) 3.

Prezentare a 2-3 exemple de bnci reprezentative din sistemul bancar respectiv (istoric, acionariat, tip de instituie, oferta de produse i servicii, indicatori de apreciere, evoluii etc.) This article is about the Dutch bank. For the cycling team sponsored by this company, see Rabobank (cycling team). For the arena in Bakersfield, California, see Rabobank Arena.

Rabobank Groep N.V.

Type

Private/Cooperative

Industry

Banking

Founded

1972

Headquarters

Utrecht, Netherlands, 52511N 5634E

Number of locations

911

locations

in

the

Netherlands

682 locations outside the Netherlands [1]

Key people

drs. Piet Moerland, Chairman of the Board Bert Piet Berry Sipko Gerlinde Silvis Bruggink, van CFO Schijndel Marttin Schat

Products

Banking Insurance Leasing Real estate

Employees

approx. 60,000(2011-I)

Website

www.rabobank.com

Rabobank (Coperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A.) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht. It is a global leader in Food and Agri financing and in sustainability-oriented banking. The group comprises 139 independent local Dutch Rabobanks, a central organization (Rabobank Nederland), and a large number of specialized international offices [2] and subsidiaries. Food & Agribusiness is the prime international focus of the Rabobank Group. In terms of Tier 1 capital, the organisation is among the top 30 largest financial institutions in the world. As of June 2012, total assets amount to EUR 771 billion and a net profit of EUR 1.3 billion. Global Finance [3] currently ranks Rabobank 8th in its survey of the worlds safest banks.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o o o o o o

1.1 Raiffeisen's ideas and the creation of farmers banks 1.2 Early cooperation 1.3 Becoming one organisation 1.4 Overseas expansion 1.5 Direct banking 1.6 Acquisitions 1.7 Development

2 Organisation structure 3 Market Position 4 RaboDirect

o o o

4.1 Ireland 4.2 New Zealand 4.3 Australia

o o

4.4 Germany 4.5 Poland

5 References 6 External links

[edit]History Rooted in agriculture, Rabobank is set up as a federation of local credit unions, which offer services to the local markets. The central organisation is the daughter organisation of the local branches, rather than the parent organisation, as is the case with most banks. [edit]Raiffeisen's

ideas and the creation of farmers banks

The bank is rooted in the ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the cooperative movement of credit unions who in 1864 created the first farmers' bank in Germany. Being a countryside mayor he was confronted with the abject poverty of the farmers and their families. He tried to alleviate this need through a variety of charitable activities. He soon realised, however, that self-reliance had more potential in the long run than charitable aid. He therefore converted his charitable foundations into a farmers' bank in 1864. In doing so he created the Darlehnskassen-Verein, it collected the savings of the countryside dwellers and provided the enterprising but needy farmers with loans. This model found a lot of interest in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century. One of the first of Raiffeisen's followers was father Gerlacus van den Elsen who stood at the basis of a number of local farmers' banks in the south of the Netherlands. The model caught on being championed by the clergy and the countryside elites. The mission of the farmers' lending banks was an idealistic one but they always operated using strict business principles. Controversially, a founding principle of Rabobank's co-operative style was to co-operate in the interests of "warding off theShylock". The cooperative bank model assured a tight bond between invested capital and the community. [edit]Early

cooperation

The bank's traditional headquarters are Utrecht and Eindhoven. In 1898 two cooperative bank conglomerates were formed: Coperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Bank in Utrecht Coperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank in Eindhoven

The first was formed as a cooperation of 6 local banks and the latter as a cooperation of 22 local banks. These two existed side by side for three quarters of a century despite their obvious similarities. The reasons for this owed in part to legal disagreements. The most important difference, however, was cultural. The Eindhoven based Boerenleenbank had a decidedly Catholicsignature while the RaiffeisenBank had a Protestant background. In the past the Netherlands underwent a process of pillarisation or verzuiling, which in practice meant that members of different religious congregations and political movements essentially lived side by side each other without contact between the two. The religious backgrounds found their way to the organisational structure as well; the Eindhoven organisation stressed a highly centralised structure while the Utrecht organisation promoted local autonomy. [edit]Becoming

one organisation

By 1940 the two organisations cooperated with each other, albeit on a limited scale. Three major developments caused a further tightening of the bonds between the two: Increasing number of offices - leading to increased local competition A gradual fading of the confessional differences between the two An increasing demand for capital in the Dutch industry, which in turn led to higher concentration in the banking business

In 1972 the two organisation merged. The name Rabobank is a portmanteau of RaiffeisenBoerenleenbank. The organisation chose Amsterdam to be its statutory headquarter due to the historical neutrality in relation to the founding organisations. As of 1980 the central organisation is referred to as Rabobank Nederland. [edit]Overseas

expansion

Starting in 1980 Rabobank expanded its international activities as part of its mission of financing global agriculture. In 1994 it purchased Primary Industry Bank of Australia (PIBA) which had operations in Australia and New Zealand, renaming it Rabobank Australia Limited in 2003. In 1997 it purchased New Zealand based Wrightson Farmers Finance Limited and renamed it Rabobank New Zealand in 1999. Rabobank became a significant lender to the rural sector in the New Zealand with this purchase and used this as a base to expand its lending business further. Rabo purchased Lend Lease Agro Business, an Australian based company, in 2003. [edit]Direct

