Norinchukin President and CEO Yoshio Kono (left) and Rabobank Executive Board member Berry Marttin shake hands at a press conference on Wednesday, May 27, in Tokyo after announcing the banks’ strategic alliance.
The Norinchukin Bank announced Wednesday, May 27, that it has concluded a strategic alliance with Netherland-based Rabobank in the field of food and agriculture-related financial business.
By stepping up their long-standing relationship as agricultural co-operative financial organizations, Norinchukin hopes to gain knowhow from Utrecht-based Rabobank on agricultural management expertise and exports in Netherlands, a leading exporter of farm products known for its highly productive agriculture industry.
Norinchukin says the strategic alliance, the first to be signed with a foreign financial institution, will help meet the government’s goal of making the nation’s farm sector the growth industry and increasing farmers’ income.
“We will deepen understanding on Netherland’s agriculture and Rabobank’s progressive approach, and hope to contribute to making Japan’s agriculture a growth industry through accelerating exports of domestically-grown products and making the industry internationally competitive,” Norinchukin Bank President and CEO Yoshio Kono said at a press conference held after the two banks concluded a memorandum of understanding in Tokyo.
Rabobank, which holds more than an 80 percent share in Netherland’s food and agriculture-related financial market, also operates in 40 countries, serving global customers.
Through the strategic alliance, Norinchukin will be able to provide Japanese farmers with knowhow on increasing productivity and promoting branding of their products, as well as introducing to them potential customers to expand their sales network and exports.
Specifically, the two banks will cooperate on supporting their client companies seeking mergers and acquisitions abroad as agriculture becomes more value-driven. The two banks also plan to conduct joint research on agriculture and co-operative organizations and share expertise through personnel exchanges, although details are yet to be decided.
(May 28, 2015)