General meeting:
3,000 Rabobank delegates
get together
KÜUU
The general meeting of Rabobank Nederland was held in Utrecht
on June 7. Cars with delegates from Rabobanks all over the coun
try - three from each bank - headed for the Trade Fair. Others
opted to travel by train. Utrecht railway station is within walking
distance of the hall where the annual meeting is traditionally held.
A total of about 3,000 people turned up. The general managers of
the foreign offices, regional general managers, managers of Rabo
bank Nederland, the press and a number of invited guests, includ-
ing the President of the Dutch Central Bank, were present.
Issue 7/September 21, 1990
Agreat many changes took place in
the Rabobank Group in 1989. The
chairman of the meeting, Otto
Baron Van Verschuer, said in his review: 'In
the first place, there was the change in the
main structure of Rabobank Nederland. The
advantages of this are greater transparen-
cy, better communication, greater efficiency
and a more competitive orientation.' An-
other subject touched upon by Van Verschuer
was the social policy: 'Optimum staffing is
the most important precondition for the suc-
cess of our organization. Human resource
management must be the cornerstone of
our social policy. Within its context we will
pay attention to how members of staff can
be deployed, undertake training activities
and promotejob rotation in order to achieve
an expansion of experience and an intensi-
fication of knowledge.'
Growth Herman Wijffels, chairman of
the Executive Board, also looked back to
the past year. He called 1989 the crown on
the eighties. Wijffels: 'It was also a year of
mixed emotions, for the shadow of the
sudden death of our vice-chairman of the
Executive Board, Henry Klarenbeek, stiil
hangs over the favourable results.' The in-
crease in credit granting continued strong-
ly last year and there was a recovery in the
growth of the funds entrusted to us. In the
Netherlands, new loans amounting to over
Dfl. 26 billion were granted in 1989. Wijf
fels: 'After a short-lived collapse in 1988,
the securities market revived again last
The chairman of the Executive Board, Herman Wijffels, looks back to 1989.
Every year a deücacy from another part of the
Netherlands.
year. Commission income increased by
about 50 per cent.'
Abroad 1989 was also a first-rate year
for the international business, which now
accounts for 8 per cent of the outstanding
credit granted. New offices were opened in
Milan, Madrid, Sao Paulo, San Francisco
and Sydney. Wijffels: 'We also made a start
with a new line outside the Netherlands -
the strategie cooperation with other banks.
The agreement with Banco Popular in Spain
is meanwhile bearing fruit. At the start of
this year an agreement was signed with
Great interest in news in the field of automation.
CERA in Belgium and various cooperative
agreements were worked out with other
cooperative European banks in the context
of Unico.'
Information market A large-scale infor-
mation market was held during the general
meeting. The 3,000 delegates were not the
only visitors who dropped in for a look, for
employees of local banks were also invited.
The latest products and developments from
the Rabobank Group were shown in 45
stands. The International Division was also
present with a stand where the dominant
feature was the then newly opened office in
Milan. The head of the office, Cees Jansen,
was present in person to meet and give,in-
formation to colleagues from local banks.
This stand was also the meeting point for
the managers from the other foreign-based
offices and their colleagues from Utrecht.
Innovations An important item worth
seeing at the information market was the
cash kiosk. This is a cash dispenser which
is not installed in or at a bank building but
is free-standing. For example, in the middle
of a shopping centre. A bank in the east of
the Netherlands recently started using the
first cash kiosk. The other innovations
were also mainly in the field of automa
tion. Rabobank Nederland is constantly de-
veloping new software for all its customer
groups and for the member banks. The in
formation market in Utrecht attracted
great interest.
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A break: 3,000 Rabobank delegates enjoy lunch
together.
