Developments determine
policy in existing
and new European offices
band
After 1992 Europe's internal frontiers will be open for the free
movement of persons, goods and services. For banks, too, the
situation will change. Rabobank already has a presence in West
Germany, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Luxembourg, Ita-
ly and France. An agreement was recently concluded with the
Banco Popular in Spain aimed at expanding our services to
Dutch customers. In France, too, there are plans for increasing
the number of offices.
Regional basis in France
Electronic mail links
foreign-based offices
with the Netherlands
ftniiu
Issue 5/December 13, 1989
Cees van Rest: 'Our next step in France would
be a branch...'
Outside the Netherlands, Rabobank
is represented in eight countries in
Europe. For the time being, Portu
gal is followed from Madrid and Ireland is
included in London's area of operations.
■nevelopments continue.
Regional 'We will have to do something
in France. We have a representative office
in Paris. The next step would be a branch.
That's a must, for the contacts of Dutch
customers in the agribusiness call for it',
says Cees van Rest of the Foreign Offices
Department. Consideration is also being
given to having four or five bases in the re-
gions. 'In France, the agribusiness is re
gional in structure. In these regions we
really ought to have a specific offices. In
this respect you have to think of an LPO
construction with commercial people in the
vanguard. The business would then be pro-
cessed via Paris. This means you need
people who speak the language of the re-
gion, are located there and also have con
tacts with customers. That is one of the
possibilities.'
Business market With its European of
fices, Rabobank - just as with its offices
in other parts of the world - aims at the busi
ness market and not at private funds
transfers. That would require so many facil-
ities that competition with local banks
would be a lost cause right from the start.
In cooperation with one of these local
banks the services can, of course, be set
up on a somewhat more extensive basis.
The collaboration recently started with the
Banco Popular in Spain is an example of
this. By means of this local bank, we can
prevent a customer in Spain from starting
to do business with another bank. Agree-
ments have been made with the Banco
Popular, for example, about the profit allo-
cation. In the same way as in Spain, a rep
resentative office was recently opened in
Italy. We are considering which construc
tion will be best for expanding the services
in that country.
The ADCA-Bank In West Germany, the
ADCA-Bank is really on the move. The head
office in Frankfurt is housed in three pre-
mises. All the departments are shortly to
be accommodated in one building. In addi-
tion, the ADCA-Bank is going to aim at 'Pri-
vatkundengeschaft', that is, banking ser
vices to wealthy private customers. Invest-
Telephone lines, fax and time differ-
ences influence the quality of communi-
cation between the foreign-based offices
and the Netherlands. In response to this
Rabobank has opted for an electronic
mail system.
When the staff of the Foreign Offices De
partment switch on their PCs in the morn-
ing they see on their sereens whether
there are any messages in the mailbox.
These messages, which arrivé electron-
ically, can be printed directly.
Requests for credit, sometimes amounting
to between seven and ten pages, used to
come in by fax and were not always clearly
legible. Now, if a credit request is made on
a PC anywhere in the world, this can be
transmitted directly by an on-line link to
the PCs in Utrecht. That makes things
much more attractive for the members of
the Credit Committee. In addition, the in-
formation reaches its destination more
Rabobank in Paris.
ment advice and agency services. That will
be possible in every office. This links up
with the services supplied by Rabobank in
Luxembourg, Switzerland and Singapore.
Exploratory activities Russia and the
Middle East are on the 'list for attention'.
We are currently examining what possibil
ities exist, whether new opportunities will
occur, how banking is organized in the
USSR, what the other foreign banks are
doing and, in particular, what contacts
Rabobank customers have with Russian
businessmen. The Middle East is still a
blank on the map. Turkey is a country on
the way up. It wants to join the European
Community. Tourism is developing rapidly
there. The Foreign Offices Department is
finding out about the 'new' countries in
Europe, where opportunities are likely to
arise in the future.
quickly and this method costs less than
faxing. Above all, the optimum quality is
important.
Electronic mail is already operational in
Singapore and New York. Tests are being
carried out in London, and both Hong Kong
and Jakarta have the software in-house.
Early next year all the offices will be 'on
the air'.
Hans van Zanten, the man of electronic mail.
