underway, and to suppress the negative effects it is already creating. Two types of measures are needed to achieve this transition, mitigation and adaptation, even if we achieve the requirements as laid out in the Paris agreement. Climate Change mitigation requires a shift towards sustainable energy production, as well as lower energy consumption, both by industries and individuals. This transition also requires a more sustainable use of the planet’s other resources, and a move towards a more circular economy.

• Proposition: Sustainable Growth and Energy Supply
  We stimulate sustainable growth for companies. In cooperating with innovative customers and social partners on ambitious sustainability projects, we aim to inspire others to increase sustainability in their own value chains. We aim to help our clients realize a more circular economy. Under this theme we also aim to become the “bank of the energy transition,” building on our already prominent role in financing sustainable energy projects.
• Proposition: Sustainable Living in the Netherlands
  We aim to accelerate the shift towards sustainable living for people with a particular focus on accelerating the move towards sustainable housing, through increasing efficiency in energy supply and consumption.

A More Inclusive Society

Low income, shrinking support networks and diminishing economic solidarity combined with the impact that digitization has on society are eroding social cohesion. These factors contribute to a more individualistic society, increased social stress and reduced financial well-being, particularly among the most vulnerable in society. Manifestations of this priority area of a number of the Sustainable Development Goals are also present in the Netherlands, the country in which we have a prominent retail banking operation.

• Proposition: Financial Well-being
  Given our role as a cooperative retail bank in the Netherlands, we aim to stimulate financial well-being for our customers and the communities in which we operate. This is our contribution towards creating an inclusive society in which people are more self-reliant.
• Proposition: Affordable and Sustainable Renting
  In the housing market in the Netherlands, there are insufficient affordable and sustainable rental homes available for middle-income households. Together with our subsidiary BPD, we want to contribute to a solution to this problem through the BPD Housing Fund, by building these houses and renting them out to this target group.

The Rabo Foundation

Employees and retired employees of the Rabobank support the work of Rabo Foundation. They are benefactors of the Rabo Foundation Employee Fund. Together they invest in the self-reliance of almost 5,5 million people worldwide.