eaDo Shipping news All sewn up Milan carries off new agri-deal award Antwerp's new look Issue 22/0ctober 18, 1993 band Doing business in Brazil can be hampered by the super-inflationary state of the national economy. Every day that passes can mean original ex port contracts lose great chunks of their value as the payments machinery of normal banking grinds slowly on. Aware that many of its international clients were confronted with this pro- blem, Raibo has developed a system of payments, 'Raibodoc', that can limit inflation-generated losses. 'Essentially, Raibodoc is a cash against documents system,' explains Geórgia Tiemi Tomia. 'What we have done is speed up payments to our exporting clients by increasing the efficiency of hand- ling shipping documents. Let me give you an example. Singapore has a cliënt who is im- porting Brazilian goods. Based on an agree- ment between the seller (exporter) and the buyer (importer), the original shipping docu ments are placed in our custody here at the bank in Sao Paolo along with the relevant payment instructions. We verify the docu ments and copies and payment instructions are faxed to the buyer, who subsequently pays for the shipment. Once the seller has received payment confirmation, he instructs Geórgia Tomita - expanding Raibodoc us to dispatch the original shipping docu ments to the buyer. We have managed to re- duce the time needed for all these different transactions to 48 hours.' For Rabo-clients, the new system represents a real speed-up of handling and is now forming an alternative to a Standard L/C transaction. Raibo began using the system for Brazilian-Dutch trade. 'However,' says Tomita, 'we recently sent through our first Raibodoc transaction to Singapore and l'm convinced it could also be useful for other of fices.' Continued from page 1. volution in the packaging industry. Environ- mental lobbies have pushed for dairy packag ing in glass rather than carton or plastic. To day, over 30 percent of German milk comes in bottles. However, the question of whether glass is more environmentally friendly than other forms of packaging is a moot point among manufacturers of both. The German politi- cians were described by participants as short- sighted during the seminar'sfinal discussion. 'The whole seminar was an educational and stimulating experience,' says Egger, 'the at- tendance was gratifying, and everyone con- sidered it a real success.' This is illustrated by the fact that plans are now being made to turn a Rabobank Deutschland-organized food and agribusiness seminar into an annual event. Q •92 Stitches in time - this 'New York Beauty' quilt measuring 1.70 by 2.20 metres was pro- bablypieced around 1860. A combination of forest green, red and orange, it is so com plex the maker must have been an expert. The decor of the New York office's newly opened additional floor patches into two long traditions - the bank's history of acquiring and sponsoring the arts and a recognition of the centuries-old American art of quilt-making. A number of large patch-work quilts and a num- ber of small Amish crib covers were chosen to adorn New York's new office space. 'It was a real group effort,' says Debbie Davis who made the final selection with Ed de Rosa and Steve Piccininni. 'Not only are the quilts, which were hand-stitched in farming communities in the late 19th and early 20th centures, a re- flection of our agribusiness focus, they're also an economical form of decoration.' The new floor has been in use since early July and hous- es the operations and administration de- pa rtments. Dohfl Editorial staff "<|£l|u!U stan Polman and Anne Lavelle (Editorial Department), Cees van 19IIII Rest and Brigitte van Kanten (In- UIIIIU ternational Division). INTERNATIONAL Editorial address Rabobank Nederland, Caroline Renette, editorial as- sistant, UC-R 514 P.O. Box 17100, NL 3500 HG Utrecht, Telephone +3130 902083, Telefax +3130 901904 Designed and printed by Hoonte-Holland, Utrecht Account manager Mauro Bambacigno of Rabofin Italia was the first recipiënt of a newly created award for the best agri-deal of the year. Before the recent account managers' annul meeting general managers were invited to nominate deals closed by their office. These deals were evaluated on four criteria, of which the following are the most significant: innovative and profitable and use of Rabo- bank's international network. 'The Parmalat deal engineered by Bamba cigno in close collaboration with the New York office fitted the award criteria perfect- ly,' says Hans Reusch, who organizes the AM annual meeting. 'It was particularly satis- fying because it was a dairy deal.' This year, 1993, was officially designated dairy year by the bank. The aim of specific product focus is to improve the bank's overall perform ance in particular argi-sectors. 'Our target is 20 percent,' says Reusch, 'and it was gra tifying to see that we achieved 18 percent globally in the dairy sector.' Safe places - Antwerp's new secure re ception area Saying cheese - Milan's Mauro Bamba cigno 'l'm delighted,' was Bambacigno's reaction to the award. 'This particular deal was a real example of how networking actually works. New York picked up on the opportuni- ty and passed it on to us in Milan. We then worked together with the people in New York to tie it up. Parmalat, which is the biggest Italian-owned dairy company in the country, is in the process of internationalizing its operations. Not only did we do some inte- resting international business here, but we have also gained a very big new cliënt.' Following substantial reconstruction, re- novation and refurbishment of the bank's premises two years ago, the Antwerp office now has a new lobby to match. 'The lobby is like your visiting card,' says op erations manager Albert Coenen. 'So it was important to create an attractive and efficiënt ambience. In addition, we needed improved security at ground-floor level. The result, which took just six weeks to complete, is an enhanced lobby with not only a secure teller's office but also two conference rooms where we can meet clients in a state-of-the-art environment.'

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