Job
description
Talking
coordination
Going Dutch
Curacao
appointment
Studying
Brazil
ZOOMIT online
Trading places
Hungary expansion
Ruys départs
Staff communication magazine
for the Rabobank Groun
Secretary to the foreign of
fices department Carla Boshuis
joined international when the
bank had only four offices out-
side the Netherlands. Over the
years, she has seen the direc-
torate grow into a truly globai
banking network. She explains
what it's like on the job at FOD.
See page 2.
Coordinating and fine-tuning
a globai approach to cliënt ser
vice is high priority within the
Rabo organization. In late Jan-
uary, Rabobankers from all over
the world met to determine
strategies and establish lines
of communication that signal
the start of the bank's compre-
hensive CAM project.
See page 3.
Ever wondered what the
Dutch Raboband was actually
talking about. Here'syourchance
to find out as International
surmmarizes the contents of the
two most recent issues of our
sister publication. See page 4.
The Curacao office has a
new deputy director. Nol Hol
lander is currently working with
the Latin-America desk in
Utrecht before succeeding Jan
van Hunen on January 1,1994.
Van Hunen will be taking up a
position in the Netherlands on
the same date. Hollander will
be relocating to Curacao in
August.
The Heerhugowaard-Noord
member bank has organized a
field trip to Brazil for the third
year in succession. Dutch agri-
clients were invited to partici-
pate in the trip to look at farm-
ing methods in this area of South
America. A number of Dutch far
mers from the bank's home
region have emigrated to Brazil,
so the member bank has con-
tacts in that country who can
provide first-hand experiences
of agri-business there.
Following intensive trials at
various locations worldwide,
plans are currently being finaliz-
ed to implement the new Zoom
it electronic mail system at all
the bank's international offices
by mid-May this year.
Within the next few weeks, the
Zoomit project team will be liais-
ing with the bank's offices world
wide to arrange the implemen-
tation of the new electronic mail
system.The time schedule setto
complete the installation is mid-
May and implementation should
be effected at a rate of two of
fices per week. Full training pack-
ages and the necessary soft
ware will be forwarded to each
office - the system is user-friend-
ly and brief inhouse instruction
on how to use it should suffice.
Although the implementation of
Zoomit will mean a radical re-
duction in telephone and espec-
iaily telefax costs, a further im
portant reason for its introduc-
tion is the quality of the docu-
ments that it produces. Essen-
tially, documents are passed
from one PC to another else-
where in the world, and as a re-
sult, documents can be printed
directly from the recipient's com
puter. This means that a well
laid-out document, for example a
credit proposal, produced in
Singapore can be in same-day
distribution in preciselythe same
format in New York. However, the
great advantage of electronic
mail is that a number of people
at different locations can work
on the same document without
endless retypingfrom bad-quality
telefaxes.
The first Regional Trade Fi-
nance Meeting will be held in
February in Jakarta. Hosted by
Rabobank Duta, the meeting
will formulate a business plan
for regional commodity and
trade finance and brings to-
gether representatives from
the bank's offices in Indone-
sia, Hong Kong, Singapore and
Australia.
The idea of regional trade fi
nance meetings is to examine
trade flows between various
countries in the area and look
at the main commodities that
could offer agribusiness finance
opportunities for the bank.
Covering grain and feed, oil-
seeds and related products,
tobacco, cotton, horticultural
and tropical products, dairy,
livestock and poultry, forest
products, fertiliser and bananas,
the meeting will develop a
seiection of commodities for
further examination. How and
where to tap into financing of
these trade flows is also on the
agenda and.the meeting hopes
to conclude with a comprehen-
sive regional business plan to
develop trade financing in the
region.
Following a year of initial exploration of the Hungarian market,
the bank has decided to expand its presence there. See page 2.
The present head of the
Foreign Offices Department,
Charles Ruys, will be leaving
the International Directorate
on March 1.
Ruys, who has headed up the
FOD for the past two-and-a-half
years moved to the Interna
tional Directorate from the
member banks' organization
where he worked for nine years.
He has now been appointed to
the EDAB (Efficiency Drive
Member Banks) and will work
on this project before joining a
member bank as general man
ager. 'I have learnt a lot at
FOD,' he says, 'but all in all, I
prefer to pursue my career on
the domestic rather than the in
ternational side of the bank's
operations.' A successor has
not yet been appointed.
