Rabo Consolidates Trade Finance Offering
(27 January 2021 – Europe) Rabobank has opted to consolidate its trade finance operations by ceasing operations in London, Shanghai and Sydney
Separate wholesale banking activities in those locations will continue, and dedicated trade finance teams will remain active in Utrecht, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Nairobi. Rabobank’s trade and commodity finance operations will continue to focus on the agriculture, energy and metals markets, with the changes to office arrangements not expected to materially impede its global geographical coverage. Greater China trade finance operations will be moved to Hong Kong, while European activities will be centralised within the bank’s headquarters in Utrecht.
The Dutch lender advised efforts to make its trade and commodity finance offering more cost-effective have been “accelerated by rapidly changing global markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, trade wars and changing banking landscape. In addition, significant fraud and default cases in our line of business, have forced us to carefully review our organisation” in a statement to clients. Rabobank’s decision follows comparable actions by other European lenders. Most drastically, ABN Amro announced in August last year it would exit the trade and commodity finance sector entirely, while ING Bank is consolidating its wholesale banking offering by focusing on a smaller number of core clients.
“We understand this decision might impact (part of) your business and potentially requires you to find alternative financing. In order to ensure a smooth transition in these impacted locations, we strive to mutually agree on approach and timelines or potentially find other financing solutions to ensure minimal impact on your business” the statement continues,
“Trade and commodity finance will further align its business with the sustainability and energy transition agendas in all three commodity markets” a spokesperson further commented.
Subscribe