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Date Published : Thursday, February 28, 2008
Newcomers in the financial and banking sectors often have a hard time fighting it out against the big boys. However, for Rabobank, it has been a pleasant and seamless introduction to the Australian market.
Rabobank is not yet a household name across Australia. Offering a range of banking and wealth management services, it has so far concentrated on the rural and corporate finance sectors with great success.
For many years, Rabobank has been an established name back in its native Netherlands. Headquartered in Utrecht, the company has made its name in the farming finance industry. It is set up as a federation of local credit unions, which then offer localised services individual to the regions that they serve.
In 2003, after decades of local dominance across the Netherlands, Rabobank purchased the Australian company Lend Lease Agro Business in order to diversify its market. Lend Lease Agro had a substantial customer base throughout rural Australia, dealing with the banking services of many townships and villages.
As a result of this, along with a number of other small business acquisitions, Rabobank launched the Raboplus online banking service in New Zealand in 2006 and in Australia a year later.
The company's website says: "The new online service broadens Rabobank's activities in the local markets - and provides an innovative avenue to raise funds to inject into the food and agribusiness sectors."
It offers savings accounts with high rates of interest as well as fund management services.
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