Consultation the basis
for Foreign Offices
Department's approach
Kano
hand
The large Rabobank Nederland building in Utrecht is divided into
sections. Every section has a name of a colour. The contact with
Rabobank's foreign-based offices is maintained from the sixth
floor of the 'blue section'. An interview with Anton Nillesen, head
of the Foreign Offices Department.
Job allocation in the Foreign Offices Department
Issue 5/December 13, 1989
Steve Cook arrived on the day of the
interview. He will shortly start man-
aging the merchant banking activ-
ities of the New York Branch. 'In principle,
new people start with us in Utrecht,' says
Nillesen. 'In that way they are introduced
to the culture of the organization right from
the start. That makes it easier when they
are working locally in their own market with
Rabobank. In addition, they know what
Rabobank is, who we are and what we do.
That makes it easier when they need us.
And, of course, when we need them.'
Structured Nillesen's colleagues,
whom the people from the foreign-based
offices get to know here, each have their
own tasks. 'For quite a time all of us did
everything that came along. Nowadays we
work in a more structured way. Everyone
has been given a number of offices or
activities on which to focus attention. That
is a prime responsibility. In addition, one
of the others is also involved in the same
offices and activities as a kind of back-up.
That ensures continuity. The two people
concerned often travel abroad together. In
that way, we keep our know-how up to the
mark.'
In twos The tasks are also divided be-
tween the two senior liaison officers, Ben
Wentrup and Ad Middelburg. For example,
Ad Middelburg takes responsibility for the
New York Branch; in this case, Ben Wen
trup is the second man. 'It is also the in-
tention that those two should travel to
gether when they visit offices outside the
Netherlands', explains Nillesen. 'That is
certainly a must when they visit the large
branches. Next year we will have 137
people in New York and 77 in London. One
person alone can no longer cope with that
in one week. The programmes to be
covered are often extensive. They don't on-
ly have discussions with the General Man
ager, but also with account managers, oper-
ations managers, treasurers and people in
the dealing room, as well as attending
meetings of credit committees...' Besides
Foreign Offices Department, from ieft to right:
Hans van de Weerd, Liaison Officer, Cees van
Rest, Liaison Officer, Anton Nillesen, Head Foreign
Offices Department, Ad Middelburg, Senior Liaison
Officer, Carla Boshuis, Secretary, Hans Uppel-
schoten, Junior Liaison Officer, Ben Wentrup, Sen
ior Liaison Officer, Hans van Zanten, Systems
Manager and Jolanda van Alphen, Secretary.
the two seniors, the Foreign Offices De
partment has two liaison managers: Cees
van Rest who was recently joined by Hans
van de Weerd. A third liaison manager will
be recruited next year. The team is com-
pleted by the junior, Hans Uppelschoten,
and Hans van Zanten who is responsible
for office automation. The secretarial work
is handled by Carla Boshuis and Jolanda
van Alphen.
Responsible On the day of the inter
view, Nillesen was just back from London.
There he had concentrated entirely on the
new treasury policy. The London Branch
wants to start marketing a number of new
Anton Nillesen: 'The foreign office has a number
of tasks.
products. They are taking the lead in this.
Even Utrecht does not have these prod
ucts yet. 'We spent a day in discussions
with the treasurer and the people respon
sible for the systems. We have to under-
stand these matters thoroughly if we am
to play our part properly. We know what
feasible and can gauge the reaction at
head office. If the plans are subsequently
approved, we can also introducé this pol
icy to other offices. In this way you get unity
of policy. We coordinate, the proposals are
developed further here, and finally they are
presented to the Executive Board.'
Bonus The foreign offices make use of
ideas and products developed by their col
leagues elsewhere in the world. The
Foreign Offices Department takes them up.
'In New York we are well ahead with the
bonus system for the staff. If you aim to in
troducé that for the branch as a whole, you
have to make careful preparations. We
have now made a plan with an external con
sultancy which will be introduced next year.
But there is also a strong call for bonus
systems in the London and Singapore of
fices. That is simply dictated by the markets
there. The New York plan can then consti-
tute the basis for London and Singaporr
You don't have to re-invent the wheel.'
Consultation One of the characteris-
tics of the Rabobank Group is the consul
tation that takes place at all levels. Nille
sen: 'We have the annual General Man
agers' conference in Utrecht, and this year
we also had the treasurers together for the
first time. The operations managers came
to the Netherlands at the beginning of this
month. They traveled around for a few days
with people from
Anton Nillesen
Management
Carla Boshuisen/Jolanda van Alphen
Secretarial Office
Hans
Ad
Middelburg
Cees
van de Rest
Hans
van der Weerd
Hans
Uppelschoten
Wentrup
van Zanten
London
Singapore
Jakarta
Milan
Sydney
Sao Paulo
New York
Antwerp
ADCA-Bank
Zurich
Madrid
Hong Kong
Luxembourg
Feasibility studies
France
USSR
Unico
Reporting
Budget
Curapao
Paris
Budget
Reporting
Office Automation
Rabobank Neder
land and discus-
sed problems to
gether. In this
way you ensure
that if they have
an operational
problem they can
phone the people
they need. They
then know the
way and can do
business directly
with the right man
or woman. So they
no longer need
us.'
