People
2 International
Hanno Riedlin joins
internationals
team
Riedlin's resume reads rather like
a world itinerary. His first foreign
posting was Japan, folio wed by a
stint in the UK. Next came a
period in Chicago, then a new
job in Korea. He was subse-
quently appointed to Taiwan,
and later moved to Germany be-
fore becoming ABN-Amro's re-
gional manager in South-east
Asia. Riedlin brings to Rabobank
an extremely broad range of in
ternational experience, and says
he decided to make the move for
a large number of reasons, but
primarily because Rik van Slin-
gelandt made the opportunity
sound so intriguing. 'And every-
thing that has happened in my
first few weeks here confirms
that,' he says.
'Rabobank's international oper-
ation is very different from that
of ABN-Amro, mainly because
the latter began its foreign net-
work around 170 years ago.
Rabobank may have been a late
starter in this sense, but ifyou see
what has been achieved, particul-
arly in the past five years, then
progress has been impressive. So
I see a real opportunity here.'
His office in Utrecht still has a
bare look, and it will take time
before it expresses anything of
his personality. However, among
the stacks of reports, two small
placques stand beside a vase of
flowers on his desk: 'Are you here
with a solution, or are you part of
the problem?' and 'Don't con
fuse activity with performance'
hint not only at his sense of
humour, but also at his manage
ment style.
Riedlin says he is a fïrm believer
in forward planning. 'You have
to have a view of where you want
to go in the next five to ten years,'
he explains, 'and this has to be
based on analyses of recent his-
tory and the current situation. Of
course, you have to adapt that
view all the time, because cir-
cumstances change and your
original perception or analysis
may have been wrong, so your
approach should always include
flexibility. Based on your gener
al view, I feel you should create a
number of possible scenarios
that could emerge from the pre
sent situation, so you can decide
not only where you want to go,
but how you are going to get
there.
'In other words,' he continues,
'you have to plan ahead, but you
also have to be alert to and flex-
ible in responses to changing cir-
cumstances. The roads you pro
ject may change, so you have to
have a number of potential
roads, and you may even have to
change your focus slightly over
time. Once you start detailing the
steps you need to take, then you
get into a three-year plan. This
has to be fairly precise, although
flexible, because you are going to
allocate resources to those steps,
and I mean that in the broadest
sent - not just capital and funds,
but also human resoucres, man
agement time and all the time of
the people who work with you.
And if you explain this clearly to
them, then you get the commit-
ment of the people who travel
that road with you.'
Riedlin knows a lot about travel
ling, and he will be doing even
more in the near future as he be-
comes acquainted with Rabo
bank's various foreign oper-
ations. He will be responsible for
the following branches: Singa
pore, Hong Kong, China,
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia,
Australia, Germany, Italy,
Ireland and Curacao.
La tin Amerüa
talks regional
networking
and trade
Initially, the two-day conference
had been intended to explore
and discover ways of improving
cooperation between the bank's
operations in Argentina, Mexico,
Brasil, the new office in Chile
and Curacao - all against a back
drop of the latter's new role as
service centre for the region.
'However,' says organizer Dolf
Meurs, 'it soon became apparent
that other offices we all work
with closely were eager to be-
come involved in improving
Communications and establish-
ing stronger networks. That is
why Barbara Hyland and Ling
Tsu of the New York office and
Rob van Rooy and Paul Dekker
of the Rotterdam operation also
attended.'
Each Latin American office gave
a presentation on the situation -
political, social, economie and
even climatological, which is
clearly important for the food
and agribusiness - in their spec-
ific country. The striking aspect
of these overviews was that a
number of shared problems
emerged. 'It's really useful to dis
cover you don't have to start
from scratch,' Mexico's Fritz
Mönking believes. 'Each office is
at a different stage of develop-
ment and we can learn a lot from
each other - if we get our Com
munications right.'
On a very practical level, Peter
Greenberg of Argentina cited one
prime example of how the more
established offices, like Brasil, can
be of assistance to the newer oper
ations. 'I was in Sao Paulo recent-
ly,' he recalls, 'and I discovered
they had an very efficiënt income
reporting software package. They
copied it for me and saved me not
only around US$10,000, but also
a lot of headaches.'
The main theme, however, re-
mained regional cooperation as a
means to increase the bank's
position in the Latin American
arena. 'Although strategies such
as CAM are very effective,' Bra-
sil's John Clark Sepulveda says,
'they are designed to service mul-
ti-national clients. And obvious-
ly in Brasil we work with other
offices in this respect. But there is
also a lot we can do here in terms
of cross-border business because
all Latin American countries
have some kind of free-trade ag-
reement with their neighbours.
And that can mean nice numbers
for the bank at very low risk.'
What this conference, and simi-
lar meetings in the future, aim
for is a definition of both com-
mon problems and opportun-
ities and insight into those sec
tors where the bank can further
its goal of becoming a major
global player in food and agri
business.
North America Brad Scott has
been appointed vice-presi-
dent, account manager, at the
San Francisco office. He comes
to the bank from Bank of
America in California where
he was a VP/senior relation-
ship manager at its Modesto
commercial banking office.
Deadline diary
Raboband International wants to
keep you fully informed on de-
velopments within the interna
tional division. To do this, we
need your help. If you have any
items you think may be interest-
ing for other Rabobankers, please
send them to us at UCR514. We
work to strict deadlines and
those for the coming year are list-
ed below.
ISSUE 26/21 FEBRUARY 1994
Followirig a long and successful
career with ABN-Amro, 46-
year old Hanno Riedlin has
been appointed deputy general
manager of Rabobank's
International Division.
Representatives of all the
present and future Rabobank
offices in Latin America met in
Curacao in February to discuss
better cooperation and
networking in the region.
Issue
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