■■■li
Holland
Happening
Foreign Office
reshuffle
Rabo
The strategy
behind strategie
alliances
Christmas
crackers
VISSER
The Dutch Rabobanks have
gone all out to reduce costs
and improve efficiency of bank
transfers for individual cus-
tomers. Clients can now regu-
late their regular payments
through standing orders. The
bank's action has achieved
considerable success - over
the past few months, over one
million standing orders have
been recorded. Representa
ties of all Dutch banks met in
the parliament building in The
Hague to sign a joint declar-
ation against racial discrimin-
ation. The agreement means
they have committed them-
selves to preventing and com-
bating all forms of prejudice
and discrimination. Fromjan-
Operations of the Foreign
Offices Department (FOD) and
the International Directorate
have been streamlined to im
prove the efficiency of interac
tion and communication be-
tween Utrecht and offices
abroad.
From mid-November, the man
agers with special responsibility
for specific foreign areas at the
International Directorate have
joined forces with specialists in
the FOD to create a more uni-
fied approach to cooperation
between the Utrecht office and
Rabobanks around the world.
'The idea,' explains FOD-head
Charles Ruys, 'is to shorten
lines of communication and im
prove our services to the of
fices abroad. By working more
closely together here in Utrecht,
we can provide even greater
service to the foreign offices.'
The staff at the FOD have been
reshuffled to create a more ef
ficiënt unit and a number of
countries have been reassigned
- full details have already been
passed to the foreign offices
concerned.
uary 1, the Rabobank will begin
making charges for a number of
extremely expensive transac-
tions for private customers.
However, most services will re-
main free. The aim of the new
measure is to reduce costs.
The bank's main competitor,
ABN Amro is taking similar
measures. Inthefirstquarter
of 1993, a large number of Ra
bobanks will be focussing on
their agribusiness clients. Using
mass communication tech-
niques, such as direct mail, the
bank will demonstrate its ex
pertise in this field while em-
phasizing low charges and the
advantages of the cooperative
banking philosophy. The Rabo
bank currently has a 90-percent
market share in this sector, and
intends to keep it. Telebank-
ing is becoming increasingly
popular among both private and
corporate Rabobank clients in
the Netherlands. Within months
of its introduction, more than
11,000 corporate agreements
had been reached, and around
10,000 private customers had
begun banking through their
PC.
Issue 13/Dec. 14, 1992 band
look at the office network - is it
big enough? Then we look at a
bank's reputation - is it good
enough? We look at the level of
service - is it as good as ours?
And finally, we look at company
culture', explains Arts. 'It has
to be similar to ours. There has
to be a certain recognizable
'Rabo-ness' in the bank, which
the cliënt can recognize. Seen
in these terms, it's fairly clear
that an organization such as,
say, the Credit Agricole, would
be the sort of partner we would
be looking for. And the four new
cooperative banks that we have
just signed an alliance with also
incorporate all of these as-
pects.' The same criteria are
also applied by the allied banks
when looking at Rabobank. 'It's
definitely a two-way thing',
agrees Arts. 'Not only can
Rabobank's clients can make
use of the services the other
banks provide, their customers
can also make use of our facil-
ities, both in the Netherlands
and increasingly worldwide.'
A brief glance through the
'Flashback - 1992' shows the
past year has been a busy one
in terms of strategie alliances.
No less than three were signed
with prominent banks abroad,
all in countries where Rabo
bank has an office of its own.
Why are alliances necessary?
How are partners selected,
and what advantages do these
agreements offer to the bank's
clients?
'There are two basic reasons
for seeking an alliance with a
foreign bank', says Eurodesk
liaison officer Dick Arts. 'If we
look at the situation in Ger-
many, then we see our own
Rabobank Deutschland has
seven offices - and that is not
enough to serve a country of
that size. So what we need is a
cooperative agreement with a
bank or banks which puts at our
and giving gifts. Raibo'sgeneral
manager Teun de Boon in Brasil
assumes an uncharacteristic
role as he prepares to suprise
staff at the annual Christmas
dinner dressed as Sinterklaas,
the Dutch version of Saint
Nicholas. Party-time in New
York means kids' time as Santa
Claus makes wishes come true
for Rabobank staffs' children.
In Utrecht, Rabo-kids again
gather as Raboband Interna-
tional's photographer Herman
Jonkman does the honours on
the other side of the camera
and poses as the children's
saint.
disposal a network of offices
throughout Germany. In that
way, we can offer our clients
both in the Netherlands and
elsewhere a much more com-
prehensive service.' The second
factor in seeking alliances is to
ensure clients receive the
same Standard of service as
they would expect in the Nether
lands. 'Rabobank Deutschland
is not equipped to deal with all
aspects of banking', continues
Arts. 'It is typically oriented to-
wards large corporate clients,
and that means we have to look
for options for the smaller
clients who also need banking
services in Germany, or any
other of the countries where we
have alliances.' When seeking
alliance partners, the Rabo
bank applies four basic criteria
- all equally important. 'We
Rabobank staff worldwide
take time out from the serious
business of banking to take
part in the equally serious busi
ness of celebrating Christmas
