This annual report is filed by Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (“Rentenbank”), an institution organized under public law of the Federal Republic of Germany (the “Federal Republic”). All obligations to the holders of any debt securities issued by Rentenbank are effectively backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Republic.

In this Annual Report, references to “€”, “euro” or “EUR” are to the single currency which was introduced as of January 1, 1999, at the start of the third stage of European economic and monetary union. In this Annual Report, references to “U.S. dollars” or “$” are to United States dollars.

This annual report is filed subject to the Instructions for Form 18-K for Foreign Governments and Political Subdivisions thereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank has duly caused this annual report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, at Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany, on May 19, 2015.

This description of Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank and the Federal Republic of Germany is dated May 19, 2015, and appears as Exhibit (d) to the Annual Report on Form 18-K of Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

THIS DOCUMENT (OTHERWISE AS PART OF A PROSPECTUS CONTAINED IN A REGISTRATION STATEMENT FILED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED) DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES OF LANDWIRTSCHAFTLICHE RENTENBANK. THE DELIVERY OF THIS DOCUMENT AT ANY TIME DOES NOT IMPLY THAT THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS CORRECT AS OF ANY TIME SUBSEQUENT TO ITS DATE.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, financial information relating to Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank presented herein has been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (“IFRS”). Amounts in tables may not add up due to rounding differences.

In this description, references to “€”, “euro” or “EUR” are to the single currency which was introduced as of January 1, 1999, at the start of the third stage of European economic and monetary union. In this description, references to “U.S. dollars” or “$” are to United States dollars, references to “JPY” are to Japanese Yen, and references to “A$” are to Australian dollars.

On May 15, 2015, the noon buying rate for cable transfers in New York City in euro was EUR 1.00 = $1.1428.

In this description, references to the “Federal Republic” and “Germany” are to the Federal Republic of Germany and references to the “Federal Government” are to the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. The terms “Rentenbank”, “we” or “us” refer to Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank.

This description contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry in which we operate, management’s beliefs and assumptions made by management. Such statements include, in particular, statements about our plans, strategies and prospects. Words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “seeks”, “estimates”, variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we do not have any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements after they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) giving economic data expressed in euro.

The following table shows the period end, average, high and low noon buying rates for euros, expressed in U.S. dollars per €1.00 for the periods and dates indicated, as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The following table shows the high and low noon buying rates for euro, expressed in U.S. dollars per €1.00, for each month from January through April 2015, as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

No representation is made that the euro or U.S. dollar amounts referred to herein or referred to in the documents which incorporate this information by reference could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or euro, as the case may be, at any particular rate.

There are, except in limited embargo circumstances, no legal restrictions in the Federal Republic on international capital movements and foreign exchange transactions. However, for statistical purposes only, every individual or corporation residing in the Federal Republic, including Rentenbank, must report to the German Central Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank), subject to a number of exceptions, any payment received from or made to an individual or a corporation resident outside of the Federal Republic if this payment exceeds €12,500 or the equivalent in a foreign currency.

The financial figures in this section are based on preliminary, unaudited results for Rentenbank’s three months ended March 31, 2015. Consequently, the amounts discussed below could be subject to change as a result of the audit process. Rentenbank expects its final, audited financial statements for 2015 to be announced at a press conference and published in April 2016.

The first quarter of 2015 was characterized by a continuing high demand for our special promotional loans. The approved volume of special promotional loans granted at particularly favorable interest rates amounted to €1,532.9 million (as compared with €1,458.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2014).

From the total anticipated medium and long-term issue requirement of prospective €10.5 billion for 2015, Rentenbank was already able to raise €5.0 billion in the first quarter (as compared with €4.4 billion during the three months ended March 31, 2014). Issue volume, including short-term issues (except for issuance under the European commercial paper program), reached a total of €5.0 billion during the first quarter of 2015 (as compared with €4.4 billion during the three months ended March 31, 2014).

The following economic information regarding the Federal Republic is derived from the public official documents cited below. Certain of the information is preliminary.

Germany’s gross domestic product (“GDP”) increased by 0.3% after price, seasonal and calendar adjustments in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. Compared to the previous quarter, positive contributions mainly came from domestic demand. The final consumption expenditure of households increased over the previous quarter, as did government final consumption expenditure. A positive development was also observed for fixed capital formation. Gross fixed capital formation in construction and in machinery and equipment was up markedly compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. Foreign trade, however, had a negative effect on economic growth. According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services were up slightly compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. Imports, however, saw a much stronger increase.

In a year-on-year comparison, the German economy recorded positive growth. GDP in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 1.0% in price and calendar-adjusted terms, following an increase of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2014.

