(10 March 2006 – Europe) Dutch banking giant Rabobank bettered expectations for 2005, delivering a net profit of 16 percent after targeting 12 percent growth at the start of the year.Rabobank posted a net profit of 2,083 million euros (US$2,478 million) up from 1,793 million euros (US$2,132 million) the previous year.
“We’re on track. Despite the changeable economic environment, Rabobank has exceeded its profit target,” Rabobank chairman Bert Heemskerk said.
“Our commercial operations accounted for the bulk of the profit growth, to which all business units contributed across the group. We also made significant advances at the strategic level, in the Netherlands and internationally,” he said.
During the year, Rabobank acquired Central Bancorp in California and also its subsidiary Community Bank of Central California.
Rabobank also expanded its operations in Brazil and Tanzania.
The bank said the food and agribusiness segments accounted for 26 percent of its total income. Some 55 percent of its total income was generated in Europe, 29 percent in North and South America, and the remaining 16 percent in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Rabobank began operating in Australian and New Zealand in 1990 and bought Primary Industry Bank in 1994. The business is run as a standalone company headed by chief executive Bruce Dick.
The bank launched an online retail deposit account in New Zealand in February.