banking

In 2006 it launched a new internet only savings bank called RaboPlus. This was launched first in Ireland under the name of RaboDirect, and then as RaboPlus in Belgium, New Zealand and two years later in Australia. The advertising campaigns used to promote the savings business in Ireland and New Zealand raised the profile of Rabobank generally in those countries resulting in not only an increase in savings business but also its lending businesses. In 2010 Rabo decided to use same name in all four countries for the savings bank and replaced RaboPlus with RaboDirect in all these countries. [edit]Acquisitions Rabobank completed the acquisition of Mid-State Bank & Trust on May 1, 2007, which allows Rabo to expand its services to the Central Coast region of California, United States. In 2010, it also acquired Pacific State Bank, expanding into the Central Valley of California. [edit]Development Right from the start the cooperative banks prospered. They managed to perform the key tasks of a banking organisation i.e. bringing excess capital and capital shortages together. These moneylenders stood close to the farmers and were better in judging the creditworthiness of individual farmers than the city banks. This allowed the banks to offer lower interest rates. The local banks were self-governed by members of the cooperation. They adhered to the principle of non-remunerated management and elected the board and the commissioners from among themselves. Only the cashier received a small salary. This has of course changed by now, but even as recently as in late 1950s the local bank office was nothing more than the cashier's living room, he generally performed his administrative duties besides another regular job. Much later, in the 1960s the most local banks moved into new and modern offices that reflected their new-found professionalism. The position cashier was replaced by a local bank director.

Since 1998 the local bank director is an appointed professional banker and he presides over a board of directors which is chosen from among the members. Local presence and local autonomy were always important but this hasn't stopped a wave of concentration of the local banks. The major rationale behind this was the need to attain economies of scale in the fields of payments, transaction, processing, staff and of course capital. Increasing customer demand for standardized and widely available products also played a significant part in this development. Currently the motto is:

As large as is necessary, as small as possible.

this of course applies to the size of the local bank offices. Traditionally the bank served mostly farmers and small businesses. Since the introduction of consumer salary accounts in the 1960s the number of retail clients grew exponentially. This has led to Rabobank being a prominent player in the field of savings accounts, checking accounts and mortgages in the Netherlands. In June 2012 rating agency Moody's downgraded Rabobank's to Aa2 (previously Aaa). Due to a new rating methodology in November 2011 by rating agency Standard & Poor's, the credit status was downgraded two steps from AAA to AA. Rating agency Fitch rates the credit status of the bank AA. As per the new strategy, Rabobank is planning to exit some markets. Indonesian banking unit has been [4] put for sale and many banks worldwide has expressed interest in buying the Indonesian arm. [edit]Organisation

structure

Branch of Rabobank in Amsterdam

The Rabobank Group consists of a network of local banks, Rabobank Nederland and several daughter organisations. Formally the local Rabobanks are the mother organisation of Rabobank Nederland, their central organisation. The local banks are facilitated by Rabobank Nederland to serve their customers and not the other way around as is often the case with traditional banking organisations. Employees of the group do not routinely speak of a headquarters but prefer to speak of Rabobank Nederland, which is their daughter organisation. The central organisation does occasionally overrule the autonomy of the local bank organisations. In accordance with Dutch regulations in the field of credit and financial services Rabobank Nederland

oversees that the local banks maintain a required level of prudency and professionalism while selling financial products. This has grown to be especially important in view of recent developments and international standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act,Basel II and IFRS. This leads to an interesting and rather unusual phenomenon within international business: the mother companies and the much larger daughter are essentially forced to coexist together in order to function properly. This has led to a very ambivalent relationship between the two over the years. At the time of the merger there were five management instruments within Rabobank Nederland: 1. Algemene Vergadering - general assembly. The boards of all local banks within the cooperation were represented here. 2. De Centrale Kringvergadering - advisoryboard manned by representatives of clusters of local banks. 3. De Hoofddirectie - general management. Theoretically they were an autonomous management organ, but in practice, they had to pay 'serious consideration' to what the 4th organ; Raad van Beheer; thought about the course of action for the organisation. 4. Raad van Beheer - management council. An independent advisory council whose chairman also attended the meetings of De Hoofddirectie. 5. Raad van Toezicht - supervisory board. In 2002 this rather cumbersome structure was simplified. The Raad van Beheer was disbanded. De Hoofddirectie received an integral authority over the banking business. It was also renamed to Raad van Bestuur or board of directors. They have an added task compared to a traditional board i.e. they are expected to look out for the specific interests of the members (local banks and their certificate holders). The Raad van Toezicht was renamed to county commission and now held an independent supervisory role. The chairman of this board also presides over the Centrale Kringvergadering. The latter is the most distinguishing organ as compared to other financial institutions in the Netherlands and abroad. [edit]Market

Position

Rabobank's footprint within the United States

Rabobank is traditionally a farmers' bank and it still holds an 85%-90% market share in the agrarian sector in the Netherlands. Throughout the years, the company has also started targeting small and medium sized

companies. By the mid 1970s the market share in this sector reached some 30% and currently amounts to approximately 40%. In 1987, an important milestone was reached; the total outstanding loans in sectors other than agriculture exceeded those in the agricultural sector for the first time. By 2005 the agricultural credits amounted to some 8% of total outstanding credit. Rabobank also holds some 40% of the total outstanding sums on Dutch savings accounts and they account for approximately 30% of all private consumer mortgages in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, Rabobank is the third largest retail bank by market share, and second largest by number of current accounts at 30%. ING Group is the largest with 40% of current accounts, followed by [5] Rabobank (30%), ABN AMRO (20%), and others (10%). The Rabobank Group currently consists of the following divisions: Rabobank Nederland - the facilitary and staff organisation that serves the local banks. It currently performs the following core activities: Market (staff) support for the domestic retail banking business Group functions i.e. ICT, Legal and other facilitary departments Wholesale banking and international rural and retail banking

Local Banks - Approximately 141 independent and cooperative local banks in the Netherlands Rabo International - Rabobank's wholesale banking and investment division Rabo Vastgoed Groep - Project developer, real estate Robeco - Investment management De Lage Landen - Vendor finance, leasing and trade finance Schretlen & Co - Asset management, private banking sector Obvion - mortgage intermediary FGH Bank - Dutch real estate bank ACCBank - Agricultural Credit Corporation, Ireland Bank BGZ - Retail bank, Poland Rabobank N.A. - California-based U.S. national bank (i.e., federally chartered), formerly six community banks with agri-focus Rabo Mobiel, a mobile virtual network operator in the Netherlands. Rabo Development, with advisory services and minority participations in various international markets, including: Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Mozambique, China, Brazil and Paraguay.