In April 2015, consumer prices in Germany rose by 0.5% compared to April 2014. The inflation rate thus increased for the third consecutive month but remained at a low level. A decrease of 11.1% in the prices of mineral oil products had a negative effect on overall inflation in April 2015. Most notably, prices for heating oil and motor fuels decreased by 20.1% and 8.1%, respectively, compared to the corresponding period in 2014. Overall, the prices for energy decreased by 5.9% from April 2014 to April 2015. Excluding the prices of energy products, the inflation rate in April 2015 compared to April 2014 would have been 1.2%.

Food prices increased by 1.1% in April 2015 compared to April 2014. The main drivers of this year-on-year increase were the prices of vegetables and confectionary, which increased by 6.1% and 4.1%, respectively, compared to the corresponding period in 2014. Overall, the prices of goods decreased by 0.6% in April 2015 compared to April 2014, a slower decrease than in previous months. By contrast, prices for services increased by 1.2% in April 2015 compared to April 2014, due mainly to a 1.3% increase in net rents exclusive of heating expenses.

Compared to March 2015, the consumer price index remained unchanged in April 2015. An increase of 0.4% in the prices of goods was offset by a decrease of 0.4% in the prices of services. Overall, energy prices increased by 0.5% from March 2015 to April 2015. Over this time period, motor fuel prices increased by 2.3%, while household energy prices decreased by 0.3%.

The number of employed persons increased by approximately 238,000 persons, or 0.6%, from March 2014 to March 2015. Compared to February 2015, the number of employed persons in March 2015 increased by approximately 11,000, after adjustment for seasonal fluctuations.

In March 2015, the number of unemployed persons decreased by approximately 207,000, or 9.4%, compared to March 2014. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects (trend cycle component), the number of unemployed persons in March 2015 decreased by 1.0% to 1.97 million compared to February 2015.

Rentenbank was founded in 1949 as the development bank for the agriculture, forestry, fishing and food industries in Germany. We are an institution established under public law (rechtsfähige Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts) and have our headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. We do not have any branches. Rentenbank is registered with the Commercial Register of the Local Court of Frankfurt am Main under HRA 30636.

Our activities and governance structure are regulated by our governing law and our statutes. Under the governing law, we are charged with the public task of promoting the agriculture industry (including forestry, horticulture and fishing) and the development of rural areas through the extension of credit for:

Rentenbank’s governing law (Gesetz über die Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank) was amended by the German Federal Development Banks New Structuring Law (Förderbankenneustrukturierungsgesetz or the “Restructuring Law”) effective as of August 22, 2003, principally in order to clarify its permissible activities in connection with the understanding reached on March 1, 2002, between the Federal Government and the Commission of the European Union on the treatment of state guarantees for federal development banks. See “— Relationship with the Federal Government — Understanding with the European Commission”.

In 2009, Rentenbank’s governing law was amended twice. Effective as of March 26, 2009 Article 4 of the Act on the further development of the German covered bond law dated March 20, 2009 (Gesetz zur Fortentwicklung des Pfandbriefrechts vom 20. März 2009) deleted in particular all provisions relating to a potential insolvency of Rentenbank since insolvency proceedings are inconsistent with the principles of Anstaltslast. See “— Relationship with the Federal Government — Institutional Liability (Anstaltslast)”.

Furthermore, Rentenbank’s governing law was amended by Article 8 of the Act on the Implementation of Supervisory Provisions of the Payment Services Directive (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der aufsichtsrechtlichen Vorschriften der Zahlungsdiensterichtlinie) dated June 25, 2009. Effective as of October 31, 2009, the language of our governing law was adapted to the language of the directive but did not have any impact on our legal status or permissible activities.

Finally, Rentenbank’s governing law was amended by Article 4 of the statute implementing the Directive 2013/36/EU on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms and adapting supervisory laws to Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie 2013/36/EU über den Zugang zur Tätigkeit von Kreditinstituten und die Beaufsichtigung von Kreditinstituten und Wertpapierfirmen und zur Anpassung des Aufsichtsrechts an die Verordnung (EU) Nr. 575/2013 über die Aufsichtsanforderungen an Kreditinstitute und Wertpapierfirmen; the “CRD IV Umsetzungsgesetz”) dated August 28, 2013. In connection with the CRD IV Umsetzungsgesetz, the Rentenbank Law was amended to include a new Section 1a, pursuant to which, as of January 1, 2014, the Federal Republic of Germany guarantees all existing and future obligations of Rentenbank in respect of money borrowed, bonds and notes issued and derivative transactions entered into by Rentenbank, as well as obligations of third parties that are expressly

Rentenbank’s statutes (Satzung) were amended and restated, effective as of March 27, 2014, principally to reflect changes in the German Banking Act (Gesetz über die Kreditwesen) based on the CRD IV Umsetzungsgesetz.

