News Rabobank
'Writing off farm loans is irresponsible'
Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner and pacesetter behind the European Green Deal, calls on Rabobank and other financial institutions to consider writing off loans to livestock farms. According to Bas Rüter, Sustainability Director at Rabobank, 'writing off loans is irresponsible'.
Timmermans made his appeal to Zembla. In a video on the program's website he is asked the question: "You are actually saying to Rabobank: write off the loans in intensive agriculture that are no longer feasible?" Timmermans answers: "I think those companies would have been well advised to start writing off those loans quickly. Because if they don't do that, they will have loans in the books in a few years that no longer yield anything, which they are completely lost."
Take a good look at your books
The Vice-President of the European Commission also says: "I say to Rabobank, and I say that to all financial institutions: take a good look at your books, which loans you have outstanding have a future. If you don't start it now, that step-by-step change, then you will meet yourself later. Because sooner or later, you will really lose those loans. And what do you say to your savers?"
Last Friday (March 26) this topic was discussed during an online Rabobank meeting with the trade press. Rüter: "Writing down on loans would be irresponsible. A solid bank is never used as a subsidy instrument. I don't think that is what Timmermans intended."
Rüter also spoke in another video on the Zembla website: "Our saver would like his money back, so you can't write it off. The essence is that we see that agriculture must become more sustainable step by step and we do that. together with our customers. Within the system where it is now, I do the maximum to do that as quickly as possible."
EU plan for organic farming
Carin van Huët, director of Food & Agri Netherlands, made clear at the press conference how Rabobank views the European Commission's plan to stimulate organic agriculture, which was presented on Thursday (March 25). "We think it's fine, just as we think it is normal. If it is done through standards, there must be a good revenue model in return. Not only for the bank, but also for the entrepreneur."
Van Huët also informed us that Rabobank is busy 'incorporating sustainability into offers as a follow-up to biodiversity loans from 1,5 years ago'. The bank will provide more information about this in the near future.
Lobby at Climate Agreement
Last week it was also revealed that Rabobank and LTO successfully lobbied during the negotiations for the Climate Agreement in 2018 to exclude an investigation into the reduction of livestock numbers from the treaty. According to Rüter, this was because there was not enough time. "We did not see time at that time, we had insufficient material. It was a period up to 2030, we did not want to do that in 4 weeks."
Linda van Eekeres
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