Foreign office in focus
Rabobank Belgium:
'We are a mature office'
iaoo
In the first of a regular series of profiles on individuai foreign of
fices, Raboband International drops in on the bank's Antwerp
operation.
Issue 16/March 22, 1993
The six-storey building on Antwerp's
prestigious Frankrijklei in the heart of
the banking district is shrouded in
skaffolding. Only the broad doublé doors
and distinctive Rabobank logo on a plate
beside them are visible to the street. 'It's
Frans van Bijsterveld: 'All our business
is with major national and international
corporations.
symbolic,' jokes administrative services
chief Albert Coenen. 'The skaffolding signi-
fies we're always building on our business.'
In fact, the building's facade is being clean-
ed as part of the 'Antwerp '93 European
Cultural Capital' celebrations, which have
only added to the ancient Flemish trading
city's normal bustling activity. Antwerp is a
70-minute drive from Rabobank's head of
fice in Utrecht, the people of Flanders speak
the same language, but to the Dutch visitor
there's a decided sense of 'being abroad'.
'I think we have a very different culture
here,' says Roger Delcroix, the bank's food
and agribusiness account manager. 'We
approach things differently in Beigium, and
that's reflected in the way the bank in
Antwerp does business.'
Commitment There's a feeling of solid-
ity and durability in the bank's offices. Ant
werp was one of the first foreign offices to
be established following the introduction of
Rabobank's international expansion policy
back in the early 1980s. 'We're a mature of
fice,' confirms general manager Frans van
Bijsterveld, 'since we began operations in
1984, we've seen our business grow stead-
ily from a small foothold to the 76-person
staff working on a full range of banking ser
vices.'
Triple-A Rabobank arrived at a time
when many of the big American banks,
which had entered the European market
with a lot of fanfare, had departed just as
to take business away from other banks to
achieve this goal,' explains Van Bijsterveld,
'we will also be further expanding our repu-
tation in other sectors of the whole market
here.' At present, corporate financing ac
counts for a substantial percent of the
bank's loan portfolio. And from very small
beginnings, Antwerp's dealing room now
brings in 45 percent of gross income. 'When
quickly when it turned out there were no
quick killings to be made. 'Even though
Rabobank already had a sound reputation in
Belgium because of this country's close
proximity to the Netherlands, we were still a
foreign bank, and we had to develop re-
lationships with clients,' says Van Bijster
veld. 'The bank's policy of commitment and
gradual growth was of real importance in
establishing the trust that is essential when
you are involved in the kind of market we
have in Belgium. We have no retail activities
here, all our business is with major national
and international corporations. Many of
these companies are subsidiares of global
giants. So our Triple-A rating is very helpful.'
Delcroix agrees. 'When you contact pros-
pects,' he says, 'you mention our name, and
Food and agri AM Delcroix -
the food chain.
moving up
Van Mieghem (teft) and his treasury
team - working on expansion.
it smooths your entry considerably. It also
means you can concentrate on what Rabo
bank has to offer the cliënt, rather than
spending time and energy on establishing
your bona fides.' Initially, the Antwerp office
focussed on Belgian government bonds, but
these activities have gradually been super-
seded by the bank's two specialist areas -
food and agribusiness and corporate fi
nancing. When Delcroix began moving into
the food and agribusiness market, he faced
tough competition. 'Agriculture is only
around 5 percent of GNP,' says Delcroix, 'so
this market is not essentially a growth
market. Effectively, what we had to do was
take business away from other banks.'
Three years after Antwerp's first push into
this market, 35 percent of the bank's
business is linked to this sector. 'We start-
ed with primary agriculture, and now we're
moving further along the food chain,' says
Delcroix, whose brief is to develop
Rabobank Belgium's agri-business to the
50-percent Dutch norm over the next few
years.
Gradual growth 'As we're going to have
the dealing room was set up five years ago,'
says treasury manager Walter van Mieghem,
'I was told to start slowly, establish our
reputation and grow from there. We began
with one spot dealer and have gradually ex-
panded our operations here to include
almost the full range of dealing room in-
struments.' The policy of putting the right
person in place and taking time to establish
relationships with clients has paid off. In
mid-February, the dealing room officially
launched its off-balance sheet activities,
making it a fully-fledged treasury operation.
Back-up No dealing room can function
without back-room services and the Antwerp
office has recently installed state-of-the-art
computers to provide this essential back-
up. 'We're the only foreign office in the
group to have this kind of hardware,' says
Coenen, with more than a touch of satis-
faction. His administrative and personnel
department comprises almost half of the
bank's 76 staff and he is reponsible for
EDP, accounting, money transfer, general
services and personnel as well as the back
office. 'These may appear the more mun-
dane areas of operation,' says Coenen, 'but
no bank can function efficiently without
them.' Rabobank Belgium is not only func-
tioning efficiently, it is effectively building on
the solid base that has already been
established over almost a decade of hard
work. The skaffolding will soon be removed
from the building, and in its turn the bright
and shining facade will also symbolize
Rabobank Belgium, but this time it will be
the energy and vitality of its dedicated team
of men and women.
Coenen 's essential operations.