Rabobank appoints new Group Executive

Rabobank appoints new Group Executive to lead expanded Wholesale Banking operation

Rabobank has appointed Els Kamphof to the position of Group Executive, Wholesale Banking to lead a strengthened corporate banking operation for Rabobank in New Zealand and Australia.

Announcing the appointment, Rabobank Australia and New Zealand Group Managing Director Thos Gieskes said Ms Kamphof had an “impressive track record and extensive experience” in international wholesale banking – including eight years building Rabobank’s client and corporate lending business in the Netherlands.

“Coupled with this, Els has a close and long-standing connection with food and agribusiness, coming from a dairy farming family,” he said. “With this experience and background, Els is ideally placed to lead the bank’s strengthened focus on providing wholesale banking to the New Zealand food and Australian agribusiness corporate market – a key part of the bank’s future growth ambitions,” he said.

In addition to Ms Kamphof’s role, Rabobank has also appointed Karin Van Selm to the role of Head of Loan Products Group, leading the bank’s wholesale client coverage.

Mr Gieskes said the new strengthened Wholesale Banking operation would “round out the full potential of Rabobank’s food and agribusiness banking franchise in New Zealandand Australia, complementing the bank’s strong position as a leading lender to the farm sector”.

The world’s leading food and agribusiness bank, Rabobank is one of New Zealand and Australia’s largest rural banks and a major provider of corporate financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector.

Prior to taking on her new role with Rabobank in New Zealand and Australia, Ms
Kamphof led the global establishment of Rabobank’s Financial Institutions Group, based at the bank’s international headquarters in the Netherlands.

From 2006 to 2014, she held senior management positions in Rabobank’s Dutch wholesale banking division, including Head of Corporate Lending. “This involved very strong customer focus and covered all sectors including food and agri,” Mr Gieskes said.

Ms Kamphof previously spent 14 years in wholesale banking with ABN AMRO, working in the areas of project finance, structured finance, private equity and capital structuring.

Raised on dairy farm, she holds a Master’s degree in Econometrics from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

Ms Kamphof said she was very excited about taking on her new role and committed to supporting Rabobank’s food and agri wholesale clients in New Zealand and Australia in their ambitions.

“New Zealand and Australia have very active and dynamic food and agri sectors, with a lot of exciting growth potential even measured by global standards, including at the large corporate end of the market,” she said.

“I’m very much looking forward to being involved in the food and agri sectors here as they grow and develop. One of our key focusses will be in assisting the bank’s local wholesale clients to benefit from Rabobank’s comprehensive global client network across food an agri internationally, as well as to share in the knowledge and expertise of our world-class Food & Agri Research.

“Rabobank has a prime position as the leading agri banking specialist in the rural market in New Zealand and Australia, and we are keen to leverage this to further develop our position in the wholesale food and agri market.”

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