Doing business
with Belgium
RaDo
band
BRIEF
Issue 1/April 7, 1988
Quick Cheque Service
Bctalingen uit Amerika
Service van de
Guilder/Dollar
Forecast
The Netherlands in brief
continued from page 1
ment is The Hague, but Amster
dam is the capital. In principle,
the parliamentary elections are
held once every four years. The
Kingdom of the Netherlands
also includes the Netherlands
Antilies and Aruba, which lie in
the Caribbean. Dutch, a Ger-
manic language, is spoken
throughout the country. TMF
Over 300 guests gathered on
November 26 at Rabobank's
Head Office in Utrecht for a
seminar on 'Doing Business
with Belgium'. 'Although the
greater part of our neighbouring
country is Flemish (Dutch)
NORWAY
DENMARK
IRELAND
UNITED KINGDOM
G D R
ELGIUM
POLAND
GERMANY
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
FRANCE
AUSTRIA
SWITZERLAND
BULGARIA
YUGOSLAVIA
PORTUGAL
- I AIN
continued from page 1
rectly to Rabobank in New York,
who immediately collects the
cheque at the New York bank
on which the cheque is drawn.
Upon receipt of the cheque
Rabobank New York informs
the Dutch exporter by telex of
the relevant information of that
cheque, and the proceeds are
transferred to the beneficiary's
account with his local Rabo
bank with the appropriate value
date. Shortening the routing of
US dollar cheques in this way,
means that Dutch exporters
can receive their export pro
ceeds up to two weeks faster
than usual. Currently, some
150 exporters are benefiting
from the Quick Cheque Service
USA, mostly exporters of fresh
flowers and flower bulbs. To-
gether with ADCA-BANK the Quick
Cheque Service West Germany
was developed and introduced
in 1985. Though cheque collec-
tion time could only be reduced
by some two to four days, the
average cheque amount is still
large enough to result in con-
siderable saving of interest.
More than 230 Dutch exporters
are using the Quick Cheque
Service Germany to collect
about 500 cheques each month
with a volume of well over 6 mil-
lion Deutschemarks. Reversely,
ADCA-BANK is now introducing
the Quick Cheque Service Nie-
Rabobank CJ
Qukk Cheque Service U.S. V.
An advertisement for the Quick
Cheque Service, aimed at the
Dutch market.
derlande for ADCA clients ex-
portingtothe Netherlands.
In cooperation with our Lon-
don branch the most recent
Quick Cheque Service was de
veloped with regard to the UK
and now works for some 180
clients exporting to the UK. The
success of our Quick Cheque
Service is not only evidenced
by the number of contracted
clients, but also by the fact that
the internationally famed ABN
has imitated our Quick Cheque
Service, albeit with less favour-
able conditions for the expor
ter. Moreover, four years of ex-
perience with the Quick Cheque
has led to the current no com-
plaints level for this unique
Rabobank service to exporting
clients. MvdB
speaking, Belgium must definite-
ly be looked upon as a foreign
country with its own cultural
background and therefore a dif
ferent life style', emphasized
Rabobank's vice chairman Hen-
ry Klarenbeek in his opening
speech. The audience consisted
of some 250 exporting clients
of our member banks, and
some 70 representatives from
these local banks. Experts
from the Netherlands Chamber
of Commerce for Belgium in
Brussels gave presentations on
how to market products in the
Belgian market as well as on
the relevant legal and fiscal
aspects when doing business
in Belgium. One of our Dutch
corporate clients presented his
valuable experiences of setting
up a subsidiary in the Belgian
market. Finally Jacques Jansen,
General Manager of Rabobank's
Antwerp Branch, informed the
audience of Rabobank's role in
Belgian-Dutch trade and specifi-
cally of the practical import-
ance of our Antwerp Branch to
our exporting clients. The for-
mal part was completed by an
interesting panel discussion,
led by Henk Visser, General
Manager International Division.
The seminar was closed by an
informal gathering, where differ
ent kinds of Belgian beer were
served together with delicious
typical Belgian snacks. Ever
since we started with these
Early in 1987 our colleagues
were asked to predict the guil-
der/dollar exchange rate at the
end of the year. More than one
hundred people participated. At
that time the rate was 2.43
guilders to the dollar and the
mood was very pessimistic.
The average forecast was
2.169 guilders to the dollar. At
the 16th of December the fixing
was 1.8365, there was no big
surprise that the average fore
cast was 34 cents on the posi-
tive side. At the official gather-
Rien Willemsen, winner of the
guiider/dotlar forecast.
Great interest in 'Doing Business
with Belgium'.
country seminars (Spain,
France, United Kingdom, South
East Asia, Belgium) we have
had increasing numbers of parti-
cipants. We therefore are curi-
ous to know how many clients
will participate in our April semi
nar 'Doing Business with the
USA' and 'Germany' in Novem
ber. The objective of organizing
such seminars is twofold: Rrstly,
to demonstrate Rabobank's in-
volvement in international trade
and secondly to promote coope
ration between member bank:
clients and our foreign branches
and representatives. MvdB
ing on the 22nd of December
honours were given to Rien Wil
lemsen for having foreseen the
exchange rate at such a de-
plorable low position. Mr Wil
lemsen is a member of the
team of forex dealers and as
such knowledgeable about this
market. The biggest misfixer
was Jan Remie (3.23 guilders
to the dollar), formally working
with the international loans
department, he now works with
the support team for interna
tional products for the locah
banks. Although his views were
correct on how the exchange
rate should develop if it was to
further Dutch trade, in terms c'
reality he was far off and co.
sequently he had to pay the
highest contribution to the
fund, which Mr Willemsen glad-
ly pocketed. Last year we start
ed inviting the foreign branches
and affiliates to give their
views. Although some rather
obscure calculations were done
by our overseas colleagues,
only the party from ADCA-BANK
was able to come near Mr Wil
lemsen (1.85). Our branches in
Singapore and New York did no
better than scoring the average
(2.153 and 2.177, respectively).
We are again inviting all our col
leagues from the branches and
affiliates to participate in this
year's forecast of the Dutch
guilder/dollar exchange rate on
the 13th of December 1988.
They should note that every
cent difference means a contri
bution of 10 (Dutch) cents to
the fund, which will be given to
the best fixer. CvR