[edit]RaboDirect RaboDirect, formerly RaboPlus in some locations is the brand name for online-only services offered by Rabobank. RaboDirect operates in the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Germany and New Zealand, offering savings accounts, term deposits and managed funds. In Belgium it is known as Rabobank.be. [edit]Ireland RaboDirect Ireland is an online bank. RaboDirect is part of the Rabobank Group.

In 2009, RaboDirect ran the Life's more interesting when you tell the truth marketing campaign that included TV commercials which featured staff confessing truths about themselves, and amicrosite called [6] [7] Truthbank where customers could "confess" their own truths. RaboDirect is also the current sponsor of rugby union's Pro12 (previously the Celtic League), featuring teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The deal, announced in June 2011, will run for four [8] seasons, during which time the league will be known as the RaboDirect Pro12. [edit]New

Zealand

RaboDirect, originally known as RaboPlus, was launched in Feb 2006 and is the only bank in New [9] Zealand whose parent company was rated Triple A by Standard & Poor's. All money deposited with [10] RaboDirect is re-invested back into the New Zealand food and agriculture sector. The bank originally advertised to customers as "Your significant other bank". By Aug 2006, six months [11] after its launch, it had gathered over $500 million in deposits. In 2010, this figure stands at over $2.2 [citation needed] billion. In July 2010 the bank was rebranded as RaboDirect to bring it in line with other countries where Rabo operated such services. This was followed by a new advertising campaign, using the slogan It pays to [12] focus, and highlighting RaboDirects links with New Zealand agribusiness, it s focus on savings and investments as well as Rabobanks origins, and their focus on online security. [edit]Australia On 23 May 2007, Rabobank opened a RaboPlus Internet bank in Australia. On 20 May 2010, the services were rebranded to RaboDirect. RaboDirect are the major partner of the Melbourne RebelsSuper Rugby side. By 2011 over $6 billion had been gathered in deposits. [edit]Germany On 20 June 2012, Rabobank opened a RaboDirect in Germany. Rabobank has had a presence in Germany since 1984. It has operated in the field of corporate finance and has been primarily active in the food and agri sector in the country. [edit]Poland Rabobank operates a direct bank in Poland, but under the Bank BGZ operation and using the name "BGZ Optima".

ABN AMRO
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from ABN Amro)

ABN AMRO Bank N.V

Type

Temporary public ownership

Industry

Financial services

Founded

1991

Headquarters

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Key people

Gerrit Zalm (CEO)

Products

Asset management Commercial banking Investment banking Private banking Retail banking

Operating income

7.794 billion Euros (2011)[1]

Profit

689 million Euros (2011)[1]

AUM

153.0 billion Euros (September 30, 2011)[2]

Total assets

404.682 billion Euros(December 31, 2011)[3]

Total equity

11.420 billion Euros(December 31, 2011)[3]

Owner(s)

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Employees

24,225 (December 31, 2011)[4]

Website

www.abnamro.com

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form in 2009, following the acquisition and break-up of the original ABN AMRO by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander Group andFortis. Following the collapse of Fortis, who acquired the Dutch business, it was nationalized by the Dutch government along with Fortis Bank Nederland. The bank is a product of a long history of mergers and acquisitions that date to 1765. In 1991, Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) and AMRO Bank(itself the result of a merger of the Amsterdamsche Bank and the Rotterdamsche Bank in the 1960s) agreed to merge to create the original ABN AMRO. By 2007, ABN AMRO was the second-largest bank in the Netherlands and the eighth-largest in Europe by assets. At that time the magazineThe Banker and Fortune Global 500 placed it 15th[5] in the list of worlds biggest banks and it had operations in 63 countries, with over 110,000 employees. In October 2007, a consortium of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Fortis and Banco Santander, known as RFS Holdings B.V. acquired the bank, in what was the world's biggest bank takeover to date. Consequently, the bank was divided into three parts, each owned by one of the members of the consortium. However, RBS and Fortis soon ran into serious trouble: the large debt created to fund the takeover had depleted the banks' reserves just as the financial crisis of 20072010 started. As a result, the Dutch government stepped-in and bailed out Fortis in October 2008, before splitting ABN AMRO's Dutch assets (which had primarily been allocated to Fortis) from those owned by RBS, which were effectively assumed by the UK government due to its bail-out of the British bank. The operations owned by Santander, notably those in Italy and Brazil, were merged with Santander, sold or eliminated. The Dutch government appointed former Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm as CEO to restructure and stabilise the bank, and in February 2010 the assets it owned were legally demerged from those owned by RBS.[6] This demerger created two separate organisations, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V.[7][8] The former was merged with ABN AMRO Private Banking, Fortis Bank Nederland, the private bank MeesPierson(formerly owned by the original ABN AMRO and Fortis) and the diamond bank International Diamond & Jewelry Group to create ABN AMRO Group N.V., with the Fortis name being dropped on 1 July 2010. The remaining parts of the original ABN AMRO still owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., meanwhile, were renamed, sold or closed.[9] The Dutch government has said that ABN AMRO would remain state-owned until at least 2014, after which it would consider a public stock marketlisting for the bank.
Contents

[hide]

