Building on Far Eastern
promise
B
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Rabo
band Issue 17/May 24, 1993
The Far East is currently one of the financial world's most excit-
ing regions. While most of the industrialized nations are still claw-
ing their way out of recession, the ecomonies of the Oriënt are
surging ahead, some of them booking growth rates in doublé
figures. Although many of the countries in the Far East are still
developing or newly industrialized, the region has long been home
to some of the world's most sophisticated banking centres. And,
of course, Rabobank is there with a strong strategie position in
Singapore, Hong Kong and Jakarta. Competition is tough in the
established banking centres, but, Rabobank is carving out a niche
for itself through emphasis on building long-term cliënt relation-
ships and a focus on its core area of expertise - food and agribusi-
ness. Raboband International goes on a tour of the bank's offices.
Singapore's strategies
Offshore 'It's not surprising that Singa
pore has become a major offshore financial
centre,' says Rabobank's head of corporate
banking, Raymond Koh. 'All goods shipped
by sea from Europe to the East have to pass
through the Straits here, and vice versa. In
fact, Singapore is one of the busiest ports
in the world, especially through bonded
warehouse facilities.' At present, the city-
oth the Raffles hotel and the Singa
pore Sling cocktail have become part
of the folklore surrounding the tiny
city state (616 square kilometres) that is
often referred to as the crossroads of the
Oriënt. Both recall a colonial pastbut Singa
pore is now a thriving independent 'nation'
of around three million who enjoy a distinct-
ly prosperous lifestyle. The broad boul
evards are home to upmarket stores, ele
gant apartment buildings and towering of
fice blocks. And the city-state's internation
al banking community ranks as one of the
most sophisticated in the world.
state is planning to develop oil refineries
which would further enhance its position as
one of the Far East's mainports.
Expansion The continual push to ex-
pand Singapore's role as a top regional
business centre makes for real opportuni-
ties for a bank like Rabobank. 'We spent the
first two of our seven years of operations
here building up our reputation and placing
the bank in the market,' says Koh. T often
think you can compare Rabobank to a kind
of sleeping giant. We weren' t known at all
here, so marketing the bank took a lot of
time and effort. But we came in just at the
right time. Many clients had paid dearly for
working with banks which do not pursue a re-
lationship policy and so we were able to piek
up on that.'
All was not plain sailing for the initial five
staff (which included the bank's driver). Be-
cause Singapore is a well established bank
ing centre, it's a difficult, highly competitive
market. 'The local banks are firmly en-
trenched,' adds Koh, 'so you've gotto bring
in something special. Our Triple-A is extrem-
ely useful in that sense. And we're doing
business throughout the region.' Most re-
cently, the Singapore branch has built two
major cross-border deals, both with Indo-
nesian companies.
'You know,' Koh continues, 'as your neigh-
bours prosper, intertrade increases and it
pulls up the whole region. We picking up on
that efficiently. I'd say the main problem we
have is that our country limit lacks the kind
of flexibility we could certainly use effec-
tively here. I sometimes think we're growing
too big, too fast and Utrecht may find that
tough to deal with.'
Automation From the original five staff,
the Singapore office and the merchant bank
(according to Singaporean law, merchant
and other banking activities have to be se
parate legal entities) now has 115-plus per-
sonnel. By far the biggest department is Oei
Chu Boon's operations section with 44
people taking care of automation, back-office,
bills processing, accounts, support for the
merchant bank and administration. 'And, of
