De Volksbank invests in growth with its strategy 2021 – 2025 ‘better for each other - from promise to impact’

On February 12, 2021 we introduced our new strategy ‘better for each other - from promise to impact’. With this new strategy, we aim for growth by strengthening the customer relationship and further increasing the social impact. Read more about our new strategy on this page.

Pillars of growth: customer relationship and social impact

The strategy aims for growth by strengthening the customer relationship and further increasing the social impact. In the new strategy, we assign growth priority to the four strong, distinctive bank brands SNS, ASN Bank, RegioBank and BLG Wonen. De Volksbank will also expand its services to SME business owners. We will broaden our range of products and services to become more relevant to customers. The services we provide through the four bank brands are always personal and nearby with digital services and shops.

Growth priorities

For the period 2021-2025, we have set the following growth priorities for our brands:

ASN Bank, as a digital, sustainable bank and a driver of sustainability, will accelerate its growth by offering more sustainable products and propositions, increasing the number of customers and further developing the customer relationship;
SNS will change by also appealing to young people through personal, digital customer service in addition to advice in the shops and will increase its recurring fee income;
RegioBank, being the bank nearby, will reinforce its strong local presence by broadening its propositions such as SME and by intensifying its collaboration with the independent advisers;
BLG Wonen will expand through growth in mortgage production by increasing the distribution reach in the intermediary channel and through faster, more transparent services to advisers and customers;
Using the brands SNS, ASN Bank and RegioBank, we target SME business owners in the Netherlands with excellent services.

Organisational change: faster, more digital and more agile

De Volksbank is introducing a single, uniform agile organisational structure and working method with independent, fully responsible (customer) teams. This agile organisational structure and working method, will result in a more customer-oriented, and more efficient operation. An Executive Committee will be formed for a successful implementation of the strategy.

Targets for 2025 linked to our shared value ambition

The strategy for the next few years builds on de Volksbank’s mission of creating a positive impact for customers, society, employees and the shareholder by banking with a human touch. We continuously strike a balance between these stakeholders based on our shared value approach. This is how we distinctively add to the diversity of the Dutch banking landscape with the complementary brands SNS, ASN Bank, RegioBank and BLG Wonen. Based on our strategy and the current expectations of the economic developments and financial markets, objectively measurable targets have been defined for each stakeholder as key performance indicators (KPIs):

Stakeholder	Year-end 2025 targets
Customers	Raising the customer-weighted Net Promoter Score (NPS) to +13 (2020: +2) 1.3 million active multi-customers* (2020: 949,000)
Society**	A climate-neutral balance sheet of at least 75% (2020: 59%), rising to 100% climate neutral by 2030
Employees	Genuine attention for employees scores at least 7.5 (2020: 7.9)
Shareholder	Return on Equity (RoE) of 8% (2020: 5.1%)*** Dividend distribution of 40-60% of net profit

For more information about these KPIs please refer to the press release about the introduction of our new strategy.

Other objectives

We have also set objectives for ourselves in terms of optimising our capitalisation and balance sheet, and efficient business operations. These focus on the continuity of operations in particular, which is essential for all stakeholders. Translated into measurable targets and KPIs, this means that we aim for:

Internet mpact M3 1200x1000 Efficient en flexibel

KPI	Targets
CET1 ratio	consistently at least 19% based on full phase-in of Basel IV (2020: 31.2%, with an estimated impact of Basel IV rules of approx. -7 percentage points)
Leverage ratio	consistently at least 4.5% (2020: 5.2%)
Cost/income ratio	57-59% at year-end 2025* (2020: 70.6%)