General Manager
North America
Back to grass
roots
Triple A
reconfirmed
Leipzig branch
discontinued
ALM team work
Quality growth
forecast 1993
Deal of the year
New Year Message
Fire escape
Staff communication magazine
At January 1, Dennis Ziengs
is appointed general manager
North America. This includes the
position of general manager of
the New York Branch. This ap-
pointment is designed to reflect
the bank's growing focus on the
whole US, Canadian and Mexi-
can markets and its position
among the top agribusiness fi-
nancial institutions in the North
American continent.
Introductory week for inter
national account management
staff is highly rated by partici-
pants. One of the highlights is
the visit to a member bank in
the Netherlands. Raboband
International joins two AM
staffers from Hong Kong and
Beigium as they go back to ba-
sics and meet the people on
the spot. See page 3.
At the end of 1992, Stan
dard Poor reconfirmed the
bank's Triple A rating. Rabobank
is one of only three banks world-
wide which have earned and
maintained this coveted status.
Triple A is awarded based on a
number of criteria, includingthe
bank's solidity and reputation
and the state of the national
economy of its residence.
Rabobank Deutschland has
decided to close its branch office
in Leipzig followingdisappointing
banking opportunities in this
region of the former DDR. The
Leipzig branch was in operation
for 14 months and its activities
have now been taken over by the
main office in Frankfurt.
Followingthe GMC in Novem
ber, an international asset
liabilities project team has been
established to develop a frame-
work for assisting branches in
improving their performance in
this area. The team will meet
three times over the next few
months and will present prelimi-
nary conclusions at the annual
treasurers meeting in April.
The international division's
annual business plan was pub-
lished at the end of the year
and, in spite of the unstable
global economie situation,
shows positive healthy growth.
However, the year ahead will
be characterized by the pursuit
of quality.
According to the report by the
international division manage
ment, 1992 was the first real
indication of the bank's break-
through from starting operation
to first phases of maturity on
the world banking stage. Con-
tained growth was achieved,
driven primarily by lending activ
ities which increased by 20.3
percent. Although this figure
can be considered healthy, an
extraordinary general man
agers meeting was convened at
Continued on page 2.
The authoritative business
journal Euroweek has named
the Rabobank lead-managed
bond issue for the German
Commerzbank the guilder deal
of the year.
Of the top five 1992 guilder
bond issues, Rabobank was
lead manager for numbers one
and four, achieving a 36-percent
domestic market share in this
field during the past year. At pre
sent, Rabobank Nederland is
the main player in bond issues,
but in the coming year Rabobank
Deutschland should become in-
creasingly active in creatingjoint
lead management positions in
its own right. 'What we are aim-
ing for,' says Frederik Floek,
head of the capital markets de-
partment, 'is increased visibility
for our foreign offices in this
field. Currently, they are focus-
sed primarily on identifying po-
tential issuers and working with
us on presentations to clients.
However, that should change
and we should see our offices in
Germany, Luxembourg and
uitimateiy Switzerland devel-
oping issues in their currencies
in the not too distant future.'
The beginning of a new year is always a time of reflection. And
1993 marks something of a milestone in the development of
Rabobank as an international banking house. It is now 12 years
since the bank made its first move towards establishing a net-
work of foreign offices. From small beginnings, we now have more
than 1,100 staff in the international division and at locations
worldwide. As the number and importance of our foreign offices
grows, a need was perceived for a means of communicating with
them. It was feit that they should be informed of important de-
velopments in the Netherlands and also be given the opportunity
to communicate interesting aspects of their own development.
Continued on page 2.
The Milan office had a lucky
escape on the last day of the
old year as fire broke out in the
second-floor accounting room.
Fortunately, it was discovered
almost immediately and no
one was injured although the
whole floor, which in fact
comprises half of Rabobank
Italy's premises, has suffered
smoke damage.
'The fire brigade believes the
fire was started by a short cir
cuit in our accounting-room prin
ter,' says general manager Ro-
berto de Cardona. 'The machi
ne had been switched off in
preparation for the traditional
half-day closing on December
31, but fortunately one of our
staff went back up to the ac
counting room before leaving
the building. She found dense
smoke coming from this room
and we immediately called in
Continued on page 2.
fnv tha Dahnhank firnnn