We extend credit to German and other public and private sector banks in the European Union and Norway which are active in the financing of the agricultural sector, the food industry and rural areas both by means of traditional loans and by purchasing the debt securities of such banks. We also issue loans to financial institutions for the financing of rural development and infrastructure projects as well as German federal states (Bundesländer), municipalities and public law special purpose corporations. Finally, we extend credit to specific agencies of the Federal Republic.

As an instrumentality serving public policy objectives of the Federal Government, we are not subject to corporate income and trade tax and do not seek to maximize profits.

Rentenbank’s founding capital was raised through a public charge imposed on agricultural land in Germany from 1949 to 1958. This charge was established by a federal law, the Law on the Rentenbank Land Charge (Gesetz über die Rentenbankgrundschuld), dated May 11, 1949.

At December 31, 2014, Rentenbank had total consolidated assets of approximately €88.8 billion. Under German law, we prepare financial statements on both a consolidated and an unconsolidated basis. Throughout this description, when we discuss our financial information, we are referring to our consolidated financial information unless we note otherwise. For more information on our unconsolidated statements, see our unconsolidated financial statements and the notes thereto beginning on page 115.

Our registered office and headquarters are located at Hochstrasse 2, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and our telephone number is 011-49-69-2107-0.

Rentenbank has no shareholders and Germany’s federal parliament exercises ultimate control over Rentenbank through legislative action. For example, our governing law specifies the scope of our activities. The Federal Government exercises supervision of Rentenbank through the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture which makes its decisions in concert with the Federal Ministry of Finance. We may only be liquidated pursuant to legislative action by the federal parliament.

Our governing law was amended with effect from January 1, 2014 to provide expressly that the Federal Republic guarantees all existing and future obligations of Rentenbank in respect of money borrowed, bonds and notes issued and derivative transactions entered into by Rentenbank, as well as obligations of third parties that are expressly guaranteed by Rentenbank (Law Governing Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, Section 1a). Under the Guarantee of the Federal Republic, if Rentenbank fails to make any payment of principal or interest or any other amount required to be paid with respect to securities issued by Rentenbank, or if Rentenbank fails to make any payment required to be made under Rentenbank’s guarantee when that payment is due and payable, the Federal Republic will be liable at all times for that payment as and when it becomes due and payable. The Federal Republic’s obligation under the Guarantee of the Federal Republic will rank equally, without any preference, with all of its other present and future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness. Holders of securities issued by Rentenbank or issued under Rentenbank’s guarantee will be able to enforce this obligation directly against the Federal Republic without first having to take legal action against Rentenbank. The Guarantee of the Federal Republic is strictly a matter of statutory law and is not evidenced by any contract or instrument. It may be subject to defenses available to Rentenbank with respect to the obligations covered.

The Guarantee of the Federal Republic does not affect the obligations of the Federal Republic towards Rentenbank pursuant to the existing institutional liability (Anstaltslast).

Rentenbank benefits from the Anstaltslast, or institutional liability, of the Federal Republic. This means that the Federal Republic will:

This duty under public law exists solely between the Federal Republic and Rentenbank and not between the Federal Republic and any third party. The Federal Republic would not, under Anstaltslast, be permitted to allow us to default on an obligation; the Federal Republic would be required on its own authority to take steps to enable us to perform our obligation when due. Under German law, we would be required to enforce our rights against the Federal Republic in the event we needed to do so in order to meet our obligations to third parties, including holders of any of our securities. Accordingly, while Anstaltslast does not constitute a formal guarantee of our obligations by the Federal Republic, and our creditors do not have a direct claim against the Federal Republic under Anstaltslast, the effect of Anstaltslast is that our obligations, including our publicly issued debt securities, or our guarantee of debt securities should a substitute obligor be substituted for Rentenbank, are fully backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Republic. The obligation of the Federal Republic under Anstaltslast would constitute a legally established charge on public funds that would be payable without the need for appropriation or any action by the federal parliament.

The Federal Republic implemented Directive 2014/59/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms through the Statute on Recovery and Resolution of Credit Institutions and Investment Firms (Gesetz zur Sanierung und Abwicklung von Instituten und Finanzgruppen; “SAG”). The SAG contains regulations regarding the restructuring and resolution of institutions. The regulations concerning the participation of holders of relevant capital instruments and creditors in the resolution or recapitalization of an institution (“Bail-in”) is an essential element of the SAG. In principle, all CRR-credit institutions fall within the scope of the Bail-in regulations of the SAG, provided that the continued existence of the respective institution is endangered. However, due to the Anstaltslast of the Federal Republic, the going concern of Rentenbank is ensured. Furthermore, Section 99(8) of SAG states that the Guarantee of the Federal Republic will not be affected by Bail-in procedures. Therefore, holders of securities issued by Rentenbank or issued under Rentenbank’s guarantee will still be able to enforce obligations directly against the Federal Republic.

