Rabobank Nederland - Robeco.com

SUMMARY
This summary must be read as an introduction to this Offering Circular. Any decision to invest in
any Notes should be based on a consideration of this Offering Circular as a whole, including the
documents incorporated by reference, by any investor. The Issuer has civil liability in respect of this
summary, if it is misleading, inaccurate or inconsistent when read together with the other parts of this
Offering Circular. Where a claim relating to information contained in this Offering Circular is brought before
a court in an EEA State, the claimant may, under the national legislation of the EEA State where the claim
is brought, be required to bear the costs of translating the Offering Circular before the legal proceedings
are initiated.
Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this summary to the ‘Rabobank Group’,
‘Rabobank’ or the ‘Group’ are to Rabobank Nederland and its members, subsidiaries and affiliates, and
references to the ‘Bank’ are to Rabobank Nederland.
Rabobank
Rabobank, founded over a century ago, is one of the largest banking groups in the Netherlands
and ranks in the top 25 banking institutions in the world in terms of total assets and Tier I capital. The
Group is a cooperative banking organisation comprised of Rabobank Nederland (a cooperative entity
licensed as a credit institution in the Netherlands), Rabobank Nederland’s local member credit institutions
(the ‘Local Rabobanks’) and numerous specialised finance and other subsidiaries. A system of cross
guarantees provides for intra-Group credit support among Rabobank Nederland, all Local Rabobanks
and certain subsidiaries in the event of a shortfall in assets in one of the entities. In the Netherlands, the
Rabobank Group follows an ‘Allfinanz’ concept, meaning it provides an integrated range of financial
services comprised primarily of retail banking, wholesale banking and international retail banking, asset
management and investment, leasing, real estate and distribution of insurance products to a wide range
of both individual and corporate customers. As an Allfinanz provider, the Group focuses on operations
that produce fee-based income in addition to the Group’s traditional interest-based income sources. For
example, Rabobank is active in asset management through Robeco Group N.V., the largest retail
investment manager in the Netherlands in terms of assets under management, in which Rabobank
Nederland owns a 100 per cent. equity interest. Internationally, Rabobank pursues a niche strategy in
investment and international corporate banking through Rabobank International. At December 31, 2005,
the Rabobank Group operated in the Netherlands through 248 Local Rabobanks and 3,031 points of
contact and internationally through overseas offices in countries outside the Netherlands.
Rabobank’s current ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are AAA and Aaa, respectively
and AA+ from Fitch Ratings Ltd.
At December 31, 2005, Rabobank had total assets of EUR 506 billion, loans outstanding to private
sector borrowers amounting to EUR 278 billion (net of reserves for loan losses), equity of EUR 26.3 billion,
due to customers of EUR 186.5 billion and EUR 86.2 billion in savings accounts. Rabobank’s pre-tax
return on average equity for the year ended December 31, 2005 was 9.1 per cent.
Objects
According to article 3 of its Articles of Association, the object of Rabobank Nederland is to promote
the interests of its members, the Local Rabobanks. It shall do so by: (i) promoting the establishment,