Kjy
Doing business abroad:
foursquare with Rabobank
'A joint responsibility'
Rauu
Foursquare with Rabobank. That description fits the banking reia
tionship of Klerk's Plastic Industry, KPi, of Noordwijkerhout. With
its two foreign branches this producer of agricultural plastics,
among other things, deals with four Rabobanks: the ones in Noord
wijkerhout, Antwerp, New York and Rabobank Nederland. Cooper-
ation and joint responsibility are the issues at stake.
Whether the Dutch like it or not,
other countries often describe
their country with a few simple
symbols: cheese, windmills, clogs and
flowers. A lot of these flowers come from the
bulb-growing area between Amsterdam and
The Hague. And there, in Noordwijkerhout,
where stretches of colour alternate with
each other iike outspread flags, is the origin
of Klerk's Plastic Industry. Right from the
start the business has been closely
connected with the agricultural and hor-
ticultural industry, hence with Rabobank.
Rabobank squared Since the company
started making products such as agricul
tural plastics twenty-seven years ago it has
expanded into an organization employing
around 260 people based in the Nether-
lands, Belgium and the United States. In
this case, that international spread means
doing business with four Rabobanks: the
local Rabobank Noordwijkerhout, Rabobank
Nederland in Utrecht, Rabobank Belgium
and Rabobank New York.
Joint responsibility Henk Pouwels,
account manager with Rabobank Noord
wijkerhout, has got it all nicely arranged. He
knows KPI like the back of his hand and
enjoys a very good reiationship with the
company. The company's account is,
however, jointly managed by Rabobank
Noordwijkerhout and Rabobank Nederland.
Migchiel van der Zee of Rabobank Neder-
land's Account Management department for
the Member Banks explains why: 'Local
Rabobanks sometimes have large com-
panies as their customers with very specific
requirements and wishes. You cannot
expect a local bank to be able to meet them
all. Particularly not, when they may have
only one customer like that. Being the head
office, Rabobank Nederland often has to
deal with such large companies and their
specific wishes and products at national
level. The Account Management department
for the Member Banks is organized to do
this. So at a given moment we were also
approached by Rabobank Noordwijkerhout.
Ad Gerritsen (I.), New York branch.visits Klerk's in M/'i
Issue 9/Mei 27, 1991 band
They were iooking for support with Klerk's
account management. We now have Klerk's
as a joint customer. We talk and decide to-
gether.'
Financing If a local Rabobank has to
finance a large amount - in relation to its
balance sheet total - that bank can do this
together with Rabobank Nederland. Henk
Pouweis, responsible for Klerk's at Rabo
bank Noordwijkerhout: 'For us, Klerk's was
a customer that grew very rapidly in terms of
credit granting. At a certain point we were
increasingly experiencing problems be-
cause our liquidity position was insufficiënt
to be able to supply all the finance. It made
too great a claim on our balance sheet total.
For that reason too we needed Rabobank
Nederland's help. Now we supply the fi
nance together with the Member Banks'
Account Management department and also
jointly share the risk.'
Streamlining contacts Klerk's went on
growing and acquired branches in New York
and Hoogstraten near Antwerp in Belgium.
Hans Haazen looks afterthe financial affairs
at J.M. de Klerk Beheer BV. He deals with
several departments of the same bank. So
a method for streamlining the contacts was
agreed upon: 'Rabobank Noordwijkerhout
F.l.t.r. Mighiel van der Zee, Hans Haazen and Henk Pouwels.
acts as the partner in discussion for the
day-to-day practical matters', says Haazen.
'That's how it also works with our foreign
branches. The manager of Hyplast in
Hoogstraten first contacts Rabobank Bel
gium and the manager of KPPM in New York
(Klerk's Plastic Products Manufacturing)
first phones the Rabobank branch in New
York for the day-to-day problems.'
Mutual discussion If important deci-
sions have to be taken, or if problems arise,
the role of the Account Management
department for the Member Banks is quite
explicit. Van der Zee: 'We then look at what
has to be done together with Rabobank
Noordwijkerhout. Whether it is a question of
domestic or foreign business. In particular,
we are called in when investment decisions
involving financing are being taken. We then
PLASTIC PRODUCTS MANUFACTURING INC