On March, 1, 2002, representatives of the Federal Government and the Commission of the European Union reached an understanding on the treatment of state guarantees for federal development banks such as Rentenbank for purposes of the European Union state aid rules. Pursuant to the understanding, the use of advantages for special credit institutions resulting from Anstaltslast and other state guarantees relevant under the state aid rules is allowed for the performance of promotional tasks at the request of the state in promotional areas like financing of small and medium enterprises, infrastructure, environment-friendly investment, housing as well as co-operation with developing countries. Activities, which do not fall under the areas in line with the state aid rules, must either be discontinued by the special credit institutions or be spun-off to legally independent subsidiaries without state support.

With the adoption of the Restructuring Law, the description of our permissible activities in our governing law was conformed to the language in respect of which the Federal Republic and the Commission of the European Union reached an understanding on March 1, 2002.

Based on the foregoing, Rentenbank does not currently expect that it will be required to either discontinue or separately incorporate any material portion of its present business activities as a result of the understanding.

Our governing law prescribes our internal governance structure, our capital structure, the limited scope and nature of our lending activities and provides for supervision of us by the Federal Republic. Although our day-to-day operations are managed independently by our Board of Managing Directors with supervision by our Board of Supervisory Directors, the Federal Republic exercises supervision through the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (“Supervising Authority”) which exercises its supervision in concert with the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The statutory function of the Supervising Authority is to ensure that the operations of Rentenbank are consistent with the public interest in particular in the promotion of agriculture and rural areas, and are in compliance with German law. The Supervising Authority may request information regarding our operational matters, inspect our books and records and participate in all Board of Supervisory Directors meetings and General Meetings with the authority to issue motions and to comment on topics at such meetings. In addition, the Supervising Authority has the authority to request a meeting of any of our three governing bodies and is authorized to prevent the implementation of any resolution that is against public interest or violates German law.

We are also subject to supervision and regulation by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht; “BaFin”) under the German Banking Act (Gesetz über das Kreditwesen). See “Supervision and Regulation” and “The Federal Republic of Germany — Financial Supervision Authority”.

Due to new regulations within the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) effective as of November 4, 2014, significant credit institutions are also directly supervised and regulated by the European Central Bank (Europäische Zentralbank; “ECB”). We are classified as a significant credit institution because of the total value of our assets. The supervision under the SSM comprises the ECB and BaFin as the national competent authority. Under its new role, ECB is responsible for specific regulations such as own funds and risk management rules as stipulated in CRD IV. See also “— Supervision and Regulation — Regulatory changes in the banking sector on EU level”.

Our principal business is providing loans and other types of financing for the German agricultural and forestry sectors, wine growing and horticulture sectors as well as in aquaculture and fish farming. Funds are also provided for projects in the food industry and other upstream and downstream companies as well as investments in renewable energies and projects for rural development. The principal purpose of loans granted is the promotion of agriculture and agri-business. We do so primarily by extending credit to German private and public sector banks, both by means of traditional loans and by purchasing the debt securities of such banks. These banks then lend the proceeds to eligible borrowers. According to our governing law, our lending activity should generally be conducted through or in conjunction with other financial institutions. Accordingly, other than direct lending to certain affiliates and companies, German regional state governments and specific agencies of the Federal Republic, our policy is to lend almost exclusively to financial institutions.

Throughout this description and in our financial statements, we classify short-term loans as those due within one year from origination, medium-term loans as those due from between one year and five years from origination, and long-term loans as those due after five years from origination.

We provide credit to financial institutions to be loaned to borrowers engaged in the following activities:

Although we provide credit to banks which make loans to end borrowers engaged in these activities, we do not separately record in our financial statements the loan amounts that are extended by such banks for each of the above named activities.

We extend credit by making traditional loans and by purchasing the debt securities of German or other European banks or German federal states (Bundesländer). Our traditional loan portfolio consists primarily of special promotional loans and accounted for 64.5% of our loan portfolio at December 31, 2014. For a further description of our traditional lending activities, see “— Loan Portfolio” below.

The following table shows the notional amount of our new loan commitments, on a consolidated basis:

The following table shows, on a consolidated basis, the special promotional loans and standard promotional loans portion of our loan portfolio for agriculture at December 31, 2014 and 2013.

The following table provides, on a consolidated basis, a breakdown of our loan portfolio according to maturity at December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Our portfolio of traditional loans consists primarily of special promotional loans and medium- and long-term standard promotional loans. As noted above, we classify short-term loans as those due within one year from origination, medium-term loans as those due from between one year and five years from origination, and long-term loans as those due after five years from origination. Our loan portfolio at December 31, 2014, totaled €56.9 billion, an increase of 2.9% from €55.3 billion at December 31, 2013. At December 31, 2014, this loan portfolio represented 64.1% of our total assets.

