Rabobank faces regulatory expectations and operational realities not unfamiliar to any major financial institution: identifying financial crime. Taking its responsibilities in safeguarding the integrity of the financial system seriously, Rabobank’s transaction monitoring has grown rapidly in scale over the past decade.

Previously, the bank maintained separate systems for its international Wholesale & Rural arm and its domestic Retail operation. As these systems began to converge, it became clear that customer segmentation, a core element for setting effective monitoring thresholds and supporting analyst workflows, required a redesign. Segments needed to account for different client characteristics while also remaining explainable to regulators and adaptable to regional requirements. The challenge was particularly acute in non-European branches such as Australia and New Zealand, where the client base is diverse, ranging from large agribusinesses to individual account holders. Furthermore, different regions came with their own data sources, local regulations, and operational priorities.

Rabobank developed a new customer segmentation for its Wholesale & Rural transaction monitoring system, leveraging both data insights and deep business understanding. The design process drew heavily on Rabobank’s prior work in the Dutch retail domain, adjusting and extending these concepts for a global, wholesale context.

Rabobank paid careful attention to the diversity of its international business. Each region had unique data schemas and client behaviors, for instance, large farming conglomerates versus retail customers. The segmentation framework had to make sense regardless of differences in transaction sizes, types, and the relevant product range. Regular remote collaborations with local branch experts across Rabobank’s international branches helped ensure segment definitions were practically relevant and aligned with operational realities.

A priority was placed on developing explainable segmentation for Rabobank transaction analysts, who depend on these segments for their analysis, but also for regulators, who require a clear audit trail and rationale.

A technical challenge involved validating the proposed segment to ensure that client grouping was meaningful and distinguishable. To address this, the team constructed evaluation methods ensuring the segmentation was both effective and justifiable in audit and regulatory reviews.

Ongoing communication across global teams was essential, not only to align on design but also to address overlap with concurrent projects in other geographies. Agile practices and thorough documentation helped manage evolving requirements and maintain consistency.

Rabobank’s delivery of the redesigned customer segmentation marked a crucial step for its Wholesale & Rural transaction monitoring program. Delivery of the customer segmentation logic removes a significant obstacle to further rolling out a comprehensive, unified monitoring platform around the world. By consolidating segmentation logic and aligning with both global and local requirements, Rabobank is positioned to set sharper monitoring thresholds, support analysts with more information, and provide clear, auditable inputs for compliance discussions.

From a project perspective, the assignment illustrates the value of combining hands-on data science with experienced stakeholder engagement and project management. The customer segmentation logic will be included in the Transaction Monitoring model over the coming quarters. Our Xomnia specialist will stay involved in further setting up the governance, monitoring and implementation.