Bulletin: Rabobank?s Planned Sale Of Operations In California Is In Line With International Strategy

PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) March 19, 2019--Dutch bank Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. (A+/Positive/A-1) announced on Friday March 15, that it intends to transfer about $5 billion of assets in the food and agriculture sector to its fully owned U.S.-based subsidiary, Rabo AgriFinance, from its California-based subsidiary Rabobank National Association (RNA). It will then sell RNA to Mechanics Bank (not rated). In our view, this move is consistent with Rabobank's medium-term strategy to focus on reinforcing its market-leading franchise in the Netherlands and in the food and agriculture business globally. What's more, we believe it will help reduce Rabobank's high cost base, which remains a major challenge given the low-interest-rate environment in Europe. The group's cost-to-income ratio was 65.9% at the end

...PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) March 19, 2019--Dutch bank Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. (A+/Positive/A-1) announced on Friday March 15, that it intends to transfer about $5 billion of assets in the food and agriculture sector to its fully owned U.S.-based subsidiary, Rabo AgriFinance, from its California-based subsidiary Rabobank National Association (RNA). It will then sell RNA to Mechanics Bank (not rated). In our view, this move is consistent with Rabobank's medium-term strategy to focus on reinforcing its market-leading franchise in the Netherlands and in the food and agriculture business globally. What's more, we believe it will help reduce Rabobank's high cost base, which remains a major challenge given the low-interest-rate environment in Europe. The group's cost-to-income ratio was 65.9% at the end of 2018, similar to that of other large European cooperative groups but well above the average for the 50 largest European banks we rate, which is closer to 50%. We view this sale as another...

Bulletin