1 History

o o o o o

1.1 Early years 1.2 Reaching a cross roads 1.3 Acquisition battle 1.4 Acquisition and break up 1.5 Impact of the 2008 financial crisis

1.5.1 RBS 1.5.2 Fortis 1.5.3 Disposals and renaming 1.5.4 Dutch government ownership

1.6 Goldman Sachs SEC lawsuit

2 Bank operations 3 Financial data 4 Alumni 5 Marketing

o o o

5.1 Name usage and spelling 5.2 Logo and style 5.3 Sponsorships

6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit]History
See also the articles on AMRO Bank and Algemene Bank Nederland

[edit]Early

years

In 1824, King William I established the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) a trading company to revive trade and financing of the Dutch East Indies and it would become one of the primary ancestors of ABN AMRO. The NHM merged with the Twentsche Bank in 1964 to form Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN). In the same year, the Amsterdamsche Bank, established in 1871, merged with the Rotterdamsche Bank, established in 1873 (as part of merger that included Determeijer Weslingh & Zn. from 1765), to form AMRO Bank. In 1991, ABN and AMRO Bank agreed to merge to create ABN AMRO.

Through these mergers and acquisitions, ABN AMRO gained a large number of overseas companies and branches. From NHM, it owned a significant branch network in Asia and the Middle East. One of these, the Saudi Hollandi Bank was owned by the NHM Jeddah branch and in which ABN AMRO still had a 40% stake, caused questions in the Dutch parliament from the political Party for Freedom. Another, the Hollandsche Bank-Unie (HBU), which grew from the merger of the Hollandsche Bank voor de Middellandsche Zee (HBMZ) and the Hollandsche Zuid-Amerika Bank in 1933, gave ABN AMRO an extensive network of branches in South and Central America. In 1979, ABN expanded into North America with the acquisition of Chicago-based LaSalle National Bank. After the merger of ABN and AMRO Bank in 1991, the corporation continued to grow through a number of further acquisitions, including the 1996-purchase of suburban Detroit based Standard Federal Bank followed five-years later by the acquisition of its Detroit-based competitor Michigan National Bank which was rebranded as Standard Federal. In 2005, Standard Federal becameLaSalle Bank Midwest to unite the two components. ABN AMRO purchased The Chicago Corporation, an American securities and commodities trading and clearing corporation in fall 1995.[10] Other major acquisitions included the Brazilian bank Banco Real in 1998 and the Italian bank Antonveneta in 2006. It was also involved in the controversial acquisition of the Dutch local government mortgage and building development organisation, the Bouwfonds in 2000.[11] ABN AMRO sold the Bouwfonds as a going concern in 2006.

[edit]Reaching

a cross roads

ABN AMRO had come to a crossroads in early 2005. The bank had still not come close to its own target of having a return on equity that would put it among the top-five of its peer group, a target that the CEO, Rijkman Groenink had set upon his appointment in 2000. From 2000 until 2005, ABN AMRO's stock price stagnated. Financial results in 2006 added to concerns about the bank's future. Operating expenses increased at a greater rate than operating revenue, and the efficiency ratio deteriorated further to 69.9%. Non-performing loans increased considerably year on year by 192%. Net profits were only boosted by sustained asset sales. There had been some calls, over the prior couple of years, for ABN AMRO to break up, to merge, or to be acquired. On 21 February 2007, The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI)hedge fund called to ask the Chairman of the Supervisory Board to actively investigate a merger, acquisition or breakup of ABN AMRO, stating that the current stock price did not reflect the true value of the underlying assets. TCI asked the chairman to put its request on the agenda of the annual shareholders' meeting to be held in April 2007.

Events accelerated on 20 March, when the British bank Barclays and ABN AMRO both confirmed they were in exclusive talks about a possible merger.

[edit]Acquisition

battle

On 28 March 2007, ABN AMRO published the agenda for the shareholders' meeting of 2007. It included all items requested by TCI, but with the recommendation not to follow the request for a breakup of the company.[12]

ABN AMRO Insurance headquarters inZwolle.

However, on 18 April, another British bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) contacted ABN AMRO to propose a deal in which a consortium of banks, including RBS, Belgium's Fortis, and Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano (now Banco Santander) would jointly bid for ABN AMRO and thereafter divide the components of the company among them. According to the proposed deal, RBS would receive ABN's United States operations, LaSalle, and ABN's wholesale operations; Banco Santander would take the Brazilian operations; and Fortis, the Dutch operations. On 23 April, ABN AMRO and Barclays announced the proposed acquisition of ABN AMRO by Barclays. The deal was valued at 67 billion and included the sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America for 21 billion.[13] Two days later, the RBS-led consortium brought out its indicative offer, worth 72 billion, if ABN AMRO would abandon its sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America. During the shareholders' meeting the next day, approximately 68 percent of the shareholders voted in favour of the breakup as requested by TCI.[14] The sale of LaSalle was seen as obstructive by many: as a way of blocking the RBS bid, which hinged on further access to the US markets, in order to expand on the success of the group's existing American

brands, Citizens Bank and Charter One. On 3 May 2007, the Dutch Investors' Association(Vereniging van Effectenbezitters), with the support of shareholders representing up to 20 percent of ABN's shares, took its case to the Dutch commercial court in Amsterdam, seeking an injunction against the LaSalle sale. The court ruled that the sale of LaSalle could not be viewed apart from the current merger talks of Barclays with ABN AMRO, and that the ABN AMRO shareholders should be able to approve other possible merger/acquisition candidates in a general shareholder meeting. However in July 2007, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that Bank of America's acquisition of LaSalle Bank could proceed and Bank of America absorbed LaSalle effective 1 October 2007.

ABN AMRO in Sydney.