Our special promotional loans accounted for 64.5% of our loan portfolio at the end of 2014 compared with 60.8% of our loan portfolio at the end of 2013. They are composed almost exclusively of secured loans to German public sector and private sector banks. These medium- and long-term loans are made to banks which loan the proceeds to end-borrowers who meet the qualifications under one of our special promotional loans designed to further agriculture-related policy goals. The interest rate on these loans is generally close to our own cost of funds and the terms and conditions of the corresponding loan made to the end-borrower are generally more favorable to the end-borrower than would otherwise be commercially obtainable.

Our standard promotional loans accounted for 35.5% of our loan portfolio at December 31, 2014, compared with 39.2% of our loan portfolio at December 31, 2013. It is mainly composed of secured and unsecured loans to German public sector and private sector banks as well as to banks in the European Union and Norway. Landesförderinstitute, federal state development banks established by the different German Federal States (Bundesländer), Sparkassen, a type of public sector savings banks, and Landesbanken, public sector universal banks, are the principal German public sector banks to which we lend. Sparkassen and Landesbanken originally benefited from institutional liability (Anstaltslast) and/or an explicit statutory guarantee (Gewährträgerhaftung) of their founders (typically local or regional German governments). According to the understanding dated July 17, 2001, between representatives of the Federal Republic and the Commission of the European Union on transitional rules with respect to state guarantees for Landesbanken and Sparkassen, Gewährträgerhaftung was abolished after a four year transitional period that lasted until July 18, 2005, and the Anstaltslast was replaced by a “normal commercial relationship” between the owners and the public financial institution concerned. The transitional arrangement provides that liabilities that were undertaken up to July 18, 2001, are covered by Gewährträgerhaftung until they mature. During the transitional period through July 18, 2005, the system of Anstaltslast and Gewährträgerhaftung could be maintained in their then-current form at that time. After this transitional period, any liability that still existed and was created after July 18, 2001, continues to be covered by Gewährträgerhaftung, provided its maturity does not exceed December 31, 2015. The foregoing understanding, however, does not affect Anstaltslast vis-à-vis Rentenbank. See “General — Relationship with the Federal Government”.

Generally, once a financial institution has qualified to be a borrower of our standard promotional loans, loans can be granted to that financial institution. For more information on our review process for approving borrowing banks, see “— Eligibility of Financial Institutions” below.

Borrowing terms on standard promotional loans are negotiated with each bank and reflect, among other things, an evaluation of the borrower’s creditworthiness and prevailing market conditions. In our risk evaluation, we consider, among other things, the term of the loan, the creditworthiness of the borrowing bank, our existing credit exposure to the particular borrowing bank and, if applicable, the country risk. We conduct an annual review of roughly 1,200 private and public sector bank borrowers to ensure that these borrowers continue to meet minimum credit standards. Under the terms of our loans, we generally rely on the creditworthiness of the intermediate financial institution. See “— Credit Analysis”.

At December 31, 2014, approximately 18.4% of our notional loan portfolio amount was unsecured, as compared with 19.6% of our notional loan portfolio at December 31, 2013. Unsecured loans to German and other private sector banks in the European Union and Norway are made only after a thorough review of the borrowing bank’s creditworthiness.

We also make standard promotional loans to and buy bonds issued by private and public sector banks located in other European countries as well as in Canada and Australia. Although there is no legal restriction on the amount of funds we may lend into any one country, as a matter of internal policy we have set aggregate lending limits for each country into which we lend. Finally, we make standard promotional loans to German federal states by purchasing promissory notes (Schuldscheine) or bonds issued by such states.

Short-term loans are granted to both financial institutions and non-financial institutions. The bulk of our standard promotional lending consists of loans made to banks and other financial institutions in the wholesale markets.

Special promotional loans are extended under programs designed to further specific policy goals defined by our Board of Supervisory Directors. In addition, we administer other loan programs on behalf of the Federal Republic and some German federal states (Bundesländer). Borrowers must meet the defined requirements to borrow under one of these programs. Unlike our standard promotional loans, under these special promotional loan programs we review the end borrower’s eligibility. The final credit decision is made by the local bank (Hausbank) of the end borrower.

Through the following special promotional loans, we reduce the interest rates of our loans to specific groups in order to further our promotional objectives. In November 2008, these special promotional loans were

Consistent with our purpose of providing financing to the agricultural sector, the food industry and rural development, we select financial institutions to which we make loans based on their lending activities in these areas. In our review process, we generally exclude institutions which are clearly not involved in these areas, such as consumer finance institutions and investment banks. Of the remaining institutions, we review their annual reports and other documents to check the consistency of their activities with our purposes. If their lending activities are consistent with our purposes, they are approved as potential borrowers, subject to credit approval. For local and regional banks, we assume that these banks are involved in the development of their local rural areas, and they are included as potential borrowers.

