De Lage Landen
Rabo
band Issue 8/December 17, 1990
'We can supply
great added value'
De Lage Landen range consists of the following
products, in the countries shown:
The new head office of De Lage Landen in Eindhoven.
The financial services company De Lage Landen was formed in 1969 by the then Boe
renleenbank and the predecessors of the Interpolis insurance company. Today De
Lage Landen is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rabobank Nederland. The company has
540 employees, over a hundred of whom work outside the Netherlands.
In 1989 the balance sheet total was 3.8 billion guilders, while in that year the net profit
amounted to 24.2 million guilders. The holding company De Lage Landen BV has five
operating companies in the Netherlands for leasing, factoring, debt collection, car leas
ing and consumer finance. De Lage Landen's new head office - as from 15 December
- is located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Toebosch explains things further: 'Initially,
every country wili start with one firm in which
various activities have a place, both leasing
and cash management. At the start, it wili
not pay to begin with two separate com
panies.'
Car leasing In view of the international
clientèle, every country wili have to carry
the minimum product range, taking account
of the local market, of course. The com
pany is also looking at whether very specific
products can be added to this in each coun
try. For example, full-service car leasing is
a fairly unknown phenomenon in Germany,
so De Lage Landen can profile itself effec-
tively there with a leasing range like this. In
the case of full-service leasing, car in
surance, maintenance and repairs and the
residual value risk of the car are entirely in
the hands of the leasing company. This
form of leasing is very normal in Belgium
and the United Kingdom, so that De Lage
Landen does not intend to waste much
marketing energy on it there.
Medium-sized companies A feature
common to ali the foreign branches of the
Eindhoven service company is that they of
fer the markets the two 'spearhead pro
ducts': international factoring and vendor
leasing. Toebosch believes that after 1992
it wili mainly be the medium-sized compa
nies which cross the frontier. The small
ones wili continue to service the local mar
ket in the Netherlands and the very large
ones have long been familiar with the tricks
of the trade abroad. 'These companies can
make good use of our support. A business
man like that can hardly speak the
laguage, is unfamiliar with the payment
customs and does not know how to find out
whether a foreign debtor can be trusted to
pay. We think we can supply the greatest
added value, particularly for these com
panies.'
Conditions What added value can De
Lage Landen suppiy? Toebosch gives an
example: 'We have been in the factoring
and debt collection business for a number
of years now - services relating to debtor
claims. On the basis of experience we know
that you must have watertight deiivery and
payment conditions if you don't want to get
into difficulties. For example, if you don't
state in your conditions that you wili charge
debt collection costs in the event of default,
then there is absolutely no possibility in
Spain of claiming the extrajudicial costs
from the defaulter. For that was not stated
in your contract. So what do we do at pre
sent: we don't only advise, but also sell de
iivery and payment conditions. For we have
buiit up know-how in that field.'
Vendor leasing The second spearhead
product, vendor leasing, has already got off
to a flying start in the United Kindom. De
Lage Landen sat down at the table with the
tractor producer Massey Ferguson and to-
gether they worked out a vendor lease plan
that is advantageous to both of them and to
British farmers. The farmer leases a tractor
which in due course he can trade in at ad
vantageous rates for a new one. To Massey
Ferguson, that means continuity in its busi
ness relations; 80 per cent of its tractors
are sold under this leasing method. And it
Iets De Lage Landen finance the lot. Next,
De Lage Landen in turn is financed by Rabo-
bank's London Branch. The financial ser
vices company also intends to set up simi-
lar programmes with Massey Ferguson in
the rest of Europe.
Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Outside the Nether
lands, De Lage Landen appears, in fact, to
have only one handicap: its name can only
be pronounced properly by true-born Dutch-
men. But Toebosch does not worry so much
about that. 'We talk to people from ali over
of the world, but have never yet found that
it is a real obstacle. However strangely they
may pronounce the name. Of course it has
its pros and cons, but now there is actually
no way back. We have been investing in
name recognition fortwenty years. And that
can now be described as quite substantial.
We are very regulariy approached by interna
tional companies asking us to come and
talk about particular programmes in our
range. So in any event we are beginning to
make a name for ourselves in our branch of
business. Changing that name now would
represent a big disinvestment. But I won't
conceal the fact that 'De Lage Landen' says
nothing about our activities. That's why you
now see 'financial services' added in ali our
advertising Communications. That's to let
people know at any rate more or less what
we are doing. In addition, we're happy to
mention that we are part of the Rabobank
Group. Just to let them know who we are.'
It is obvious that Toebosch always puts
things in perspective: 'I also think that if we
can get used to the Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank
here, then it is of course justifiabie to ask
why foreigners cannot get used to De Lage
Landen.'
Consumer credit
Car leasing CO CO
Real estate leasing CO CO CO
Vendor leasing CO (TT) CO CO
Debt collection service CO CO CO CO CO CO
Factoring CO CO CO CO CO CO CO
