Imm
f. VK
Henry Klarenbeek
passes away
Antwerp Branch
changes name
KA&ole
Rabobsnco Pöpular
Raboband
four times a year
Sao Paulo office kicks off in festive
style
Office opened in
Australia
1,600 new
service points in
Spain
Staff communication magazine
The news of the death of
the Deputy Chairman of the
Executive Board, Henry Klaren
beek, was received with great
dismay. He died on the plane
-■n route from Australia to the
(etherlands. Mr Klarenbeek
had been present at the offi
cial opening of our Sydney of
fice in Australia. Henry Klaren
beek was of great significance
for the Rabobank Group in
many respects. Page 3.
In the past few years the
Antwerp Branch has found that
the use of the name Rabobank
Nederland often led to misun-
derstandings in Belgium. It
was not always clear to
Belgian target groups whether
a Rabobank office existed in
their country. For that reason,
fhe Antwerp Branch has been
anamed 'Rabobank België' as
from 1 October. The official
name under the Articles
of Association - 'Coöperatieve
Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleen-
bank BA' - remains unchanged.
issue 5/December 13,1989
Raboband International will
appear four times next year.
This year the publication was
sent to the employees of the
Rabobank Group both Inside
and outside the Netherlands on
three occasions. The decision
to do this had to be taken be-
cause our foreign business is
developing so rapidly and the re-
sulting information is becoming
so extensive. The number of
pages is also being increased.
Four pages will be added to the
present total of eight.
Herman Wijffels, Chairman of the Executive Board, was pre
sent in Brazil on 26 October at the opening of the Sao Paulo rep-
resentative office. A video film was shown, featuring a Brazilian
boy who is on his way to Rabobank with his savings. In the sec-
ond scene the young Rabobank saver takes the audience along
with him to the stadium of the Dutch football club PSV. There
he kicks the ball towards the camera. At that moment, the of
fice chauffeur Orlando Bonini kicked a real ball through the
screen into the hall and the office was then declared open.
The Rabobank Group now
has its own representative of
fice in Sydney. On 14 Novem
ber the office was officially
opened by Mr lan Amstrong,
Minister of Agriculture and
Fisheries of the Australian
state of New South Wales.
Together with its neighbour
New Zealand, Australia occu-
pies an important position in
the field of agricultural produc
tion worldwide. They are
among the world's largest ex-
porters of cereals, dairy pro-
duce and wool. Backed by
Rabobank's expertise in inter
national agribusiness, our
Sydney office will concentrate
actively on providing banking
services to Dutch agro-indus-
tries doing business both in
and with Australia and New
Zealand. The office, which is
managed by Jos van Boxel (c),
will also direct its activities to
wards Australian companies in
the dairy produce, horticul-
tural, vegetable and fruit sec
tors.
An agreement for a stra
tegie alliance with the Banco
Popular Espanol was signed in
Madrid on 18 October. As a re-
sult, Rabobank now has 1,600
new service points in Spain.
Spain is one of the fastest
growing markets for the Nether
lands. Many Dutch companies
are intending to set up branches
in Spain or are increasing their
business there. So there is a
progressively growing need for
activities in the field of credit-
granting and funds transfers.
Rabobank cannot render these
services from its representa
tive office in Madrid. It is in-
tended that the Banco Popular
should bring its whole range of
services into the cooperative
activity. In this way, Rabobank
is responding to the increasing
banking needs of its cus-
tomers. The service in Spain is
expected to be operational be-
fore summer 1990.
Rabobank has taken a 1.25%
participation in the Banco
Popular's shares, involving an
investment of about 60 million
guilders. With this participa
tion, a seat has been acquired
on the Spanish bank's Super-
visory Board, where Rabobank
will be represented by Rik van
Slingelandt.
