Peopie
2 International
Brain teaser
Transa<t 'live'
in Singapore
Mid-West
revisited
Hong Kong's
big bang
,,V
ISSUE 23/15 NOVEMBER 1993
Australia Chris Abbenhuis
arrived in Sydney on October 1
to commence his tenure as gen-
eral manager. Although Jos van
Boxel is not leaving until Febru-
ary, 1994, when he will be mov-
ing to New York to begin exam-
ining the Canadian market, the
six-month interim period will
ensure a smooth transition.
Belgium The Antwerp office
has appointed Mare van Mieg-
hem as head of its money trans
fer department. On November 1
Johan Vanhulle joined the cor-
porate fïnance department.
Germany Following a two-
year stint at the New York cor-
porate banking department,
Willem Cramer has now taken
up the position of director of the
bank's Hamburg office.
Netherlands Cees Peters, for-
merly director of the Hamburg
office, has joined the Efficiency
Drive Member Banks team. His
new appointment became effec-
tive in September.
North America Ian Reece has
joined the bank as manager of
the corporate banking team. He
comes to the bank from Credit
Agricole where he was first vice
president and head of the New
York corporate banking group.
The corporate finance depart
ment has been reinforced by
Steve Lim as senior structured
finance manager. Having built
up a wealth of experience at a
number of international banks,
Richard Zeltman has been ap
pointed ForEx sales manager in
treasury. Account manager
Nancy O'Connor is the New
York office's most recent vice
presidential appointment. She
joins the commodities and trade
finance group as account man
ager. Tax accountant David
Dietz comes to the bank from
KPMG Peat Marwick where he
was senior manager providing
fiscal advice to multinational
corporations.
UK Nine new staffers have join
ed the bank's London office. David
Bolton is senior dealer, invest-
ments derivatives. The syndi-
cations department has recruit-
ed a senior manager, Robert
Halcrow. Judith Hamilton joins
the credit division as secretary
and Libby Hanrahan takes up
the same post in structured
finance. Niamh Mulligan is the
new accounts clerk. The banking
division has two new secretaries,
Sandy Robinson and Fiona
Willison, with Sue Robinson
reinforcing the secretarial side of
project finance. Leon Woolley
has joined the bank as chauffeur.
Although the London office
hasn't been very successful in
its attempts to score in the
bank's international football
tournament, UK Rabobankers
were sporting enough to set
up a TV in the office so that
late-workers could watch the
Dutch national soccer team
wipe out the Brits last month.
The game was watched with
mixed emotions and loyalties,
but the English appear to be
noble in defeat. They have now
issued a very different challenge
- an international general know-
ledge quiz tournament.
Says sydications banker Pamela
Green: 'This branch is positively
full of quiz champions. As more
and more peopie get the bug, the
questions get harder. The last
time we organized a quiz here you
couldn't swing a cat in the staff
cafeteria. Our next quiz will be
in November, and any visiting
Rabobankers are welcome to join
However, the London branch is
not just issuing this one-off invi-
tation. It would like to see a real
inter-branch/office tournament
set up on the same basis as sport
ing events. Anyone with any
ideas on how this could be organ
ized, or who would simply like
to take part, should contact
Raboband International editor
Anne Lavelle in Utrecht (+31 30
902083).
The Foreign Exchange module
(both Spot and Forward) of
Transact, a Front End Deal
Capture System marketed by
the Internet System was
successfully implemented and
went 'live' at the Singapore
Branch on October 19.
Preparation for this project
began soon after a feasibility stu-
dy was completed last June. In
August, an Internet Consultant
and an experienced Transact
team member from Utrecht,
Martin Bent, joined the imple-
mentation team in Singapore.
Within two months (involving a
lot of hard work by everyone in
the team), the system finally
went live one day after the pro-
jected target date. The project's
success was mainly due to the
close working relationship with
Utrecht and a dedicated team in
the Branch.
Senior treasury manager, Theo
van Koningsveld, is thrilled with
the new system: 'The increased
volatility in the financial markets
forces banks to improve their
risk management. By using this
real-time system, the dealers and
management are always aware of
the market risks the bank takes.'
The next phase of the project, the
implementation of money mar
ket, FRA and futures, is targeted
to start at the beginning of next
year.
After media saturation
following disastrous flooding
in the US Mid-West in the
summer, little information has
emerged on the aftermath of
the national emergency. In
August, Rabobank's Larry
Sidwell said it was too soon to
oversee just what the flooding
would mean for the region's
agriculture. He now provides
an update on the situation.
Tm pleased to say we seem to
have come through this in rela-
tively good shape,' he says. 'Al
though the weather has remained
wet and cool, we haven't had the
early frosts that would have spelt
disaster for most farmers. In fact,
we've almost had a normal grow-
ing season and peopie are out in
the fields now harvesting soy.
We're a bit late with corn because
of the wet weather, and yields
are down around 15 percent on
last year. But 1992 was a bumper
year, so that's not particularly
surprising.'
The situation may not be as bad
as was feared a couple of month
ago, but Larry confirms that
some farmers have been wiped
out. 'There will certainly be some
bankrupties and foreclosures in
the region, but we saw the same
last year. The flooding certainly
had an impact, but we've also
seen price rises for some crops,
so I'd say at least some farmers
are relatively happy with the way
things have turned out.'
The roar of canon fire that
manages to drown out even
Hong Kong's normal noon-
time hyperactive buzz and
bustle remains a rare
traditional link with the past
in a time of rapid change in
the colony.
Jardine's Noonday Gun is part of
Hong Kong's folklore. With only
brief interruptions, it has been
fired by the trading company
daily at mid-day since 1841.
Although departing general
manager Sjouke Postma hasn't
been in the colony that long, he
didn't want his leaving (to set up
Rabobank operations in China)
to go unnoticed. And Jardine was
kind enough to oblige. Rabo
bank would like to thank the
company for allowing Sjouke his
own particular brand of big
bang.