Ten years
of growth and
prosperity
at New York
Branch
band Issue 9/Mei 27, 1991
When they came into work on
9 April, the 141 employees of
Rabobank's New York Branch
all found a hyacinth or tulip on
their desks. It was on that day
precisely ten years ago that the
office first opened its doors. The
anniversary will be celebrated in
style next month. Executive
Board chairman Herman Wijffels
and board members Henk Visser
and Frank Schreve will come to
New York for the occasion. Gen
eral manager Hugo Steensma
looks back and ahead.
The Ten Year Club
nOUU
f course it was all strange at
U] first,' recalls Steensma. 'An of-
fice had been rented, there was
still no furniture, then the first employees
arrived. On 9 April 1981 we had a staff of
37. We turned the official opening a few
weeks later into a major happening. The
Dutch Minister of Agriculture performed the
official opening ceremony. At the same
time, we had organized an international
agribusiness day at which the former Ameri
can Under-Secretary of Agriculture Lyng was
one of the speakers. By profiling ourselves
as an agribusiness bank at the opening it
was immediately clear what Rabobank was
all about.'
Successful 'We have achieved signifi
cant penetration into the agribusiness mar-
ket', says Steensma. 'We are very strongly
represented in cattle feeds, the poultry sec
tor and in cereals. In some sectors we are
even the largest bank. Forbes Magazine re-
cently stated that now, in the space of just
ten years, we are already the third largest
agribusiness bank in the USA. I believe that
underlines the fact that our policy has been
successful.'
Network Right from the start, the New
York Branch has done a great deal for
clients of the local banks in the Netherlands
and of Rabobank Nederland. Steensma:
'Over the years, branches and offices have
increasingly been added in other parts of
the world. Nowadays we talk about the
Rabobank Network, for we are getting more
and more clients outside the Netherlands
too. Customers in Singapore or London are
just as important for our network as those
in the Netherlands. In addition, we are also
very active in financing worldwide commod-
ity trading. In that sector we finance the
whole process, from production to exports.'
Funding The branch in the Big Apple fi-
nances its own activities by means of fund
ing. Steensma: 'One of our organizational
objectives is to participate in the main finan-
cial markets in money and capital market
transactions. We have issued quite a lot of
our own paper in recent years: commercial
paper, medium-term notes, bankers' accept-
ances and certificates of deposit. Besides
acquiring funds for our own use, in this way
we also acquire capital for financing the or-
ganization's activities - in so far as these ac
tivities are in dollars, of course. Institutional
investors, in particular, think Rabobank is a
good place for their money, but so do lower
government authorities, pension funds and
insurance companies.' Rabobank is one of
the five banks in the world which has been
given triple A-status by a number of re-
nowned rating institutes. 'That means people
know their money is in good hands with us
and they are also willing to pay for that,'
says Steensma.
Growth 'It's not difficult to say some-
thing about Rabobank's first ten years in
New York,' opines Steensma. 'Everything
started from scratch. We now have 141 em
ployees in the USA and that number will cer-
tainly grow further. We started with one of
fice. In 1988, an office in Dallas was added
to that, and one year later another one was
opened in San Francisco as well. The agri
business market is still our mainstay, just
as it was ten years ago. Our products and
services are aimed at a clearly defined mar
ket. Nevertheless, in the coming years we
also want to focus on interesting sectors in
the non-agricultural market. We have al
ready made a cautious beginning with that.
We see good opportunities, but we will do
that very slowly. We prefer controlled
growth.'
Local banks The local Rabobanks are
increasingly finding their way to the New
York Branch. Steensma: 'The cooperation
between the Dutch Desk in Utrecht and the
Dutch Desk in New York works perfectly. To-
gether, they constitute a channel of com-
munication for local banks who can get
answers to all their questions there. They
supply us with clients, as it were, but it also
works the other way round. If we manage to
organize something here for an American
branch of a Dutch company, that often
means they then also go to Rabobank in the
Netherlands. In that way we help each
other. For the rest, we are turning our atten-
tion a bit more towards developing commer
cial activities and focusing a bit less on PR-
type tasks. Organizing visits from cus
tomers of local banks is very nice, of course,
but we are now going to start looking more
at what that ultimately brings in.'
Festivities In the week of 10 June, the
branch will be celebrating its lOth anniver
sary. There will be a dinner for the agribusi
ness commodity finance clients and a lunch
for the other customers. Steensma: 'The
festivities will be linked-in directly with the
next meeting of the Agribusiness Advisory
Board, our advisory body whose members
include authorities from the international
agribusiness world. For the staff, there will
be a boat trip with a dinner, dancing and all
kinds of festivities. On that evening we are
organizing a lottery with a trip to the Nether
lands for two as the first prize. Only em
ployees in jobs which never give them an
opportunity to travel to Rabobank's mother
country can participate.'
(From left to right, standing) Stefana Gobrial, Violeta Cruz, Martin Aloof, Alfred Yassa,
Charles Hallock, Hugo Steensma, Clarence Cunny, James 0'Malley, Edith Frazier, Mia
van de Ven and (sitting) Marian Brennan, Jean Penney, Dianne Embree, Millie Elassad
and Gwendolyn Cochrane were on Rabobank's New York staff from the very first day.
Dutch Mia van de Ven still remembers she was allowed to start her job with one week's
holiday. On 1 September 1980 there was no room for her in the temporary office. The
second week was taken up with positioning furniture and welcoming new colleagues. No-
body in the USA had ever heard of Rabobank. Telephone calls therefore often began by
repeating the name several times. Procedures were devised and introduced. The office
grew by a process of trial and error. The first loan was recorded on 9 April 1981. 'The
New York Branch is what you might call an international operation,' says Mia van de Ven.
People of 23 nationalities work in it and our American colleagues come from 14 different
states.'
