As a development agency, there are four points of contact in Rentenbank’s value chain which are of particular importance:

• Collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) as part of our special promotional loans business
• Collaboration with local banks through which loans at favourable rates are granted to end borrowers
• Collaboration with green bond partners and investors for sustainable investment
• The sourcing of products and services for our banking operations

Collaboration with ministries
As Germany’s development agency for agribusiness and rural areas with a statutory promotional mandate, the BMEL’s upfront requirements regarding the conditions for the granting of loans are of prime importance to Rentenbank. Rentenbank is in regular contact with ministries regarding the contribution it can make in the processing of the federal programmes and the creation of its own promotional programmes, which contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas.

Collaboration with local banks
Rentenbank operates as a central funding institution. It awards promotional loans at favourable rates and on a competitively neutral basis through 'on-lending' via local banks. This specifically means that Rentenbank promotional loans are granted to end borrowers via their local banks, which ultimately get the funding from Rentenbank. This presents a challenge for Rentenbank because it does not have any direct contact with end borrowers the way its value chain is structured. However, our special promotional loans are of crucial importance to Rentenbank’s value chain because they have a direct impact on the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. Therefore, Rentenbank is engaged in intensive discussions with major banks about how data gathering and monitoring on the level of investment and/or the end borrower can be improved upon. Furthermore, Rentenbank supports communication about sustainability between local banks and end borrowers by providing the leaflet entitled ‘Sustainable Investments’, where the favourable rates offered by Rentenbank are explained.

Sourcing of products and services
Rentenbank endeavours to incorporate environmental protection into its business operations as much as possible and to use environmentally-friendly technologies. We take ecological and ethical aspects into consideration when we make decisions on suppliers and service providers. This includes the fact that Rentenbank does not enter into any transactions which could have a detrimental effect on its reputation.

Various suppliers provide the Bank with the necessary goods and services. As a non-producing company, our value chain principally spans the following product groups solely for the operation of our banking business in Frankfurt am Main as the only site (cf. criterion 11 for further details):

• HR services Facilities Management including energy sources, office furniture and plants
• Electric devices/IT
• Office supplies
• Fleet Marketing and Communications
• Food for the Bank's catering facilities

The review of suppliers’ ecological and social standards is restricted to tier 1 based on seals and reputation.

As an authority contracting within the realms of its status as a public law institution, Rentenbank is obliged to formally tender contracts above certain thresholds within the EU and to abide by the principles of transparency, nondiscrimination and competition in the process.

Under criterium 10 (Innovation and Product Management) we explain how we observe sustainability aspects in our promotional and investment business.