On 23 July 2007, Barclays raised its offer for ABN AMRO to 67.5bn, after securing investments from the governments of China and Singapore, but it was still short of the RBS consortium's offer. Barclay's revised bid was worth 35.73 a share 4.3% more than its previous offer. The offer, which included 37% cash, remained below the 38.40-a-share offer made the week before by the RFS consortium. The revised offer did not include an offer for La Salle Bank, since ABN AMRO could proceed with the sale of that subsidiary to Bank of America. RBS would now settle for ABN's investment-banking division and its Asian Network.

[edit]Acquisition

and break up

On 30 July 2007, ABN AMRO withdrew its support for Barclays offer which was lower than the offer from the group led by RBS. While the Barclays offer matched ABN AMROs strategic vision, the board couldnt recommend it from a financial point of view. The US$98.3bn bid from RBS, Fortis and Banco Santander was 9.8% higher than Barclays offer. Barclays Bank withdrew its bid for ABN AMRO on 5 October, clearing the way for the RBS-led consortium's bid to go through, along with its planned dismemberment of ABN AMRO. Fortis would receive ABN

AMRO's Dutch and Belgian operations, Banco Santander would get Banco Real in Brazil, andBanca Antonveneta in Italy and RBS would get ABN AMRO's wholesale division and all other operations, including those in Asia. On 9 October, the RFS consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, bidding for control of ABN AMRO, formally declared victory after shareholders, representing 86 percent of the Dutch banks shares, accepted the RFS groups 70bn offer. This level of acceptance cleared the way for the consortium to take formal control. The group declared its offer unconditional on October 10, when Fortis completed its 13bn rights issue. Thus the financing required for the groups 38-a-share offer, which included 35.60 in cash, was realised. Rijkman Groenink, Chairman of the Managing Board of ABN AMRO, who heavily backed the Barclays offer, decided that he would step down.[15]

[edit]Impact [edit]RBS

of the 2008 financial crisis

Further information: Royal Bank of Scotland Group 2008-2009 financial crisis

ABN AMRO in Dubai.

On 22 April 2008, RBS announced the largest rights issue in British corporate history, which aimed to raise 12billion in new capital to offset a writedown of 5.9billion resulting from the bad investments and to shore-up its reserves following the purchase of ABN AMRO. On 13 October 2008, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a UK government bailout of the financial system. The Treasury would infuse 37 billion ($64 billion, 47 billion) of new capital into Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Lloyds TSB and HBOS Plc, to avert financial sector collapse. This resulted in a total government ownership in RBS of 58%. As a consequence of this rescue, the chief executive of the group Fred Goodwin offered his resignation, which was duly accepted. In January 2009, RBS announced a loss of 28bn of which 20bn was due to the ABN AMRO acquisition.[16] At the same time, the government converted its preference shares to ordinary shares resulting in a 70% ownership of RBS.[17]

[edit]Fortis

Further information: Fortis ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO headquarters in Amsterdam.

On 11 July 2008, Fortis CEO Jean Votron, stepped down after the ABN AMRO deal had depleted Fortis' capital.[18][19] The total worth of Fortis, as reflected by its stock value, was at that time one-third of what it had been before the acquisition, and just under the value it had paid for the Benelux activities of ABN AMRO.[20] Fortis announced in September of that year that it would sell its stake in RFS Holdings, which included all activities that had not been transferred yet to Fortis (i.e. everything except Asset Management).[21][22]

[edit]Disposals and renaming

In 2008, RFS Holdings completed the sale of a portfolio of private equity interests in 32 European companies managed by AAC Capital Partners to a consortium comprising Goldman Sachs, AlpInvest Partners and the Canada Pension Plan for $1.5 billion through a private equity secondary markettransaction.[23][24] In September 2009, RBS rebranded the Morgans sharedealing business in Australia as RBS Morgans. This followed the rebranding of the ABN AMRO Australia unit to RBS Australia in March that year. [25] On 10 February 2010, RBS announced that branches it owned in India[26] and the United Arab Emirates were to be rebranded under its name.[27] HSBCHoldings said it would buy the Indian retail and commercial banking businesses of Royal Bank of Scotland for $1.8bn, however the deal fell-through in December 2012.[28]

[edit]Dutch government ownership

Continuing problems with Fortis operations during the 2008 financial crisis led to the Dutch government to obtain full control of all Fortis operations in the Netherlands, including those parts of ABN-AMRO then belonging to Fortis for 16.8bn.[29] The government and the De Nederlandsche Bank president have announced the merger of Dutch Fortis and ABN AMRO parts will proceed while the bank is in state ownership. This was completed in July 2010 when Fortis operations in the Netherlands were rebranded ABN AMRO.[30] In November 2008, a Belgian court dismissed a suit by shareholders of Fortis objecting to the Belgian government's handling of the Fortis/ABN AMRO transaction and subsequent break-up.[31] ABN Amro acquired the specialist on-line mortgage provider Direktbank Hypotheken as part of the nationalisation and from the 1 January 2011 it stopped selling these products under this brand to the public. It absorbed the mortgage business into its own products under the ABN AMRO brand as well as Florius brand.[32]

[edit]Goldman

Sachs SEC lawsuit

Main article: Goldman Sachs civil fraud lawsuit ABN AMRO was mentioned by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in court filings when it sued Goldman Sachs and one of Goldman's collateralized debt obligation(CDO) traders on 16 April 2010. The SEC alleges that Goldman created defrauded both IKB Deutsche Industriebank and ABN AMRO by its failure to disclose that the CDOs it sold to both banks were not assembled by a third party, but instead through the guidance of a hedge fund that was counterparty in the CDS transaction. This hedge fund, Paulson & Co., stood to reap great financial benefit in the event of default.[33][34]

