OREANDA-NEWS. The new Strategic Framework and the new governance have prompted changes to how Rabobank Nederland is organised Wiebe Draijer, Chairman of the Executive Board: ‘Now that the Executive Board is at full strength following Petra van Hoeken’s appointment, we have reallocated our portfolios. We have also set the course for how Rabobank Nederland can provide optimal support to local banks to achieve our collective ambition to become the most customer-focused bank in the Netherlands and leading in Food&Agri worldwide. Our organisation will be designed in such a way that we can better realise the potential of our employees and can achieve our strategic objectives.’

Executive Board portfolio allocation
The Chief Financial & Risk Officer function within the Executive Board has been split since 1 January 2016. The tasks which fell under this function have been split between Petra van Hoeken (CRO) and Bas Brouwers (CFO). Petra van Hoeken will also take over the Compliance and Legal Affairs portfolios from Wiebe Draijer. All members of the Executive Board will play a more dominant role in managing the issues which are top priority for the strategy. This will be facilitated by a flatter organisational structure. Strategic tasks which are now still executed in different parts of the organisation will be brought together with a direct reporting line to the Executive Board. This will apply for instance to online banking (reporting to Rien Nagel) and financial innovation (reporting to Ralf Dekker). There are no changes to the portfolios of Berry Marttin and Jan van Nieuwenhuizen, given that these underwent substantial changes following the integration of Rabobank International and Rabobank Nederland. 
 
Changes in CRO and CFO domains
The Risk Management activities will be split into units with a direct reporting line to the CRO. The changes include the appointment of CROs for Retail Nederland and WRR. Activities will be split in the CFO domain as well. This will also result in a flatter organisation in which more activities will report directly to the CFO. Amongst other things separate CFO functions will be created for Retail Nederland and WRR. Given their strategic importance, portfolio management activities will report directly to the CFO. This will improve the coordination of balance management in all business entities. The appointment of CROs and CFOs for Retail Nederland and WRR reinforces efficient collaboration between these business entities to serve the bank’s customers.
   
Next steps
The envisioned changes at Rabobank Nederland have been submitted to the Works Council of Rabobank Nederland in a Lead Request for Advice. The intention is that the new reporting lines will take effect from 1 June 2016. In addition to the Lead Request for Advice, quartermasters will prepare Follow-up Requests for Advice. Further implementation will follow after the Works Council of Rabobank Nederland has issued its advice.