Cooperative banking: Heemskerk blames the shareholder cult

“We were a core holding because we were a safe institution that paid stable dividends year in and year out” Bert Heemskerk, Rabobank

Bert Heemskerk retired last month after serving for seven years as chairman of the executive board of Rabobank. It is not just the Dutch cooperative bank that will miss him. His book on the credit crisis came out last month in Dutch. It will probably be a very good read. Heemskerk studied philosophy, theology and macroeconomics before starting his banking career at Amro Bank in 1969.