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Ragnarök

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In Norse mythology, Ragnarok ("fate of the gods"1) is the battle at the end of the world. It would supposedly be waged between the gods (the Æsir, led by Odin) and their aggressors (the fire giants, the Jotuns and various monsters, led by Loki). Not only will some of the gods, giants, and monsters perish in this apocalyptic conflagration, but almost everything in the universe will be torn asunder.

In the Viking warrior societies, dying in battles is a fate to admire and this is carried over into the worship of a pantheon in which the gods themselves will one day be overthrown at Ragnarok. Exactly what will happen, who will fight whom, and the fates of the participants in this battle are well known to the Norse peoples from their own sagas and skaldic poetry. The Völuspá (Prophecy of the Völva (female shaman)), the first lay of the Poetic Edda, dating from about 1000 AD, spans the history of the gods, from the beginning of time to Ragnarok, in 65 stanzas. The Prose Edda', written two centuries later by Snorri Sturluson, describes in detail what would take place before, during, and even after the battle.

What is unique about Ragnarok as an eschatological myth is its emphasis on the idea that the gods already know through prophecy what is going to happen: when the event will occur, who will be slain by whom, and so forth. They even realize that they are powerless to prevent Ragnarok. But they will still bravely and defiantly face their bleak destiny.

The word Ragnarok is derived from the Old Norse word Ragnarök, which consists of two parts: ragna is the genitive plural of regin ("gods" or "ruling powers"), while rök means "fate", etymologically related to English "reach". Also spelled Ragnarøkkr, Ragnarøk.

Prelude

Below are the main events that signify the approach of Ragnarok:

  1. the birth of three most evil and powerful creatures, the offspring of Loki and Angerboda, namely Jörmungandr, Fenrir and Hel, and the gods' action to confine them;
  2. the death of Baldr, and the binding of Loki.
  3. Fimbulwinter

Portents

Ragnarok will be preceded by the Fimbulwinter, the winter of winters. Three successive winters will follow each other with no summer in between. As a result, conflicts and feuds will break out, and all morality will disappear.

The wolf Skoll and his brother Hati will finally devour Sol and her brother Mani respectively, after a perpetual chase. The stars will vanish from the sky, plunging the earth into darkness.

The earth will shudder, so violently that trees will be uprooted, and mountains will fall, and every bond and fetter will snap and sever, freeing Loki and his son Fenrir. This terrible wolf's slavering mouth will gape wide open, so wide that his lower jaw scrapes against the ground and his upper jaw presses against the sky. He will gape even more widely if there is room. Flames will dance in his eye and leap from his nostrils.

Eggther, watchman of the Jotuns, will sit on his grave mound and strum his harp, smiling grimly. The red cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. A third cock2, rust red, will raise the dead in Hel.

Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent, will rise from the deep ocean bed to proceed towards the land, twisting and writhing in fury on his way, causing the seas to rear up and lash against the land. With every breath, the serpent will spew venom, staining the earth and the sky in poison.

From the east, the army of Jotuns, led by Hrym, will leave their home in Jotunheim and sail the grisly ship Naglfar (made from the nails of dead men), which will be set free by the tsunami and flooding, towards the battlefield of Vigrid.

From the north, a second ship will set sail towards Vigrid, with Loki, now unbound, as the helmsman, and the ghastly inhabitants of Hel as the deadweight.

The world will be in uproar, the air will quake with booms, blares and echoes. Amid this turmoil, the fire giants of Muspelheim, led by Surtr, will advance from the south and tear apart the sky itself as they too, close in on Vigrid, leaving everything in their path going up in flames. As they ride over Bifröst, the rainbow bridge will crack and break behind them. Garm, the hellhound bound in front of Gnipahellir, will also get free. He will join the fire giants in their way towards Vigrid.

So all the Jotuns and all the inmates of Hel, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, Garm, Surtr and the blazing sons of Muspelheim, will gather on Vigrid. They will all but fill that plain that stretches one hundred and twenty leagues in every direction.

Meanwhile, Heimdall, being the first of the gods to see the enemies approaching, will blow his Giallar horn, sounding such a blast that it will be heard throughout the nine worlds. All the Gods will wake and at once meet in council. Then Odin will mount Sleipnir and gallop to Mimir's spring and consult Mimir on his own and his people's behalf.

