Fields of vision
Kallu
band Issue 14/January 25, 1993
The introductory week for international account management staff
at the Utrecht head office is a regular part of training for AM em
ployees from the bank's offices around the world. The programs are
tailor-made to suit the working environment of specific staff and
are rated highly by participants. However, one of the highlights of
the working visit is the day spent at one of the member banks in
the Netherlands. Raboband International goes back to the bank's
roots with account managers from Hong Kong and Belgium as they
visit the member bank at Westmaas-Mijnsheerenland.
M
The introductory program designed for
Lincoln Lui and Ingeborg Lenssens
was pretty straight forward. Theirfirst
day was spent with various experts from the
international, corporate banking and legal
divisions. These initial impressions were
subsequently fleshed out at later meetings,
once the two account management person-
nel from very different geographic regions
had had an opportunity to assimilate the
basic background information and aims of
Rabobank as an international banking house.
In addition to this not unimportant ele
ment, the program also aims to esta-
blish personal contact between people
who will be working closely together, al-
though often at different ends of the
globe. Because the bank's interna
tional recruitment policy is aimed pri-
marily at banking professionals, these
introductory visits are designed mainly
to promote more understanding of the
internal workings of management and
operations. 'The introduction week en-
hances networking within the group and
between the foreign branches,' ex-
plains Charles Ruys, head of the foreign
offices department. 'It gives our staff
overseas a better understanding of the
policies, procedures and state of devel-
opment of the international division in
particular and the Rabobank Nederland
operation in general. Plus, it is extremely
useful in giving insight into the whys and
wherefores of decision-making and goes
some way to explain the rather conservative
strategy of the bank.'
Grass roots The day spent at a member
bank is usually considered one of the most
interesting by participants. Aithough the mer-
chant and corporate banking activities of
most of the foreign offices are a far cry from
the general day-to-day operations of Rabo-
banks nationwide in the Netherlands, the visit
offers account managers a rare inside view of
how they work. 'Retail banking is very dif
ferent from the type of work we do in Hong
Kong,' says Lincoln Lui. 'Spending a day at
one of the member banks helps you really
see Rabobank as a well-integrated bank in
Dutch society and understand its high pen-
etration in agriculture. You know, you see the
term 'member bank' and agribank on paper
all the time, but in Hong Kong we deal with so
many other sectors that you sometimes lose
sight of the basic agri-orientation.' Ingeborg
Lenssens agrees. You hear so much about
the organization, its hisotry and roots, so its
useful to actually experience how the mem
ber banks operate. It gives you more insight
into the actual organization.'
All round General manager at the West-
maas-Mijnheerensland member bank Joop
Wellen stresses that though retail banking
activities are an important part of what he
and his 22 staff do every day, the essence
of Rabobanking is that it provides an all
round service to clients. 'We have to have
every conceivable kind of banking expertise
in-house,' he says, 'because our clients ex-
pect precisely the same level of service they
would receive at a large bank in a big city
right here on their own doorstep. It's an his-
Signs of the times - the original founders of the Westmaas
farmers' credit bank and'(beiow) three of today's Rabo-
people: member bank general manager Joop Wellen
(right), Lincoln Lui from Hong Kong and Ingeborg Lenssens
from the Brussels office.
torical thing. We've always done it that way.'
The Westmaas farmers' credit cooperative
bank was established in 1920 by a group of
local farmers along the lines of the famous
Raiffeisen system. The German Friedrich
Wilhelm Raiffeisen began to develop this
'self-help' system for local farming commu-
nities in the mid-19th century. At the time,
small farmers were often at the mercy of
loan sharks. He saw cooperative banks as
a way of protecting small farmers against
bad harvests and easing them through dif-
ficult times. The idea caught on throughout
Europe and eventually reached the Nether
lands towards the end of the century. The
notion of the cooperative banks was that
they would be established and
run, often on a voluntary basis, by
a core group of 'members' who
agreed to assist the bank in times
of financial difficulties. 'This idea
still forms the basis of our organiz-
ational structure,' says Wellen.
'Our members guarantee to pay
NLG 3,000 each if the bank gets
into financial trouble. However, in
the course of this century, the
original farmers' credit banks
have grown from small, individual
operations into a major organiz
ation nationwide, and now international.' In
the early years of this century, two umbrella
organizations for farmers' credit banks
emerged - one based in Utrecht, the other
in Eindhoven. In 1973, the two merged to
form the Rabobank, now the second largest
bank in the Netherlands. But unlike most
large national banks, the Rabobank still re-
tains its unique structure in the sense that
the member banks have a great measure of
autonomy, and the central organization is
geared to their needs and requirements,
rather than the other way around.
In the field 'That's the great thing
about managing a member bank,' says Joop
Wellen, who joined Rabobank in 1969.
'Because we have a great level of autonomy,
you're able to serve the whole community in
many more ways than a bank whose policy
is dictated by a head office elsewhere.' The
Westmaas and Mijnsheerenland offices are
the leading bank in the area. 'We have 65
percent of the business here, and 80 per
cent of the local population has bought at
least one product from us,' Wellen explains.
'This involvement in the community means
you really get to know your customers. You
can advise them, offer assistance and sup
port when problems arise, and because you
know the community intimately, you can of
ten foresee potential problems before they
occur.' After running through some of the
bank's basic activities, Joop Wellen invited
Lui and Lenssens to join him on a visit to
come of his clients. Father and son Plaizier
form one of the 70 agribusinesses serviced
by the bank. As intensive dairy farmers, they
market the 8,000 litres of milk each of their
cows produces annually to a milk-powder
processing factory in the Netherlands and
these products can end up as far afield as
Somalia and the former eastern bloc. The
Plaiziers have always banked with Rabobank
because they feel it understands the needs
of farmers, especially now when agriculture
has become increasingly complex through
EC quotas and regulations. 'You have to
keep abreast of all these matters,' confirms
Wellen, 'but you also have to be able to per-
form every kind of transaction at the bank.
We have around 250 small companies on
our books and their activities can range from
export-import, overseas payments, and so
on. When they call us, we have to be able to
provide them with the information they
need. We also have regular contact with
numerous departments in Utrecht or Eind
hoven which provide us with additional ex
pertise or information. They act as back-up
for the Rabo-people in the field. But essen-
tially, here at the member bank, we have to
know everything about everything. That's
the way it works, and that's what keeps us
ahead of the competition...'