Under our special promotional loans, we review the applications of the end borrowers and ensure their loan eligibility based on a review of their stated purpose for using the proceeds of the loan. Once approved, the loan is issued through one of the banks to which we lend. For a further description of our special promotional loans, see “— Special Promotional Loans” above.

In addition to our traditional loan portfolio, we are also active in providing financing through the purchase of debt securities of German and other banks in Europe, Canada and Australia. The guidelines for our securitized promotional business portfolio are similar to those we use for our loan portfolio. Just as we restrict loans to financial institutions active in the financing of the agriculture, forestry, horticulture, fishing industry and rural development in Germany, EU countries and Norway, in the context of our securitized promotional business we purchase the debt securities of financial institutions active in these areas. Debt securities issued by banks in Switzerland, Canada and Australia can only be purchased for treasury management purposes or investment of own funds. At December 31, 2014, the securities portfolio accounted for 24.3% of total assets, as compared with 25.4% at December 31, 2013. Of our portfolio of debt securities, at December 31, 2014, 6.7% were issued by public issuers, compared to 6.7% at December 31, 2013.

The following table shows the aggregate carrying amount of our securities portfolio on a consolidated basis at December 31, 2014 and 2013.

We hold interests in two affiliated companies: LR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (“LRB”) and DSV Silo- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (“DSV”). LRB is a holding company that owns equity interests in DSV and DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main. We own 100% of LRB’s outstanding capital. At December 31, 2014, LRB had total assets of €222.2 million according to the annual financial statements prepared in accordance with German commercial law.

DSV is a holding company that owns equity interests in Getreide-Import-Gesellschaft mbH, Frankfurt am Main. LRB owns 100% of DSV’s outstanding capital. At December 31, 2014, DSV had total assets of €13.2 million according to the annual financial statements prepared in accordance with German commercial law.

Our governing law requires us to allocate at least one-half of our net income, after allocations to the principal reserve and guarantee reserve, to a special purpose fund (Zweckvermögen) that was formed pursuant to the Law on Agricultural Disencumbrances of March 25, 1952 (Gesetz zur Abwicklung der landwirtschaftlichen Entschuldung). We administer this fund as trustee for the Federal Republic. We issue loans or grants from this fund as instructed by the Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. These are granted for innovative research and development projects in the agricultural sector. Up to one-half of our remaining net income is allocated to a promotional fund (Förderungsfonds) the disbursement of which is determined by the General Meeting.

We also act on behalf of a number of different federal states (Bundesländer) and the Federal Republic in administering other sponsored loan programs. We provide interest subsidy products for a number of German federal states. Since 1991, for example, we have operated the promotional lending activities of the Free State of Thuringia. We issue default guarantees in the context of the investment assistance programs for the agricultural sector (Agrarinvestitionsförderungsprogramm; AFP) of the federal state of Hesse and the Free State of Thuringia, and are granted back-to-back guarantees by these federal states for this purpose. Furthermore, we continue to manage loans for the Federal Government for the financing of resettlement, building measures for old farms and the purchase of land, which were granted before the Joint Task for the Improvement of Agricultural Structures and Coastal Protection (Gemeinschaftsaufgabe “Verbesserung der Agrarstruktur und des Küstenschutzes”) came into force in 1973. Due to the financial crisis and low prices for agricultural products the federal government together with the federal states and Rentenbank set up special promotional loans for agricultural enterprises to provide liquidity. These special promotional loans involved federal and in some federal states also state subsidies to support farmers with even lower interest rates. The lending volume of these special promotional loans is included in “— Special promotional loan line for financings in agriculture”.

Our principal sources of funds are:

Rentenbank is an active participant in the interbank market. Borrowings are limited to banks domiciled in countries of the OECD. Maturities range from overnight money to 12 months deposits. Furthermore, we obtain short-term funding by issuance under our €20 billion Euro Commercial Paper Program. This issuing program enables us to issue notes on a discounted, compounded or index basis with maturities from 1 day up to 364 days which are mainly placed with international institutional investors.

The participation in open market transactions and the standing facilities within the ESCB gives us access to a range of additional instruments to manage short-term liquidity. We can obtain short-term funds by

We also obtain funding in the international capital markets, both through various issuing programs and through stand-alone issuance of various types of unsecured notes and debentures. The issuing programs include a €60 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme and an AUD 15 billion Australian Dollar Domestic Medium-Term Note Program. We also have shelf registrations in Japan for primary offerings (Samurais) and secondary offerings (Uridashis), and a shelf registration in the United States for debt securities. Issuances of promissory notes and international loans complement our funding instruments.

