Rabobank

Is Rabobank safe?

Yes. On the numbers, Rabobank is one of the best-protected places for savings in Europe. At 30 June 2026 its CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary was 20.2%, almost double the 10.9% level at which regulators would restrict its payouts, and its liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary averaged 175%. Fitch rates it AA- and Moody's Aa3. We score it 82/100, above ING at 75 and Crédit Agricole at 80. What stops it scoring higher is its conduct record, which includes a US guilty plea and an open Dutch prosecution over anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary failures.

A cooperative that keeps its profits

Rabobank has no shareholders. It is owned by about 2.4 million members, mostly Dutch customers, who elect local members' councils that oversee the bank's 78 local banks. Because there are no shareholders to pay, Rabobank retains nearly all its profits. That is the simplest explanation for its capital ratio: H1 2026 net profit was €2.69 billion, and almost all of it stayed inside the bank.

The cooperative model also explains a quirk. Rabobank funds part of its capital with Rabobank Certificates, which trade on Euronext Amsterdam and appeal to savers looking for a higher yield. Certificates are not deposits. They are built to absorb losses, their price moves, and they sit outside the deposit guaranteeDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary.

Capital and liquidity in numbers

Measure	30 June 2026
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	20.2%
MDA triggerMDA thresholdThe capital level below which a bank must limit dividends, bonuses and some bond payments. The gap above it shows how much room the bank has.More in the glossary (CET1)	10.9%
Buffer above trigger	€23.6 billion
LCRLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary (12-month average)	175%
NSFRNet stable funding ratioA bank's stable funding, such as capital and retail deposits, compared with the stable funding its assets need over one year. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	130%
Dutch retail deposits	€375 billion
Dutch retail loans	€293 billion

Rabobank has about 36% of the Dutch savings market, and private individuals supply 63% of its Dutch retail deposits. Group-wide, loans are slightly larger than deposits (a ratio of 1.07), because Rabobank also lends abroad to farmers and food companies and funds part of that in the bond market. That wholesale funding is the main liquidity risk, and the 175% LCR is a large cushion against it.

How Dutch deposit protection works

Deposits at Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. are covered by the Dutch deposit guarantee schemeDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary, run by De Nederlandsche Bank, up to €100,000 per person per bank. A joint account is split between the holders. Rabobank is a systemically important bank in the Netherlands, so the authorities would plan a resolution that keeps accounts running rather than a liquidation, but it is not a global systemically important bankG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary.

The conduct record

Rabobank's capital is excellent; its controls have repeatedly not been.

• October 2013: the UK Financial Conduct Authority fined it £105 million for manipulating yen, dollar and sterling Libor between 2005 and 2011, part of a wider settlement with US and Dutch authorities.
• February 2018: its US subsidiary, Rabobank N.A., pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge for obstructing the US banking regulator by concealing failures in its anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary programme. It forfeited $368.7 million.
• April 2025: Dutch prosecutors summoned Rabobank over years of insufficient customer due diligence and reporting of unusual transactions. Settlement talks had failed. In April 2026 a court let prosecutors seize files up to the present, beyond the 2016–2021 period first named. Dutch peers settled similar cases for €775 million (ING, 2018) and €480 million (ABN AMRO, 2021).

A fine in that range would cost Rabobank less than 2% of its CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary capital; it would not threaten depositors. It is still the main reason conduct scores only 56.

Practical tips for Rabobank customers

1. Keep savings within €100,000 per person at Rabobank. Spreading larger amounts across unrelated banks costs nothing.
2. Do not treat Rabobank Certificates as a savings account. They carry investment risk and are not covered by the deposit guaranteeDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary.
3. Approve payments only in the Rabo app. Fraud in the Netherlands often starts with a caller posing as the bank's security team who asks you to move money to a "safe account".
4. Check that a savings product is a deposit at Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. before you move money into it; that is the entity the Dutch scheme covers.

How we scored it

Capital (92), stability history (92) and liquidity (88) are Rabobank's strongest factors. Conduct (56) is the weakest, reflecting the 2018 US guilty plea, the 2013 Libor fine and the pending Dutch prosecution.