Rabo
band
Rabo
band
Flashback - 1992
Staging
a send
off for Hugo
Steensma
People
Issue 13/Dec. 14, 1992
January Hungary's capital
Budapest is chosen as location
tor Rabobank's first represen-
tative office in the former East-
ern Bloc. Reasons for the
choice are that Hungary has
progressed farthest in its
change to a market economy.
The new office aims to provide
member banks with assist-
ance and support and Henk
Leliveld is appointed general
manager.
February Rabobank London
plays host to around 70 inter
national bankers involved in
joint financing of trade.
The branch in the British capi
tal regularly works with other
banks in providing credits
and other financial instru-
ments.
March Cooperation with al-
lied Banco Popular Espanol is
expanded with a number of new
products to enhance services
to both banks' clients. The
Floriade 'Foreign Offices Days'
commence, bringing staff from
all over the world to the
greatest horticultural show in
the world.
April The Italian Cassa di
Risparmio della Provincie Lom-
barde, or Cariplo for short, be-
comes the fourth addition to
Rabobank's alliances. Cariplo
has a large market share in
small and medium-sized busi-
nesses and a network of more
than 620 offices. This is a busy
month as a fifth alliance is
signed with the Austrian Raif-
feisen Zentralbank AG which in
addition to over 800 offices
also has representatives in Pra-
gue and Moscow, and is involv
ed in joint ventures with banks
in Budapest, Bratislava and War-
saw. The Rabobank itself en
ters into a joint venture with the
Agricultural Bank of China to
stimulate and facilitate trade
with the far-eastern giant.
May Rabobank Luxembourg
and Rabobank Curacao agree
to develop a special banking
software package.
June General managers
come together in Utrecht for
their annual conference. The
marketing department intro
ducés new house-style for use
by all Rabobank offices.
July ADCA-Bank officially be-
comes Rabobank Deutschland
following a decision to link the
former more strongly into the
Rabobank's foreign network.
Iran is on the agenda as Rabo
bank and its Unico partners ap-
ply for permission to open a
representative office whose pri-
mary function will be Communi
cations.
August Rabobank Deutsch
land begins a major advertising
campaign to introducé itself to
the German market.
September Raibo du Brasil
goes Hollywood as the San
Paolo office forms the focus of
a 15-minute film on Rabo
bank's agribusiness.
October A new subsidiary is
opened - Rabobank Guernsey
Limited on the Channel Island
of the same name. The office
will concentrate on fixed de-
posits, equity transactions,
trust activities and asset man
agement.
November A quartet of Ger
man banks, the GENO and DG
of Frankfurt, Stuttgart-based
SGZ and the WGZ of Dussel-
dorf, become Rabobank's
newest alliance partners. To
gether the German banks re-
present 3,150 locai coopera-
tive banks with 20,000 offices
nation-wide.
December Decision to up
grade Rabobank Schweiz.
Continuation page 1.
needs, I think everyone will
benefit from its use.'
ZOOMIT is an electronic mail
system which can improve effi
ciency in a number of ways.
Rather than printing out docu-
ments from the computer and
subsequently faxing them to
where they are needed, a mo
dem attached to the computer
transmits the data to a receiv-
ing computer elsewhere. 'This
means that instead of having to
re-type a faxed report or credit
application into your own com
puter, it is already there,' says
Bok. A further advantage is re-
duced fax and telephone costs.
In ourcase,' adds Bok, 'it costs
us around 3.5 Singapore dol
lars to send a page by fax, and
tariffs for telephone cails are
high, with the new system you
can cut down on these costs
because ZOOMIT is extremely
fast and can also be used to
leave messages - there's no
continual calling back.'
One of the main areas where
the new system will improve
efficiency is in credit applica-
tions. 'These are often 20 pages
long and that's quite a docu
ment to send by fax,' Barnes
explains. 'ZOOMIT will mean we
can get these documents out
on a same-day basis.'
The New York office may
not be on Broadway, but the
farewell party for general
manager Hugo Steensma
showed that the theatre's
loss is Rabobank's gain.
Hugo Steensma has directed
the New York office since its
very inception in April, 1980 -
a point that did not go unno-
ticed in the choice of farewell
gifts presented at a grand din-
ner in his honour at the city's
Palace Hotel in November.
One was the original pair of
scissors used by the then
Dutch Agriculture Minister
Braks to cut the tape at the
opening ceremony. They had
been carefully preserved and
though long broken, were a
truly personalized momento of
the early days.
Although the dinner itself will be
talked about for some time to
come, the highlight of the even-
ing was the 12-scene 'play'
staged by staff. Composed of
virtuoso sketches with titles
such as 'Rob a Bank', 'The
Credit Committee' and 'Ti Yi
Yippee Yippee Ay", the cabaret-
style entertainment recalled
Steensma's banking career to
date, but also cast a spotlight
on his early promise in the one-
acter 'Baby Hugo'.
The night will long be remem-
bered by all the staff of the New
York office - the question re-
mains: what did incoming gen
eral manager Dennis Ziengs
make of the proceedings? Until
he takes up his appointment on
January 1, 1993, Raboband
International can only specu-
late...
Belgium Joris Vermeulen joined
the Antwerp office as assistant
spot dealer on November 9.
Rectification: Ingeborg Lens-
sens is assistant account man
ager and not account manager
as stated in our previous issue.
Germany Account manager
Manfred Schneider joins the
bank from Chemical Bank Dus-
seldorf on January 1, 1993.
Italy Robert de Cardona, cur-
rently co-general manager Italy,
will take up a new appointment
as general manager on January
18, 1993. He will continue to
serve as Rabofin Spa's general
manager as the activities of the
representative office in Milan
will be managed by Rabofin in
that city. Roland H. van Lim
burg Stirum has been appoint
ed senior account manager and
management team member at
Rabofin Spa, Milan. His ap
pointment becomes effective
on January 1, 1993.
Spain/Uruguay Arnout van
Schelven was appointed gen
eral manager of the Spanish of
fice on August 1. He replaces
Maus Barendrecht who has
joined Surinvest management
team in Uruguay.
Utrecht Mario Lotufo joined the
FOD on December 1. From Jan
uary 18,1993, Paul Dekker will
coordinate the food and agribus
iness team at the Rotterdam
branch of Rabobank Nederland.
INTERNATIONAL
Editorial staff
Stan Polman and Anne Lavelle
(Editorial Department) and Cees
van Rest and Jacqueline Noord-
hoorn-van Bentum (International)
Division).
Editorial address
Rabobank Nederland
Caroline Renette, editorial
assistant
P.O. Box 17100
NL 3500 HG Utrecht
Telephone +31 30 902083
Telefax +31 30 901904
Designed and printed by
Hoonte-Holland, Utrecht
