Australia’s farmers are looking to alternative banks for loans, the Australian Financial Review has reported.
According to an article in the paper, the Dutch-based Rabobank is now Australia’s second largest rural lender, behind NAB, and has become a key lender to companies that have fallen out of favour with other financers.
“We have researchers and people around the world, who do nothing but talk to people about food and agriculture,” Thos Gieskes, chief executive of Rabobank told the paper.
“It helps us make the right decisions. [If] the fundamentals are good but there is a particular problem, and it’s a problem that can be resolved, we are willing to back them.”
The banks eagerness to back underperforming rural companies has been key to its growth, with the bank delivering a record net profit of $211.7 million in 2007.