Rabobank Australia & NZ announces new CEO

Media Release September 23, 2009 1

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand announces appointment of new CEO

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand has announced the appointment of Thos Gieskes to the role of chief executive officer.

Mr Gieskes takes over from Bruce Dick, who, after more than eight years in the position of CEO, is leaving to head National Micro Finance Bank (NMB), an operation in Tanzania partly owned by the international Rabobank Group.

The world’s leading food and agribusiness bank, Rabobank is one of Australasia’s largest rural banks and a significant provider of corporate financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sectors.

Announcing the appointment, Rabobank Australia & New Zealand chairman Bill Gurry said Thos Gieskes would bring a strong background in international agricultural banking to his new position.

Mr Gieskes has most recently led Rabobank’s operations in Chile, where he has held the role of CEO since 2002. Previously, he worked in Rabobank’s international network from 1990, holding a range of senior positions, including head of Relationship Management, Food & Agribusiness and Commodity Finance.

“Thos has extensive experience in not just international agricultural banking, but also in the wider global food and agribusiness sector in the area of agricultural research,” Mr Gurry said.

Mr Gieskes has a background in agricultural economics, including undertaking research and consulting work in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nicaragua. He has a Masters Degree in Development Economics.

Mr Gieskes said he was very much looking forward to the opportunity to serve as the new CEO for Rabobank Australia & New Zealand.

“The Australian and New Zealand business is a very successful part of Rabobank’s international operations, thanks primarily to the quality and success of the food and agribusiness producers in this region and to the dedication of the excellent staff here,” he said.

“It’s a tribute to the strength of the operations here that Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is considered by many the role model for further global expansion of Rabobank, and they have also been clearly the example we have followed while building our operations in Chile.”

Mr Gurry paid tribute to outgoing CEO Bruce Dick, saying Mr Dick had been an outstanding leader for the bank in Australia and New Zealand. Media Release September 23, 2009 2

“During Bruce’s stewardship, the Rabobank Australia & New Zealand business has experienced impressive growth, with its asset base increasing by 166 per cent and profits by 183 per cent,” he said.

“Bruce has created a significant operation capable of competing with the four major trading banks in the agribusiness arena. It is also significant that during his time as CEO, Bruce has raised the standing of Rabobank such that it has been named the best agribusiness bank in Australia for the past five years running by the Merrill Lynch Business Banking Review and also this year was named Foreign Bank of the Year in the Australian Banking & Finance Awards.”

Mr Dick will begin working with NMB in Tanzania in December. NMB is one of a number of banks in the world’s developing nations in which Rabobank – through its Rabo Development organisation – is investing capital, management and know-how to enable them to progress into modern financial services providers of the future.

Mr Dick said while he was looking forward to new challenges at the helm of NMB, he had immensely enjoyed his time with Rabobank in Australia and New Zealand and would greatly miss his colleagues and the bank’s clients.

“I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to serve as CEO of this truly unique organisation,’ he said. “I have worked with wonderful colleagues and it has been an honour to have been able to contribute to supporting Australia and New Zealand’s world-class food and agricultural industries.

“With Thos and the excellent board, executive and senior management team and employees we have in place here in Australia and New Zealand, I am confident Rabobank, along with the Australian and New Zealand food and agribusiness sector, is exceedingly well placed to continue to grow and thrive into the future.”

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 110 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and has a AAA credit rating from Moody’s and Standard & Poor's. Rabobank operates in 46 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1600 offices and branches. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is one of Australasia’s leading rural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 83 branches throughout Australia and New Zealand.

ENDS

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