Then, Yggdrasil, the world ash, will shake from root to summit. Everything in earth and heaven and Hel will quiver. All Æsir and Einherjar will don their battle dresses. This vast host (432,000 Einherjar - 800 from each of Valhalla's 540 gates) will march towards Vigrid and Odin will ride at their head, wearing a golden helmet and a shining corselet, brandishing Gungnir.

The final battle

Odin is devoured by Fenrir.

Odin will make straight for Fenrir; and Thor, right beside him, will be unable to help because Jörmungand, his old enemy, will at once attack him. Freyr will fight the fire giant Surtr, but will become the first of all gods to lose as he has given his own good sword to his servant Skírnir. It will still be a long struggle though, before Freyr will succumb. Tyr will manage to kill Garm, but will be so severely wounded that he will only survive until after the world is destroyed in fire. Heimdall will encounter Loki, and neither survive the evenly-matched encounter. Thor will kill Jörmungandr with his hammer Mjollnir, but only be able to stagger back nine steps before falling dead himself, poisoned by the venom that Jörmungandr spews over him. Odin will fight with his mighty spear Gungnir against Fenrir but will finally be eaten by the wolf after a long battle. To avenge his father, Vidar will immediately come forward and place one foot on the wolf's lower jaw. On this foot he will be wearing the shoe which he has been making since the beginning of time; it consists of the strips of leather which men pare off at the toes and heels of their shoes. With one hand he will grasp the wolf's upper jaw and tear its throat asunder, killing it at last.

Then, Surtr will burn the whole world with fire. Death will come to all manner of things. The sun will go black and the stars will be cast down from the heavens. Fumes will reek and flames will burst, scorching the sky with fire. The earth will sink into the sea.

Aftermath

After the destruction, a new earth will arise out of the sea, green and fair. Barley will ripen in fields that were never sown. The meadow Idavoll, in the now-destroyed Asgard, will have been spared. The sun will reappear as Sol before being swallowed by Skoll, who will give birth to a daughter as fair as she herself. This maiden daughter will pursue her mother's road in the new sky.

A few gods will survive the ordeal: Odin's brother Vili, Odin's sons Vidar and Váli, Thor's sons Modi and Magni, who will inherit their father's magic hammer Mjollnir, and Hœnir, who will hold the wand and foretell what is to come. Baldr and his brother Höðr, who dies prior to Ragnarok, will come up from Hel and dwell in Odin's former hall, Valhalla, in the heavens. Meeting at Idavoll, these gods will sit down together, discuss their hidden lore, and talk over many things that had happened, including the evil of Jörmungandr and Fenrir. In the waving grass, they will find the golden chessboards that the Æsir used to own, and gaze at them in wonder. (None of the goddesses were mentioned in various accounts of the aftermath of Ragnarok, but there are assumptions that Frigg, Freya and the other goddesses will survive.)

Two humans will also escape the destruction of the world by hiding themselves deep within Yggdrasil—some say Hodmimir's Wood— where Surtr's sword cannot destroy. They will be called Lif and Lifthrasir. Emerging from their shelter, they will live on morning dew and will repopulate the human world. They will worship their new pantheon of gods, led by Baldr.

There will still be many halls to house the souls of the dead. According to the 'Prose Edda', another heaven exists south of and above Asgard, called Andlang, and a third heaven further above that, called Vidblain; and these places will offer protection while Surtr's fire burns the world. According to both 'Eddas', after Ragnarok, the best place of all will be Gimli, a building fairer than the sun, roofed with gold, in the heaven. There, the gods will live at peace with themselves and each other. There will be Brimir, a hall on Okolnir ("never cold"), where plenty of good drink will be served. And there will be Sindri, an excellent hall made wholly of red gold, on Nidafjoll ("dark mountains"). The souls of the good and virtuous will live in these halls.

The Prose Edda also mentions another hall called Nastrond ("corpse strand"). That place in the underworld will be as vile as it is vast: no sunlight will reach it; all its doors will face north; its walls and roof will be made of wattled snakes, with their heads facing inward, spewing so much poison that it runs in rivers in the hall. Here, oath breakers, murderers, and philanderers will wade through those rivers forever.

And, in the worst place of all, Hvergelmir, Níðhöggr, also a survivor of Ragnarok, will bedevil the bodies of the dead, sucking blood from them.

