Rabo
Rabobank
General
Managers'
Conference
Over two million
customers
at the counter
Rabobank Trust
growing
and flourishing
ADCA-Bank
is now called
Rabobank
Deutschland
Luxembourg
almost paperless
Operations
managers'
meeting
Issue 11/August 24, 1992 band
The general managers of
the foreign offices were in the
Netherlands at the end of May.
The highlight of the conference
In Europe, many payments
are still made by cheque. The
banks issue Eurocheques with
a related pass - the Europass -
which is used for identification.
For a number of years now this
pass has mainly also been used
in cash dispensers and point-of-
sale terminals. The Europass is
valid for two years.
These two years are now at an
end. In other words, this sum-
was a meeting with the Board
of Directors at Zuylen Castle.
During the meeting much atten-
tion was paid to the possibil-
ities for improving cooperation
between the offices them-
selves and with the member
banks, Rabobank Nederland
and its subsidiaries. Many of-
mer two million customers will
come to their Rabobanks to col-
lect their new passes. That
means 20 percent of all the
adults in the Netherlands. The
local banks use this contact to
sell more services. Among other
things, customers are offered
the opportunity to get acquainted
with the Rabocard - the Group's
own credit card - free of charge
until 1 January 1993. This en-
courages customers to make
more use of methods which are
less expensive for the bank,
such as paying by credit card
and electronic payment.
As from April last year Rabo
bank Trust has been vigorously
expanding its national and in
ternational trust activities. Of
fices have been established in
Curaqao, Luxembourg and on
the British island of Jersey.
Rabobank Trust's head office is
located in Utrecht.
'The trust department special-
izes in the formation and man
agement of companies and
provides trustee services to
both national and international
clients', says Rabobank Trust's
General Manager, Thomas van
Rijckevorsel. 'The basic aim is
to provide domicile, managing
directors and accounting and
secretarial services for com
panies owned by clients. Rabo
bank Trust offers its services
to both clients of the Rabobank
Group and to clients recom-
mended by international tax
consultants. Rabobank Trust
cooperates with Rabobank's
foreign offices for the acquisi-
tion of new clients.'
fices outside the Netherlands
have now completed the build-
up phase. As a result, mutual
possibilities for cooperation
which are both realistic and
profitable have now become
clear. Agreements were made
to use this 'network' to opti
mum effect.
Rabobank has been oper-
ating under its own name in
Germany since 1 July. ADCA-
Bank is now called Rabobank
Deutschland.
Rabobank Nederland acquired a
majority share of 84 percent in
ADCA-Bank in 1984 to enable it
to provide better services for
Dutch businessmen in Ger
many. Since then it has been
able to extend its holding to 94
percent. Rabobank Deutschland
concentrates particularly on
trade between Germany and the
Netherlands and on German
and internationally operating
companies in the agribusiness
At Rabobank Luxembourg,
opening accounts and produ-
cing all the related documents
is simply a matter of pressing
a button.
Luxembourg has taken an im
portant step towards modern-
izing the bank's automation
process. In the presence of the
customer, all the documents
relating to an account can be
printed out in next to no time.
In Dutch, English or French. All
kinds of banking transactions
can be carried out during dis-
cussions with customers and
the cliënt can see the result of
his instructions on the screen
immediately.
and food industry. In addition,
the bank is also active in the
market for medium-sized Ger
man importing and exporting
businesses. The change in
name was a logical result of the
policy of fitting ADCA-Bank into
the Rabobank Group's foreign
branch network. Given the great
significance of the German
economy, a powerful Rabobank
presence with its own clearly
recognizable branches is vitally
important.
The change in name gives
added recognition value. To
mark the end of an important
reorganization period ail the
bank's employees spent a week
end together in Frankfurt in July.
play a part in this. Given the
high costs of automation and
the importance of good and
timely information, these pro-
cesses have to be efficiently
geared to each other. There are
great differences in the avail-
ability of systems and pro
grammes from country to
country. And the central banks
have different requirements
for reporting. For these rea-
sons, achieving coordination
between the organization's of
fices is a time-consuming and
complicated business. Signifi
cant steps towards improving
this situation were taken during
the conference.
At the end of April the oper
ations managers of the foreign
offices met in Utrecht for the
third time. On the Sunday prior
to the meeting they went
sailing on the IJsselmeer and
had their photographs taken in
traditional costume in Volen-
dam.
Much attention was paid to
the streamlining of informa
tion management at the confer
ence. Systems, programmes
and reporting requirements
