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Fact File - Indonesia
On the j
Liaising with the East
issue 17/May 24, 1993 band
guideline 50 percent agribusiness portfolio
balance.'
Regulations Similar regulations also
apply to other areas of the bank's activities.
'For example,' expiains treasury manager
Non Rawung, '80 percent of our ForEx port
folio and 50 percent of the iocal currency
portfolio has to be export-related.' The re-
suit is that the bank has to operate very
cautiously so as to comply with the letter of
the law. For Tina Sugiro, the financial man
ager, meeting Bank of Indonesia reporting
requirements can be a headache. 'We have
a reserve requirement of 2 percent, and it's
monitored daily,' she says. 'If we drop below
it, we're penalized immediately.'
Gradual growth But the bank has grown
gradually in the two years since it entered
into a joint venture with the Iocal retaii bank
Duta, which owns a 15-percent stake. In ad-
dition, the lOth floor of the Sampoerna Pla-
za building is also home to Rabo Finance In
donesia, headed up by Barney Agerbeek,
and Rabobank Nederland's rep office led by
Flenk Danser. The construction appears quite
complex, 'and it is,' says Agerbeek. 'But our
organization has to meet the government re-
says Victor den Hoedt, Rabobank Duta's
operations director. 'The banking sector has
grown so dramatically since liberalization,
there are simply not enough people around
to meet the staffing needs of the banks al-
ready here, let alone those coming in. This
is a time when you see why the government
has imposed another regulation on the sec
tor. At present, we are obliged to spend 5
percent of our total salary bill - and that in-
cludes costs of ex-pats - on training. What
we don't spend goes into a government fund
to finance courses for banking staff at other
institutions.'
Den Hoedt joined Rabobank Duta from a
member bank in the Netherlands last Jan-
uary. He says he is still feeling his way and
getting to know the staff so that uitimately
a sound career development and training
program can be developed for everyone.
'Even without the government regulation, it
would be a good investment from a purely
selfish point of view. The better trained our
staff are, the more effective we will be. Our
people are great. They work hard and if any-
thing needs finishing up, they'll be here till
all hours. The will is there. All we need is to
quirements on what activities this or that
financial institution can be involved in.'
'Government control has to be really tight,'
says Kristano, 'because international bank
ing is still a young industry here. And to pre
vent abuse. Let me put it this way. Accoun
tancy practices here are not quite what they
are in, say, Europe. And that presents prob-
lems for us, too. When you're talking to a
potential cliënt, it is hard to evaluate and
analyzetheir financial statements. I' ve even
had people ask me which set of books I
wanted to see. That is why developing per-
sonal relationships and doing on-the-spot
surveys is so important.'
Developing potential The joint venture
ruling is one of government's attempts to
ensure foreign investment here also gives
Iocal industry and the workforce a chance to
develop its potential. 'There's a real prob-
lem here with finding experienced staff,'
make sure they have the tools to do an even
more efficiënt job...'
Type of operation: Rabobank-Duta Indo
nesia, Rabobank Nederland representa
tie office and Rabo Finance Indonesia
Established: 1986 (rep office); 1990
(Rabobank-Duta)
General Manager: D.R. Hartog (from May
1, 1993)
Staff: 48 and growing
Products: Treasury, corporate banking,
trade commodity finance,investment
banking
Current food agribusiness: 63 percent
of business
Each foreign office has its own liaison of-
ficer in Utrecht. The man on the spot for
Singapore and Hong Kong, Hans van de
Weerd, talks about his 'mature offices'.
'I don't want to reinvent the wheel here by
repeating what Ad Middelburg said about
our role in the previous issue of Raboband
International,' says Hans van de Weerd.
'But perhaps it would be usefui just to re-
cap on what we do. Basically, it comes
down to providing the foreign offices with
as much support and assistance as we
can. That's our job.
'It's relatively easy for offices like Singa
pore and Hong Kong, which have an ex
cellent management team and staff. They
are both mature offices operating in very
sophisticated banking environments, so
the quality of our locally-recruited people
is very, very high. What we have to re-
member here in Utrecht is that different
places have different ways of doing
things. Over time, regions have developed
ways of doing business that coincide with
the prevalent climate. And because the
market culture in both Singapore and
Hong Kong is very fast-paced, they need
efficiënt back-up from us. Competition
there is tough and there's a large bank
population in both places. So we have to
be alert to their needs.
'The world is getting smaller all the time.
As the bank becomes increasingly global
and the foreign offices increasingly be-
come profit centres, we will have to adjust
to accommodate an operation that is, in
fact, at work around the clock. While we
sleep, the offices in the Far East are up
and running, and as we close for the day,
New York and the South American offices
are just finishing lunch. That's the kind of
global outlook we have to have. By the way,
I really think Judith (van Lomwei) should be
in the picture-after all, she's the first point
of contact for "my"' offices. People should
know who is on the other end of the
phone...'