[edit]Bank

operations

ABN AMRO Bank has offices in 15 countries with 32,000 employees, most of whom are based in the Netherlands with only 5,000 in other countries. Its operations include private banking division which focuses on high-net worth clients in 14 countries as well as commercial and merchant banking operations that play a major role in energy, commodities and transportation markets as well as brokerage, Clearing & Custody.[35]

[edit]Financial

data
Financial Data

Years

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Sales net of interest

18.280mn 18.793mn 19.793mn 23.215mn 27.641mn

EBITDA

4.719mn 5.848mn 6.104mn

6.705mn 6.360mn

Net Result Share of the group 2.267mn 3.161mn 4.109mn

4.443mn 4.780mn

Staff
Source: OpesC'

105,000

105,439

105,918

98,080

135,378

[edit]Alumni
Former employees of ABN AMRO:

Vladimer Gurgenidze - Prime Minister of Georgia (2007-2008) John Hewson - Member of the Australian House of Representatives (1987-1995) Joop Wijn - Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs (2006-2007) Graeme Le Saux - English football player

[edit]Marketing [edit]Name

usage and spelling

The bank refers to itself as ABN AMRO in all capitals, based on an acronym of the two originating banks names Algemene Bank Nederland and the Amsterdam and Rotterdam Bank, in the second case the first two letters of each town make up the AMRO. The letters in 'ABN' are pronounced separately and 'AMRO' is pronounced as a word. For this reason some media spell the name as 'ABN Amro'. In written text both versions are used, although the bank itself uses only the uppercase version. In conversations, the bank is sometimes referred to as simply ABN or AMRO bank depending on one's location around the world.

[edit]Logo

and style

The green and yellow shield logo was designed by Landor Associates for ABN AMRO in 1991 and has been used as a brand for the bank and all its subsidiaries.

[edit]Sponsorships
ABN AMRO was the main sponsor of Ajax Amsterdam football club between from 1991 to 2008. The sponsor logo was (at the time) the only one in the world to be printed vertically down the right hand side of the front of the shirt.

ING Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ING Groep N.V.

Type

Naamloze vennootschap

Traded as

Euronext: INGA NYSE: ING

Industry

Financial services

Founded

1991 through merger[1]

(est. 1743 as Kooger Doodenbos)

Headquarters

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Area served

Global

Key people

Jan Hommen (CEO) Patrick Flynn (CFO) Peter Elverding (Chairman of thesupervisory board) Retail direct private investment commercial banking insurance asset management 55.79 billion (2011)[2] 3.9 billion (2012)[2]

Products

Revenue Profit

Total assets Total equity Employees Website

1.279 trillion (end 2011)[2] 50.44 billion (end 2011)[2] 97,043 (FTE, end 2011)[2] ing.com

The ING Group (Dutch: ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and insurance services. ING is an abbreviation for Internationale Nederlanden Groep (English: International Netherlands Group). The Orange Lion on ING's logo is an allusion to the Group's Dutch origins under the House of OrangeNassau.[3] ING is the Dutch member of the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks, a cooperative consortium of 11 prominent European banks.[4] According to the Fortune Global 500 in 2012, ING was the world's largest banking/financial services and insurance conglomerate by revenue with gross receipts exceeding $150 billion per annum.[5] The Group is also the world's 18th largest corporation by revenue.[5] As of 2009, ING served over 85 million individual and institutional clients in more than 45 countries, with a worldwide workforce exceeding 100,000.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o o o o

1.1 Insurance 1.2 Banking 1.3 Merger of banking and insurance 1.4 Overseas expansion 1.5 Capital injection and divestiture

2 Global operations 3 Global headquarters 4 Recent notable transactions

o o o

4.1 Latin American divestment 4.2 Capital injection and repayment 4.3 U.S. Treasury Department announces $619 million settlement with ING Bank, N.V.

5 Divisions

4.3.1 Activities

o o

5.1 Retail banking 5.2 ING Direct

5.2.1 ING Direct Canada 5.2.2 ING Direct United States 5.2.3 ING Direct UK 5.2.4 ING Direct Australia

5.3 Commercial banking

5.3.1 Corporate finance

5.4 Insurance

5.4.1 ING Australia

5.5 ING Investment Management

6 Sponsorships

o o

6.1 Sporting 6.2 The arts

7 See also 8 References 9 External links

o o

9.1 ING websites 9.2 Other websites

[edit]History
ING Group traces its roots to two major Insurance companies in the Netherlands and the banking services of the Dutch government.

[edit]Insurance
In 1845 the fire insurance company the Assurantie Maatschappij tegen Brandschade de Nederlanden van 1845 (Fire insurance company of the Netherlands established 1845) was founded and grew to be the first insurance company with branches outside the Netherlands, of which it had 139 the world over by 1900. Two decades later in 1863 the life insurance company Nationale Levensverzekerings Bank (National Life Insurance Bank) was founded in Rotterdam. These two insurance companies would merge to form the combined insurance company the Nationale-Nederlanden in 1963. The combined insurance company would expand significantly during the 1970s and 1980s.[6]

[edit]Banking

In 1881 the Dutch government created the Rijkspostspaarbank, a postal savings system to encourage workers to start saving. Four decades later they added the Postcheque and Girodienstservices allowing working families to make payments via post offices. Separately in 1927 the Dutch government initiated a reorganisation of Dutch banks which resulted in the creation of theNederlandsche Middenstands Bank (NMB). NMB's focus was retail banking in the Netherlands and abroad. In 1986 the post office banking services were privatised as Postbank N.V. and three years later it would merge with NMB bank to form NMB Postbank.

[edit]Merger

of banking and insurance

In 1991 the banking business of NMB Postbank and the insurance business of Nationale-Nederlanden were merged to create ING Group, after changes in regulation that allowed banks and insurance businesses to work together.

[edit]Overseas

expansion

ING Group expanded its international business through a number of acquisitions through the 1990s including Belgium bank Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL) in 1998, US based insurance company Equitable of Iowa and the commercial bank Furman Selz. It also acquired Frankfurt based BHF-Bank in 1999, although disposed of this later. It increased its Latin American and Asia Pacific's insurance businesses with the acquisition of ReliaStar and Aetna's Financial Services unit. It also acquired the Polish Bank lski and Mexican insurance company Seguros Comercial Amrica. However it was the 1995 purchase of Barings Bank after its dramatic failure that saw of ING Groups investment banking business boosted significantly. To expanding its retail banking business overseas, rather than create a branch network, it used the direct banking business model it had develop with NMB Postbank to launch an overseas direct banking businesses called ING Direct. The first of these was set up in Canada in 1997, this was soon followed in a number of other countries including the US, UK, Germany, France and Australia. The no frills high rate savings accounts that could only be accessed on-line were a successful venture and spawned a number of similar services from rival banks.

[edit]Capital

injection and divestiture

In 2008 as part of the late-2000s financial crisis ING Group, together with all other major banks in the Netherlands, took a capital injection from the Dutch Government. This support increased ING's capital ratio above 8%, however as a condition of Dutch state aid, the EU demanded a number of changes to the company structure. This resulted in divestiture of a number of businesses around the world, which included insurance businesses in Latin America, Asia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and the ING Direct unit in the US, Canada and the UK.[7]

[edit]Global

operations

ING Group global locations

ING has offices in:

Australia Austria Belarus Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Czech Republic France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Italy Japan Kazakhstan

Luxembourg Mexico Mongolia Netherlands Luxembourg Philippines Poland Romania Russia Singapore Slovakia South Korea Spain Switzerland Taiwan Turkey Thailand Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States

[edit]Global

headquarters

ING House, ING headquarters in Amsterdam

The Group's corporate headquarters, ING House, is located in the business district of Zuidas in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was designed by Roberto Meyer and Jeroen van Schooten and was officially inaugurated on

September 16, 2002 by Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The light-infused building features a 250seat auditorium, foyer, restaurant, library and an extensive art collection.

[edit]Recent [edit]Latin

notable transactions

American divestment

In July 2011, ING divested all its Latin American insurance operations to the Colombian insurance group GrupoSura for US$3.85 billion, excluding ING's 36 percent holding in Brazilian insurer Sul America which will be sold at a later date. Sul America officially started operating the ING Investment Management, Wealth Management, Retire Funds and Pension businesses in Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay) on February 13, 2012. ING Commercial Bank will keep its operations in Mexico. The actions are in line with EU demands to split the Group's banking and insurance operations as a condition of Dutch state aid (see below).[8]

[edit]Capital

injection and repayment

In October 2008, in a move to increase its core Tier 1 capital ratio above 8%, ING Group accepted a capital injection plan from the Dutch Government. The plan supplied 10 billion (US$13.5 billion) to the operation, in exchange for securities and veto rights on major operational changes and investments. The European Commission also required ING to divest itself of its insurance and investment management operations by the end of 2013 as a condition of approving the state aid. Wouter Bos, the Dutch Finance Minister at the time, said the Dutch government's investment was done as a means of fortifying the bank to weather the financial crisis. Management stated that the capital injection shall have no dilutive impact to existing shareholders. As part of the agreement, two government advisers have been appointed to the Supervisory Board of the Group. In Dec 2009, ING raised 7.3 billion through share issues, and repurchased securities representing half of the 10 billion in state aid. It repurchased another 2 billion in May 2011 (at a 50% premium), and looked to complete the repayments by May 2012. However, in January 2012 it cited eurozone conditions in putting the repayment timetable as 2012-2013 for the remaining 3 billion.

[edit]U.S.

Treasury Department announces $619 million settlement with ING Bank, N.V.
On June 12, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $619 million settlement[9] with ING Bank N.V. to settle potential liability for conspiring to violate[10] the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) and for violating New York state laws by illegally moving billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Cuban and Iranian entities. ING Banks settlement with OFAC is simultaneous with settlements with the U.S.

Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice's National Security Division, the Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and the New York County District Attorneys Office. Under the settlement agreement, ING Bank is required to conduct a review of, and to submit a report to OFAC regarding, its policies and procedures and their implementation, taking an appropriate risk-focused sampling of U.S. dollar payments to ensure that its OFAC compliance program is functioning effectively to detect, correct, and report any OFAC-sanctioned transactions that might occur.

[edit]Activities
Beginning in the 1990s, at the instruction of senior bank management, ING Bank employees in Curaao began processing payments for ING Banks Cuban banking operations through its branch in Curaao on behalf of Cuban customers without reference to the payments origin. The practice of removing and omitting such information was used by other branches of ING Banks Wholesale Banking Division, including in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in processing U.S. dollar payments and trade finance transactions through the United States. In addition, ING Banks senior management in France authorized, advised in the creation of, and ultimately provided fraudulent endorsement stamps for use by Cuban financial institutions in processing travelers check transactions, which disguised the involvement of Cuban banks in these transactions when they were processed through the United States. Moreover, ING Banks Trade and Commodity Finance business at its Wholesale Banking branch in the Netherlands routed payments made on behalf of U.S.-sanctioned Cuban clients through other corporate clients to obscure the sanctioned clients identities an d its Romanian branch omitted details from a letter of credit involving a U.S. financial institution to finance the exportation of U.S.-origin goods to Iran. In January 2013, ING announced it had sold its 26% stake in Indias Vysya Life Insurance to its jo int partner Exide Industries.[11]

[edit]Divisions [edit]Retail

banking

ING offers retail banking services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Turkey, India, Thailand and China. Non-retail private banking services are offered in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and various countries in Asia and Central Europe. In the Netherlands, ING is the largest retail bank by market share, holding 40% of current account deposits.[12] ING is followed by Rabobank (30%), ABN AMRO (20%), and others (10%). Outside of the Benelux, ING's current focus is on Central & Eastern Europe, as well as certain high-growth regions in Asia. In India, ING has a 44% stake in ING Vysya Bank and is the Indian bank's largest shareholder.

