Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is an explicit strategic choice for Rabobank Group. CSR is applied in all core activities of its financial services as well as in its business operations.
In order to explain how we operate in the food & agri market, we have formulated five Food & Agri Business Principles.
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During the first half of 2009, Rabobank International started to discuss these principles with its stakeholders. Robeco and Sarasin have also continued to integrate CSR into their asset management processes. As part of this, Robeco defined a policy for the integration of ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors into the investment process. Sarasin decided to switch to a sustainable investment style for its asset management activities, which it has offered to some of its clients since 2009. The value of assets of Rabobank Group clients that are managed in a sustainable manner continued to rise. At De Lage Landen, a Business Principles Committee advises the Executive Board on the application of CSR principles and business ethics. Rabo Real Estate Group also continued to integrate CSR into the services it provides.
Lower rate of economic contraction
The global economic slump bottomed out in the first quarter of 2009 and the rate of economic decline has since then eased in almost all countries. Nevertheless, most western economies are still in recession. We expect that the negative economic dynamics - rising unemployment and falling corporate profits - that are currently affecting many countries will continue to have an adverse effect on global economic trends in the upcoming quarters. Furthermore, it is not yet clear whether the financial system will recover sufficiently to support an economic upsurge. Although a partial upswing in world trade and industrial production might bring economic growth in the next few quarters, Rabobank's Economic bureau expects broader economic recovery to be slow in most countries until 2010.
During the first six months of the year, economic activity in the Netherlands was significantly lower across the board. We expect the situation to stabilise in the second half of the year, but a new predicament has arisen: as industry and international trade are recovering from the severe economic downturn of the previous quarters, domestic spending is still falling. Spending will remain under pressure next year as well, partly because of rising unemployment. As the global economy is expected to experience only moderate growth in 2010, next year's exports will not yet be able to provide the Dutch economy with the strong driver it so desperately needs. In short, while we still have a rocky road ahead of us, it looks as if economic activity is slowly rising, leading us out of the economic depression.
Visit http://www.rabobank.com/reports for more information on our reports.
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UTRECHT, The Netherlands, August 26 /PRNewswire/ --
For enquiries: Rabobank Group Press Information Office, Raymond Salet, tel. + 31-30-216-28-32 or r.salet@rn.rabobank.nl; Roelina Bolding, tel. + 31-30-216-4304 or r.bolding@rn.rabobank.nl
