Increasing
importance of
the Rabobank
Group's
foreign
business
caoo
band
'The bank's foreign business is not the preserve of the International
Division alone', says Henk Visser, 'All sections of Rabobank Neder
land are involved in it'. These statements are made by the General
anager of the International Division. A bank man, or better still: a
Rabobank man, to the core. He knows the organization inside out.
Interview with Henk Visser
Issue 1/April 7, 1988
Henk Visser. A Rabobank man to the core.
r Visser joined the Economie Re
search Department of the Rabobank
Group in 1971, after graduating in
economics from the Vrije Universiteit in Am
sterdam. At first, he occupied himself with
Netherlands Bank regulations on banking
supervision. Even then, he was in frequent
touch with Rabobank Nederland's banking
business. He was appointed head of the
Economie Research Department. Next, he
engaged in banking business, starting with
a one-year traineeship at two London-based
banks. Then he and two others became
Rabobank Nederland's first account man
agers, followed subsequently by his appoint-
ment as head Agribusiness within the Cor-
porate Banking Division. In 1984 he was
appointed general manager of the Interna-
nal Division.
'Dutch agricultural cooperatives have
traditionally been strongly oriented to
foreign markets', says Visser. Rabobank Ne
derland customers consequently feit the
need, in the years following World War II, to
make their financial transactions through
their own bank. After Raiffeisenbank and
Boerenleenbank had merged to form Rabo
bank, it was decided to perform ail foreign
payment services under the bank's own
management. Services introduced iater re-
lated to foreign exchange dealings and arbi
trage, interbank deposits and international
lending. In the early eighties, the bank's in
ternational services were further expanded
by establishing subsidiaries and offices
abroad. lts transactions with and in foreign
countries have grown apace in recent years.
Henk Visser is in charge of the rapidly
deveioping business known as International
Division. When not abroad, he commmutes
by car from his residence in Bosch en Duin
to his Utrecht office in twenty minutes. That
is typical of the Netherlands. Besides his
work for Rabobank he finds time for his hob-
bies. He is a great lover of horses, plays
tennis and practises speedskating.
As we were toid earlier in the interview,
aim at the faultless handling of foreign pay-
ments. We consider that a chailenge. We
are deveioping into a bank of international
repute as an agribank, also for the benefit
of Dutch businesses. Our choice of foreign
locations is governed mainly by the inter-
ests of our Dutch customers. The ultimate
goal is for our foreign operations to con-
Henk Visser. General Manager International Division.
the bank's foreign business is not the con
cern of the International Division alone. The
operational side of payment transactions is
handled by the Payments Division. They are
also responsible for directing domestic pay
ments into the right channels. Other divi-
sions co-operating in this area are Opera
tions and the Treasury Division. The activi-
ties of the International Division itself re-
late, among other things, to marketing and
product development. 'We keep in touch
with market deveiopments and plan our ac-
tions accordingly. An example of this is the
France-oriented export account. Other divi
sion activities are, for instance, account
management and business transactions
initiated by the country desks. The foreign-
based offices, including ADCA-BANK and
the Curaqao office, also belong to the prov-
ince of our division.'
Mr Visser is quite explicit about the
objectives set for the bank's foreign opera
tions. 'It was all laid down in the annual re
port for 1986. This stili hoids, in fact. We
tribute to the Group result. Basically, they
are to be regarded as services provided for
the member banks.'
A special part is played by the member
banks in the Netherlands. Says Visser:
'With the support of Rabobank Nederland
the local banks are able to enhance their
foreign service capability on behalf of cus
tomers doing business abroad. Special
teams have been created to coach them
intensively for that purpose.' Winding up
the interview we look into the future. What
deveiopments are in prospect? 'The poiicy
plan serves as point of departure in this
respect. It includes some new elements
such as a widening of the range of ser
vices, resulting in further expansion abroad.
A Swiss-based office is currently being
contemplated to meet the need for funds.
Another focal point, of course, is agricul
tural exports. Southern Europe represents
increasing significance in that respect and
we still have no footholds there. We are
concentrating on that'. SP