After all, in this new world, wickedness and misery no longer exist and gods and men will live together in peace and harmony. The descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir will inhabit Midgard.

One should recognize that Ragnarok is not a conflict between good and evil like the Christian concept of Armageddon, but one between order (the gods) and chaos (the giants). These two events also differ in that after Ragnarok, both sides are ultimately decimated, whereas in the Book of Revelation, God is clearly victorious over the forces of Satan.


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These two events also differ in that after Ragnarok, both sides are ultimately decimated, whereas in the Book of Revelation, God is clearly victorious over the forces of Satan.
The Rabobank Group currently consists of the following divisions:. One should recognize that Ragnarok is not a conflict between good and evil like the Christian concept of Armageddon, but one between order (the gods) and chaos (the giants). Rabobank also holds some 40% of the total outstanding sums on Dutch savings accounts and they account for approximately 20% of all private consumer mortgages in The Netherlands. The descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir will inhabit Midgard. By 2005 the agricultural credits amounted to some 8% of total outstanding credit. After all, in this new world, wickedness and misery no longer exist and gods and men will live together in peace and harmony. In 1987 an important milestone was reached; the total outstanding loans in sectors other than agriculture exceeded those in the agricultural sector for the first time.

And, in the worst place of all, Hvergelmir, Níðhöggr, also a survivor of Ragnarok, will bedevil the bodies of the dead, sucking blood from them. By mid 1970s the marketshare in this sector reached some 30% and currently amounts to approximately 40%. Here, oath breakers, murderers, and philanderers will wade through those rivers forever. Throughout the years the company also started targeting other sectors of Small and Medium Sized companies. That place in the underworld will be as vile as it is vast: no sunlight will reach it; all its doors will face north; its walls and roof will be made of wattled snakes, with their heads facing inward, spewing so much poison that it runs in rivers in the hall. It is not surprising to learn that they still hold an 85%-90% marketshare in the agrarian sector in The Netherlands. The Prose Edda also mentions another hall called Nastrond ("corpse strand"). The Rabobank is traditionally a farmers' bank.

The souls of the good and virtuous will live in these halls. The latter is the most distinguishing organ as compared to other financial institutions in Holland and abroad. And there will be Sindri, an excellent hall made wholly of red gold, on Nidafjoll ("dark mountains"). The chairman of this board also presides over the Centrale Kringvergadering. There will be Brimir, a hall on Okolnir ("never cold"), where plenty of good drink will be served. The supervisory board was renamed to Board of Commissioners and now held an independent supervisory role. There, the gods will live at peace with themselves and each other. they are expected to look out for the specific interests of the members (local banks and their certificate holders).

According to both 'Eddas', after Ragnarok, the best place of all will be Gimli, a building fairer than the sun, roofed with gold, in the heaven. They have an added task compared to a traditional board i.e. According to the 'Prose Edda', another heaven exists south of and above Asgard, called Andlang, and a third heaven further above that, called Vidblain; and these places will offer protection while Surtr's fire burns the world. It was also renamed to Raad van Bestuur or Board of Directors. There will still be many halls to house the souls of the dead. De Hoofddirectie received an integral authority over the banking business. They will worship their new pantheon of gods, led by Baldr. The Raad van Beheer was disbanded.

Emerging from their shelter, they will live on morning dew and will repopulate the human world. In 2002 this rather cumbersome structure was simplified. They will be called Lif and Lifthrasir. At the time of the merger there were five management instruments within Rabobank Nederland:. Two humans will also escape the destruction of the world by hiding themselves deep within Yggdrasil—some say Hodmimir's Wood— where Surtr's sword cannot destroy. This has led to a very ambivalent relationship between the two over the years. (None of the goddesses were mentioned in various accounts of the aftermath of Ragnarok, but there are assumptions that Frigg, Freya and the other goddesses will survive.). This leads to an interesting and rather unusual phenomenon within international business: the mother companies and the much larger daughter are essentially forced to coexist together in order to function properly.

In the waving grass, they will find the golden chessboards that the Æsir used to own, and gaze at them in wonder. This has grown to be especially important in view of recent developments and international standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Basel II and IFRS. Meeting at Idavoll, these gods will sit down together, discuss their hidden lore, and talk over many things that had happened, including the evil of Jörmungandr and Fenrir. In accordance with Dutch regulations in the field of credit and financial services Rabobank Nederland oversees that the local banks maintain a required level of prudency and professionalism while selling financial products. Baldr and his brother Höðr, who dies prior to Ragnarok, will come up from Hel and dwell in Odin's former hall, Valhalla, in the heavens. The central organisation does occasionally overrule the autonomy of the local bank organisations. A few gods will survive the ordeal: Odin's brother Vili, Odin's sons Vidar and Váli, Thor's sons Modi and Magni, who will inherit their father's magic hammer Mjollnir, and Hœnir, who will hold the wand and foretell what is to come. Employees of the group do not routinely speak of a headquarters but prefer to speak of Rabobank Nederland, which is their daughter organisation.

This maiden daughter will pursue her mother's road in the new sky. The local banks are facilitated by Rabobank Nederland to serve their customers and not the other way around as is often the case with traditional banking organisations. The sun will reappear as Sol before being swallowed by Skoll, who will give birth to a daughter as fair as she herself. Formally the local Rabobanks are the mother organisation of Rabobank Nederland, their central organisation. The meadow Idavoll, in the now-destroyed Asgard, will have been spared. The Rabobank Group consists of a network of local banks, Rabobank Nederland and several daughter organisations. Barley will ripen in fields that were never sown. Rabobank is one of the most well-organised banks in the world and has been awarded the Triple A (AAA+) status, making it the only non-publicly traded bank in the world with such a status [1].

After the destruction, a new earth will arise out of the sea, green and fair. This has led to Rabobank being a prominent player in the field of savings accounts, checking accounts and mortgages in The Netherlands. The earth will sink into the sea. Since the introduction of consumer salary accounts in the 1960s the number of retail clients grew exponentially. Fumes will reek and flames will burst, scorching the sky with fire. Traditionally the bank served mostly farmers and small businesses. The sun will go black and the stars will be cast down from the heavens. this of course applies to the size of the local bank offices.

Death will come to all manner of things. As large as is necessary, as small as possible. Then, Surtr will burn the whole world with fire. Currently the motto is:. With one hand he will grasp the wolf's upper jaw and tear its throat asunder, killing it at last. Increasing customer demand for standardized and widely available products also played a significant part in this development. On this foot he will be wearing the shoe which he has been making since the beginning of time; it consists of the strips of leather which men pare off at the toes and heels of their shoes. The major rationale behind this was the need to attain economies of scale in the fields of payments, transaction, processing, staff and of course capital.

To avenge his father, Vidar will immediately come forward and place one foot on the wolf's lower jaw. Local presence and local autonomy were always important but this hasn't stopped a wave of concentration of the local banks. Odin will fight with his mighty spear Gungnir against Fenrir but will finally be eaten by the wolf after a long battle. Since 1998 the local bank director is an appointed professional banker and he presides over a board of directors which is chosen from among the members. Thor will kill Jörmungandr with his hammer Mjollnir, but only be able to stagger back nine steps before falling dead himself, poisoned by the venom that Jörmungandr spews over him. The position cashier was replaced by a local bank director. Heimdall will encounter Loki, and neither survive the evenly-matched encounter. Much later, in the 60's the most local banks moved into new and modern offices that reflected their new-found professionalism.

Tyr will manage to kill Garm, but will be so severely wounded that he will only survive until after the world is destroyed in fire. This has of course changed by now, but even as recently as in late 1950's the local bank office was nothing more than the cashier's living room, he generally performed his administrative duties besides another regular job. It will still be a long struggle though, before Freyr will succumb. Only the cashier received a small salary. Freyr will fight the fire giant Surtr, but will become the first of all gods to lose as he has given his own good sword to his servant Skírnir. They adhered to the principle of non-remunerated management and elected the board and the commissioners from among themselves. Odin will make straight for Fenrir; and Thor, right beside him, will be unable to help because Jörmungand, his old enemy, will at once attack him. The local banks were self-governed by members of the cooperation.

This vast host (432,000 Einherjar - 800 from each of Valhalla's 540 gates) will march towards Vigrid and Odin will ride at their head, wearing a golden helmet and a shining corselet, brandishing Gungnir. This allowed the banks to offer lower interest rates. All Æsir and Einherjar will don their battle dresses. These moneylenders stood close to the farmers and were better in judging the creditworthiness of individual farmers than the city banks. Everything in earth and heaven and Hel will quiver. bringing excess capital and capital shortages together. Then, Yggdrasil, the world ash, will shake from root to summit. They managed to perform the key tasks of a banking organisation i.e.

Then Odin will mount Sleipnir and gallop to Mimir's spring and consult Mimir on his own and his people's behalf. Right from the start the cooperative banks prosperred well. All the Gods will wake and at once meet in council. As of 1980 the central organisation is referred to as Rabobank Nederland. Meanwhile, Heimdall, being the first of the gods to see the enemies approaching, will blow his Giallar horn, sounding such a blast that it will be heard throughout the nine worlds. The organisation chose Amsterdam to be its statutory headquarter due to the historical neutrality in relation to the founding organisations. They will all but fill that plain that stretches one hundred and twenty leagues in every direction. The name Rabobank is a portmanteau of Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank.

So all the Jotuns and all the inmates of Hel, Fenrir, Jörmungandr, Garm, Surtr and the blazing sons of Muspelheim, will gather on Vigrid. In 1972 the two organisation merged. He will join the fire giants in their way towards Vigrid. Three major developments caused a further tightening of the bonds between the two:. Garm, the hellhound bound in front of Gnipahellir, will also get free. By 1940 the two organisations cooperated with each other, be it on a limited scale. As they ride over Bifröst, the rainbow bridge will crack and break behind them. The religious backgrounds found their way to the organisational structure as well; the Eindhoven organisation stressed a highly centralised structure while the Utrecht organisation promoted local autonomy.

Amid this turmoil, the fire giants of Muspelheim, led by Surtr, will advance from the south and tear apart the sky itself as they too, close in on Vigrid, leaving everything in their path going up in flames. In the past The Netherlands underwent a process of pillarization or verzuiling, which in practice meant that members of different religious congregations and political movements essentially lived side by side each other without contact between the two. The world will be in uproar, the air will quake with booms, blares and echoes. The Eindhoven based Boerenleenbank had a decidedly catholic signature while the Raiffeisen-Bank had a protestant background. From the north, a second ship will set sail towards Vigrid, with Loki, now unbound, as the helmsman, and the ghastly inhabitants of Hel as the deadweight. The most important difference, however, was cultural. From the east, the army of Jotuns, led by Hrym, will leave their home in Jotunheim and sail the grisly ship Naglfar (made from the nails of dead men), which will be set free by the tsunami and flooding, towards the battlefield of Vigrid. The reasons for this owed in part to legal disagreements.

With every breath, the serpent will spew venom, staining the earth and the sky in poison. These two existed side by side for three quarters of a century despite their obvious similarities. Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent, will rise from the deep ocean bed to proceed towards the land, twisting and writhing in fury on his way, causing the seas to rear up and lash against the land. The first was formed as a cooperation of 6 local banks and the latter as a cooperation of 22 local banks. A third cock2, rust red, will raise the dead in Hel. In 1898 two cooperative bank conglomerates were formed:. The red cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. The bank's traditional headquarters are Utrecht and Eindhoven.

Eggther, watchman of the Jotuns, will sit on his grave mound and strum his harp, smiling grimly. The cooperative bank model assured a tight bond between invested capital and the community. Flames will dance in his eye and leap from his nostrils. The mission of the farmers' lending banks was an idealistic one but they always operated using strict business principles. He will gape even more widely if there is room. The model caught on being championed by the clergy and the countryside elites. This terrible wolf's slavering mouth will gape wide open, so wide that his lower jaw scrapes against the ground and his upper jaw presses against the sky. One of the first of Raiffeisen's followers was father Gerlacus van den Elsen who stood at the basis of a number of local farmers'banks in the south of The Netherlands.

The earth will shudder, so violently that trees will be uprooted, and mountains will fall, and every bond and fetter will snap and sever, freeing Loki and his son Fenrir. This model found a lot of interest in The Netherlands at the end of the 19th century. The stars will vanish from the sky, plunging the earth into darkness. In doing so he created the Darlehnskassen-Verein, it collected the savings of the countryside dwellers and provided the enterprising but needy farmers with loans. The wolf Skoll and his brother Hati will finally devour Sol and her brother Mani respectively, after a perpetual chase. He therefore converted his charitable foundations into a farmers' bank in 1864. As a result, conflicts and feuds will break out, and all morality will disappear. He soon realised, however, that self-reliance had more potential in the long run than charitable aid.

Three successive winters will follow each other with no summer in between. He tried to alleviate this need through a variety of charitable activities. Ragnarok will be preceded by the Fimbulwinter, the winter of winters. Being a countryside mayor he was confronted with the abject poverty of the farmers and their families. Below are the main events that signify the approach of Ragnarok:. The bank is rooted in the ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the co-operative movement of credit unions who in 1864 created the first farmers' bank in Germany. . The central organisation is the daughter organisation of the local branches, rather than the parent organisation, as is the case with most banks.

Also spelled Ragnarøkkr, Ragnarøk. Rooted in agriculture, Rabobank is set up as a federation of local credit unions, which offer services to the local markets. The word Ragnarok is derived from the Old Norse word Ragnarök, which consists of two parts: ragna is the genitive plural of regin ("gods" or "ruling powers"), while rök means "fate", etymologically related to English "reach". . But they will still bravely and defiantly face their bleak destiny. Rabobank is a Dutch cooperative banking institution with offices all over the world, although primarily in the Netherlands. They even realize that they are powerless to prevent Ragnarok. For the cycling team sponsored by the Rabobank, go to Rabobank (cycling).

What is unique about Ragnarok as an eschatological myth is its emphasis on the idea that the gods already know through prophecy what is going to happen: when the event will occur, who will be slain by whom, and so forth. VIB Corp - California based financial services corporation. The Prose Edda', written two centuries later by Snorri Sturluson, describes in detail what would take place before, during, and even after the battle.. ACCBank - Agricultural Credit Corporation, Ireland. The Völuspá (Prophecy of the Völva (female shaman)), the first lay of the Poetic Edda, dating from about 1000 AD, spans the history of the gods, from the beginning of time to Ragnarok, in 65 stanzas. FGH Bank - Real estate bank. Exactly what will happen, who will fight whom, and the fates of the participants in this battle are well known to the Norse peoples from their own sagas and skaldic poetry. Alex - online stocktrading.

In the Viking warrior societies, dying in battles is a fate to admire and this is carried over into the worship of a pantheon in which the gods themselves will one day be overthrown at Ragnarok. Obvion - Mortgage intermediary. Not only will some of the gods, giants, and monsters perish in this apocalyptic conflagration, but almost everything in the universe will be torn asunder. Schretlen & Co - Asset management, private banking sector. It would supposedly be waged between the gods (the Æsir, led by Odin) and their aggressors (the fire giants, the Jotuns and various monsters, led by Loki). De Lage Landen - Vendor finance, leasing and trade finance. In Norse mythology, Ragnarok ("fate of the gods"1) is the battle at the end of the world. Interpolis - Insurance and pensions (401k).

Fimbulwinter. Robeco - Asset management. the death of Baldr, and the binding of Loki. Rabo Vastgoed - Project developer, real estate. the birth of three most evil and powerful creatures, the offspring of Loki and Angerboda, namely Jörmungandr, Fenrir and Hel, and the gods' action to confine them;. 260 independent and cooperative local banks in The Netherlands. Local Banks - Approx.

Wholesalebanking and international retail banking. ICT, Legal and other facilitary departments. Groupfunctions i.e. Market (staff)support for the domestic retail banking business.

It currently performs the following core activities:

    . Rabobank Nederland - the facilitary and staff organisation that serves the local banks. Raad van Toezicht - supervisory board. An independent advisory council whose chairman also attended the meetings of De Hoofddirectie.

    Raad van Beheer - management council. Theoretically they were an autonomous management organ, but in practice, they had to pay 'serious consideration' to what the 4th organ; Raad van Beheer; thought about the course of action for the organisation. De Hoofddirectie - general management. De Centrale Kringvergadering - advisoryboard manned by representatives of clusters of local banks.

    The boards of all local banks within the cooperation were represented here. Algemene Vergadering - general assembly. An increasing demand for capital in the Dutch industry, which in turn led to higher concentration in the banking business. A gradual fading of the confessional differences between the two.

    Increasing number of offices - leading to increased local competition. Coöperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank in Eindhoven. Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Bank in Utrecht.