Rabobank Group

As a responsible bank, we have a duty to ensure we provide financial services to the highest ethical standard, and always act with integrity, never jeopardising our good name. So we choose whom we do business with. We carefully assess social and ethical risks in accordance with society norms and our own stringent guidelines.

Tasks
The Ethics Committee performs an advisory role. It is tasked with:

• Assessing and considering practical situations according to the group’s values and norms 
• Developing jurisprudence and formulating policy and guidelines in the ethical field 
• Publishing deliberations and recommendations to ensure that the ethical standpoint is clear to everyone 
• Strengthening employees’ self-confidence regarding ethical issues 
• Discussing social issues that call for a normative stance from the bank      

Working method
The committee has a broad membership in order to ensure that numerous disciplines are represented. The chairmanship is performed by the Chairman of the Executive Board. The committee meets in principle once every six weeks to reach a ruling concerning requests for advice. Cases can also be presented to the committee for review after the facts.

The basic premise for the deliberations is formed by both our own code of conduct and internal guidelines and the external rules of conduct that the bank has committed to observe. Examples include the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines, the ILO Covenants and the UN Global Compact initiative.