Brief portrait of Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank
Rentenbank was founded in 1949 as a central funding institution with a statutory promotional mandate. German agriculture and forestry contributed the capital stock. The bank is a federal institution under public law. It is backed by an explicit guarantee of the Federal Republic of Germany. Insolvency proceedings in respect of the bank’s assets are inadmissible. The German federal government additionally bears institutional liability (Anstaltslast) for the bank. Rentenbank has its registered head office in Frankfurt am Main.
Rentenbank’s promotional mandate is comprehensive. Besides promoting agriculture and forestry, as well as the entire food value chain, we also promote renewable energy and renewable resources. And we support private-sector engagement and public-sector investments in rural areas. We attach particular importance to the promotion of innovation. Our commitment to this objective ranges from research and development in universities to the early-stage financing of agriculture-related start-ups and the market introduction and practical use of new technologies and products.
Our promotional instruments are grants, subordinated loans, special promotional loans, and venture capital investments. The special promotional loans are granted by the ultimate borrowers’ relationship banks (cooperative banks, savings banks, and private banks). We also provide funding to banks, savings banks, and local authorities operating in rural areas. The special promotional loans may be combined with budgetary resources of the German federal government in the form of grants or guarantees. Already today, our offerings support new ways of doing business that are aligned with climate, environmental, and animal protection goals. These offerings also serve the purpose of realising the potential to reduce greenhouse gases in agriculture and forestry. In order to promote new business ideas and models in agriculture, Rentenbank invests in venture capital funds. These funds provide targeted financing to start-ups in the ag-tech and food-tech sectors and help them gain a foothold in the market.
We fund our promotional activity by issuing securities and taking out loans in the capital markets. Rating agencies have assigned the highest credit ratings of AAA and Aaa to Rentenbank’s long-term obligations.
Rentenbank is subject to banking supervision by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) and the Bundesbank. Legal supervision is provided by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, BMEL) in agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Finanzen, BMF). We are a member of the Association of German Public Banks (Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands e. V., VÖB) and the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB).