Working together on financial health

10 February 2026 12:07

More and more Dutch households are in debt. This causes significant stress, health problems and tension at home. To tackle this issue, businesses and government bodies have joined forces in the Stichting Financieel Gezond Nederland (Foundation for a Financially Healthy Netherlands). Rabobank is an active participant in this coalition.

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A growing problem

More and more people in the Netherlands are having financial problems. A quarter of households are financially vulnerable, and an equally large group is even financially unhealthy. A growing number of people struggle to manage their money and cannot make ends meet, including people with jobs. People often wait too long to seek help. They feel ashamed or don’t know where to turn for help. This increases their problems. Research shows that 20% of Dutch people have less than 1,000 euros in savings for emergencies.

Financially vulnerable: You have just enough money to live on, but no savings. If something unexpected happens, like a broken washing machine or a high bill, you immediately run into trouble. You find it difficult to plan ahead or set money aside.
Financially unhealthy: You never have enough money to make ends meet. You have a high risk of debt and can hardly save anything. You experience a lot of stress about money, which is bad for your health and wellbeing.

What does the foundation do?

Her Majesty Queen Máxima is honorary chair of the foundation and brings businesses and government bodies together to accelerate solutions that really work. The goal is to significantly reduce the number of people with financial problems by 2030. The idea is that a financially healthy society contributes to the wellbeing of people, organizations, the economy and society as a whole.

The foundation focuses on:

    Develop & realize: Bringing together knowledge and data, identifying bottlenecks in the system and building solutions. Scale up what works: Proven methods gain greater reach and impact through the network. Measure & improve: Concrete evidence is provided of what the approach delivers. From additional household income to macroeconomic gains.

What does Rabobank do?

We believe everyone should have a fair opportunity to achieve financial independence. That’s why Rabobank is a partner of the foundation. There is also a dedicated Financially Healthy Living team within Rabobank to help as many people as possible to feel financially stronger. They are committed to creating social value together (with partners).

Maartje Gosselink (Head of Financial Healthy Living Rabobank): “By identifying financial problems early, making them discussable and solving them sustainably, we help customers stay financially healthy. This prevents serious problems and leads to less stress and a happier life.”

Rabobank is also one of the initiators of the Social Debt Collection Framework. A social debt collection approach can prevent small payment arrears from getting worse and leading to (problematic) debts due to high collection costs and complicated procedures. With the Social Debt Collection Framework, creditors, collection agencies, municipalities and financial aid providers want to contribute to a country where debts don’t unnecessarily grow larger, but actually become smaller.

Help for customers

With Rabobank, the Help with Money Worries team assists customers who struggle to balance their income and expenses. We also offer practical help for all our customers:

    Accessible products for saving or investing Online tools that provide insight into your financial situation Budgeting tips and other useful information for managing money well

In doing so, we work with other organizations and want to ensure that people dare to ask for help sooner and receive the right help.

More information about Financially healthy living: Financially healthy living - Rabobank