Our strategy

 

 

Back to the basis

Ever since our foundation in 1945, our strengths have been in our credit skills, especially in long-term asset finance; our strong client franchise; our investment management capabilities; and our high-quality people and their entrepreneurial spirit.

 

In recent years, we have sharpened our strategy to concentrate on long-term relationships of trust with our clients, providing them with clear and sustainable solutions in a complex world. NIBC has been successfully transformed into a more traditional bank with a strong client focus.

 

The services we deliver build on our core competencies, and are organised around our two strategic pillars, Merchant Banking and Specialised Finance. This streamlined structure enables us to focus on our clients and concentrate on what we are good at. Within our core competencies, we offer our clients a full range of services. This can vary from M&A advice to financing and investment management within the asset classes in which we are expert.

 

Our people are and always have been our most important asset. We are proud to select and work with the best people, who exhibit the same entrepreneurial spirit as our clients. Our people are the very basis of our success, giving our clients optimal advice and support. We focus on building close partnerships with our clients and other stakeholders so we can work in the best way possible, harnessing all our talent and knowledge to achieve our goals.

 

 

Strategic priorities

We have set out our strategic priorities for the coming years in order to fulfil our ambitions. These priorities are threefold: client focus; sustainable profitability; and strong solvency and liquidity.

 

	Client focus
1

Our clients are our starting point, driving everything we do. We are a trustworthy banking partner and can act swiftly and resolutely at decisive moments for our clients.

 

We focus on our chosen sectors in order to best help our clients navigate complex issues and achieve their strategic ambitions. Our relatively modest size enables sector and product specialists to work closely together to develop tailor-made financial solutions that meet evolving client demands. In these turbulent times, we remain focused on the long-term.

 

NIBC’s aim is always to provide clear, bespoke answers to financial challenges. Our focus and industry leadership in selected sectors allow us to excel for our clients. We are the bank of choice for decisive financial moments.

 

	Sustainable profitability
2

We will create growth and returns for our shareholders while sufficiently controlling risks. We aim to grow our Corporate Loan portfolio and thus further build our stable base of interest income. We aim for a sufficient return with a moderate risk profile. Our performance cannot only be measured on the basis of economic and financial performance, but must also be gauged by our social and environmental contribution.

 

We will continue to optimise our risk profile by keeping a close watch on our Loan portfolio. A large part of our Loan portfolio comprises
asset-based financing. We have reduced non client-related activities that we no longer regard as core.

 

We will maintain strict cost management. We have increased our organisation’s efficiency, in the context of our sharpened strategy and enhanced focus, and to keep pace with the changed market circumstances. Costs decreased by 15% in 2009.

 

	Strong solvency and liquidity
3

In order to serve our clients well, we need a solid funding position.

 

Financial institutions worldwide have seen their access to capital markets deteriorate rapidly since the credit crisis began. Diversification of funding has been an important part of our strategy since the beginning of 2008.

 

We took decisive steps to diversify our funding and ensure stable, transparent and tightly-controlled liquidity. A clear example of a new form of funding is the online retail savings programme NIBC Direct, where we had successfully raised EUR 3.7 billion by 31 December 2009.

 

Raising liquidity reduced our profitability in the short run, yet we felt this was a price worth paying for long-term stability.

 

Achieving and maintaining a rating appropriate to our position in the banking world is part of our long-term sustainable funding policy.

 

The credit crisis and economic downturn led to an increase in capital requirements for banks. Although NIBC’s capital position was already above regulatory requirements, our shareholders contributed EUR 400 million in share capital in March 2008. We are strongly capitalised, with a Tier-1 ratio of 16.2% as per year-end 2009, well above the industry standard.

 

With our strong capitalisation and sound liquidity position, we can continue to deliver market-leading services and truly support our clients in the testing economic environment.