In China, ING has a 17% stake in the Bank of Beijing, the largest urban commercial bank in China. In Thailand, ING has a 30% stake in TMB Bank, a universal banking platform with a nationwide network.

[edit]ING

Direct

ING Direct is the Group's brand for a branchless direct bank with operations in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It offers services over the web, phone, ATM or by mail. The service currently focuses on simple interest-bearing savings accounts for retail customers. ING Direct Italy is currently opening its own "bank shops" in the major towns, where customers can operate services on usual web channels, assisted or not by branch operators, and use advanced teller machines for cash and check transactions.

[edit]ING Direct Canada

ING's history in Canada dates to 1997 when it founded ING Direct Canada. As recently as July 2011, ING Direct Canada had over 1.7 million clients, employed over 900 people and had over US$37.6 billion in assets. ING Direct Canada has five 'Save Your Money Cafs' in the major cities of Toronto, Montral, Calgary and Vancouver. Recently, ING Direct Canada announced the closure of their bilingual (French and English) office in Ottawa, Ontario[citation needed] and moved its operations to Moncton, New Brunswick.[13] Its products include savings accounts, tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), mortgages, retirement savings plans (RSPs), guaranteed investments (GICs), mutual funds, business accounts and a no-fee daily checking accounts. They are known for using a referral program as part of their advertising, allowing members to refer friends whereby both the referrer and referee receive a cash bonus.[14] ING Direct Canada is a member of the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) and a registered member with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits of all Canada's chartered banks. ING Direct Canada operates as Banking Institution #614, Transit #00152.[15] As of February 2009, ING Canada (the insurance arm) is no longer a subsidiary of ING Group. ING Group's 70% equity interest was spun off for US$2.2 billion. The company (which has an 11% share of Canada's property and casualty insurance market) was then renamed Intact Financial Corporation in May 2009. ING Group still operates ING Bank of Canada, also known as ING Direct Canada.[16] On August 29, 2012, Scotiabank announced that it would acquire ING Direct Canada for $3.13 billion.[17] The sale was completed on November 15, 2012.[18] A gradual transfer will see the ING Direct Canada name disappear from the Canadian banking sector within 18 months of acquisition.

Commercial banking

ING Commercial Banking, London office

ING Commercial Banking provides banking and financial services to corporations and other institutions. The primary geographic focus of the commercial banking business is the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Romania, where it offers a full range of products, from cash management to corporate finance. Elsewhere, it takes a more selective approach to clients and products. ING Commercial Banking was strengthened in 1995, when ING took over Barings Bank. This acquisition increased the brand recognition of ING around the world and strengthened its Commercial Banking presence in the emerging markets. Following the acquisition and up until 2004, ING's investment banking division was called ING Barings, at which point it severed its ties with the Barings name and combined with ING's other commercial banking operations. However, the top floor of ING's London office is still [25] [26] home to the Baring Art Collection, and the Baring Foundation, a charitable foundation. Commercial Banking is divided into a number of sub-divisions, including Structured Finance, Financial Markets, and Corporate Finance. [edit]Corporate finance ING's Corporate Finance department advises businesses on important corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, share buy-backs and management buy-outs. The division is headed jointly by Maurits Duynstee (Head of Corporate Finance, Continental Western Europe) and Pierre Chabrelie (Head of Corporate Finance, UK and CEE). The bank has advised on a number of recent high-profile European transactions including satellite navigation manufacturer TomTom in a 359m rights issue, energy supplier Nuon in its 8.5bn sale toVattenfall, and printer-maker Oc in its 1.3bn merger with Canon. ING was the leading advisor in the Dutch M&A league [27] tables in 2009. ING Corporate finance has a strong presence in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2009 ING advised Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), Russia's largest mobile operator, in its acquisition of a 51%

stake in Comstar UTS for USD 1.27bn, [29] 100m IPO. [edit]Insurance

[28]

and Russia-focussed oil producer, Exillon Energyon its USD

ING's insurance business operates throughout America, Asia and Europe. In 2009, ING announced plans to separate its insurance business from its main banking operations through two IPO's, one for Europe and Asia and another one for the US. The EuroAsia IPO has been delayed while the US IPO is supposed to be completed by the end of 2012. Analysts estimate that the [30] insurance arm is worth up to 16 billion. ING sold its Malaysian insurance business to American International Assurance in October 2012 for a total [31] of 1.3 billion. [edit]ING Australia ING Australia was purchased by ANZ in 2009, and rebranded as "OnePath" in 2010. Australia remains part of the ING group.
[32]

ING Direct

In December 2011, it was reported that ING Australia had been defrauded of US$45 million by an [33] [34] employee. She was convicted and sentenced to 15 years jail. [edit]ING

Investment Management

ING Investment Management is the principal asset manager of the Group and a leading global asset manager. Against the background of the Group realizing its global ambitions, ING Investment Management has also expanded across borders. Today, it is active in 33 countries, including some of the worlds fastest-growing economies, such as China, India, Brazil and many Eastern European nations. ING Investment Management operates along regional lines with centers of expertise in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. ING Investment Management provides a comprehensive range of investment solutions and services to clients and partners. It manages assets for institutional clients, fund distributors and ING labels, with [35] approximately 326 billion in AUM. Over 3,200 professionals manage client funds globally.