The international capital markets continue to represent the most important source of financing for us. In the year ended December 31, 2014, we issued the equivalent of €7.3 billion of Euro Medium-Term Notes, €1.5 billion of AUD-Medium-Term Notes and approximately €1.7 billion of SEC registered debt securities. We use derivative instruments to hedge our currency and interest rate exposure in connection with such issuances. On very few occasions, we have invested foreign currency proceeds in securities or other assets denominated in the same currency as the relevant debt obligation. See “— Risk Management and Derivatives” below.

Until the end of 2006, Rentenbank has issued secured debt instruments which were placed predominantly with domestic investors. These issues were 10 per cent risk-weighted for bank capital adequacy purposes. With the introduction of the zero per cent risk-weighting — down from 20 per cent under Basel I guidelines – for Rentenbank in Germany and the other European Union countries through the consolidated EU Banking directive and the German solvency ordinance as per January 2007. Furthermore under the Credit Risk Standardized Approach of the Capital Requirement Regulation banks in Germany and other EU countries do not have to hold capital for claims on Rentenbank. Given the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Republic of Germany on January 1, 2014, this rule also applies in many countries outside the EU.With respect to the domestic and international capital markets, the following table shows our consolidated sources of funds based on the carrying amount and, categorized by type of instrument, during each of the years indicated. We classify almost all instruments issued in the international capital markets as unsecured bearer bonds.

Our liabilities primarily consist of debt securities, liabilities to banks and liabilities to customers. See “— Sources of Funds” above for a description of our funding activities related to debt securities and our liabilities to banks. Approximately 78.1% of our liabilities to customers consist of registered bonds, international loans and promissory notes that are purchased by insurance companies. The remaining amount of liabilities to customers consists of liabilities to individual German federal states, or Bundesländer, as well as other local governments. These liabilities are uncertificated and arise from credit accounts with these governments.

Our treasury division has responsibility for our market price and liquidity risk management system and is overseen directly by the Board of Managing Directors. The treasury department applies for and the Board of Managing Directors determines market and liquidity risk exposure limits. Daily reports are generated by the risk control unit, which analyzes whether our money market, loan and securities portfolios are within market

We use derivatives exclusively as hedging instruments for existing or expected market price risks on the basis of micro or macro hedges. Purchases and sales of derivative instruments are made for hedging purposes in an effort to match as closely as possible the currency, duration and interest rate basis of our assets and liabilities. To minimize credit risk due to fair value volatility we negotiated credit support annexes with every derivative counterparty. No derivative activities are undertaken on behalf of clients. Risks are analyzed in accordance with the German Banking Act which requires adequate capital coverage for securities transactions, transactions in derivative products and foreign exchange transactions. See “Supervision and Regulation”.

Pursuant to the German Banking Act we are obliged to maintain an adequate risk management which needs to ensure that the risk load capacity for credit, market-price, liquidity and operational risks are covered at all times. Based on our calculations our total capital permanently exceeds our risk profile.

We examine whether credit should be extended in response to direct inquiries either from potential borrowers themselves or from third parties such as other banks or brokers. This examination includes whether we can provide funds based on the applicable laws and regulations that govern Rentenbank.

An application for credit and creditworthiness is judged on the basis of our own credit analysis and supported by a diverse set of documents such as business reports and ratings. Approval for the extension of credit is made in compliance with our own credit approval regulations. Only after this approval are transactions allowed to go forward.

As of December 31, 2014, a notional amount of €0.0 billion of liabilities to banks, €0.2 billion of liabilities to customers, €44.7 billion of securitized liabilities and €0.3 billion of subordinated liabilities were denominated in a currency other than euro. Because our loan business is denominated almost exclusively in euro, we have eliminated currency risk by swapping the cash-flows from foreign denominated non-derivative issues virtually exclusively into euro through so-called cross-currency swaps, or, in the case of commercial paper, FX-swaps.

As of December 31, 2014, a notional amount of €0.1 billion of loans and advances to banks and €2.7 billion of financial investments were denominated in a currency other than euro. Those assets were either swapped into euro or re-financed in the respective currency.

We manage our liquidity based on a projection of all future cash flows. Each day, we calculate the projected net liquidity balance for each day of the coming two years. Instruments available for managing the short-term liquidity position are interbank funds, collateralized money market funding, ECP placements, and open-market transactions with the German Central Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank).

Our cash reserves consist of cash in hand and the balance of our central clearing account with the German Central Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) which reflects our obligation to hold minimum reserves in line with the requirements of the European Central Bank.

Recent scientific studies have suggested that emissions of certain gases, commonly referred to as “greenhouse gases,” may be contributing to warming of the earth’s atmosphere. Pursuant to certain studies, this may have serious effects on the agriculture industry worldwide, but rather positive effects for agriculture

In Germany, existing and proposed environmental laws and regulations aim at supporting environmentally friendly technology and procedures. An important law in this context is the German Renewable Energy Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz), which promotes the development of renewable energy sources, such as the production of energy from biomass and the use of solar energy, by providing for financial contributions to energy producers. Our ultimate borrowers have increasingly used our lending services in order to invest in such renewable energy sources.

We cannot predict the ultimate effect future climate change legislation and regulation could have on our borrowers’ businesses. However, since many are investing in environmentally friendly technology and procedures, we believe that they will be positively or at least less adversely impacted by potential future environmental laws and regulations as compared to businesses using or investing in traditional energy sources.

The following table shows Rentenbank’s consolidated capitalization based on the carrying amount as of December 31, 2014. Long-term debt includes all borrowings and bonds issued with remaining maturities in excess of one year.

As of December 31, 2014, Rentenbank’s Total Capital Ratio amounted to 19.3% and the Core Capital (or Tier I) ratio amounted to 16.4%. Both ratios continue to be above the regulatory minimum requirements of 8% and 5.5%, respectively. For a discussion of capital adequacy requirements under the German Banking Act, see “Supervision and Regulation — Capital Adequacy Requirements”.

Pursuant to our governing law we have three principal governing bodies: the Board of Managing Directors (Vorstand), the Board of Supervisory Directors (Verwaltungsrat) and the General Meeting (Anstaltsversammlung). The business address of each of the members of the Board of Managing Directors and the Board of Supervisory Directors named below is Hochstrasse 2, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany.

The Board of Managing Directors is responsible for the day-to-day conduct of our business and the administration of our assets in accordance with the governing law and represents us in dealings with third parties and the judiciary. According to our statutes, the Board of Managing Directors is required to deliver to the Board of Supervisory Directors on a quarterly basis a written report on the business and financial condition of Rentenbank. In accordance with the general guidelines for the granting of loans which have been established by the Board of Supervisory Directors, the Board of Managing Directors is required to report quarterly to the risk committee (Risikoausschuss) of the Board of Supervisory Directors regarding the development of unsecured credit and large exposures pursuant to the German banking regulations.

The Board of Managing Directors is comprised of at least two members. Its members are appointed, and may be withdrawn by, the Board of Supervisory Directors by a two-thirds majority. The appointment of members of the Board of Managing Directors requires the prior approval of the Supervising Authority.

The members of the Board of Managing Directors are:

Rentenbank is not aware of any conflicts or potential conflicts of interest between the duties of each member of the Board of Managing Directors to Rentenbank and such member’s private interests or other duties.

The Board of Managing Directors appointed Dr. Horst Reinhardt as its speaker as of April 1, 2013. The decision was made in agreement with the chairman of the Board of Supervisory Directors.

The Board of Supervisory Directors supervises, and appoints members to and is entitled to remove members from, the Board of Managing Directors. It may issue general and specific instructions to the Board of Managing Directors. In particular, the Board of Supervisory Directors approves Rentenbank’s annual report, adopts corporate governance principles, establishes general guidelines for the granting of loans, and allocates reserves consistent with the governing law. Furthermore, the Board of Supervisory Directors adopts and may amend Rentenbank’s statutes (Satzung) with the approval of the Supervising Authority. In addition, the following actions require the approval of the Board of Supervisory Directors: the issuance of bearer debentures, the acquisition and sale of investments, the purchase and sale of land and buildings, approval of employment contracts involving annual compensation above a threshold determined by the administrative committee of the Board of Supervisory Directors (Verwaltungsausschuss), and the issuance of pension guidelines. The Board of Supervisory Directors must meet at least semi-annually.

The Board of Supervisory Directors may delegate certain authorities to committees thereof. Rentenbank’s statutes require the Board of Supervisory Directors to form an administrative committee concerned with legal and administrative matters, a risk committee (Risikoausschuss) concerned with the risk tolerance and risk strategy of Rentenbank, an audit committee (Prüfungsausschuss) concerned with financial and accounting matters, and an expert committee (Fachausschuss) concerned with the allocation of retained earnings.

The Board of Supervisory Directors has 18 members, one of whom is the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture. Eight of the members of the Board of Supervisory Directors represent agricultural and food organizations, six of whom are appointed by the not-for-profit German Farmers’ Association (Deutscher Bauernverband e.V.), one of whom is appointed by the not-for-profit Farmers’ Mutual Savings Institution (Deutscher Raiffeisenverband e.V.) and one of whom is appointed by the various food organizations. Further,

The following is a list of the members of the current Board of Supervisory Directors: