The <hanging face
of Rabobank Curacao
3 International
Growing step-by-step
Multi-linguol
The best
Renovation
Space
On iine
ISSUE 26/21 FEBRUARY 1994
porate banking business with Latin American
countries such as Venezuela, the office also
began booking Brasil's deals in January last
year, and Argentina in November.
Down the central hall, which was once an
open courtyard and has now been covered to
accommodate the secretariat and reporting
and treasury operations, corporate bankers
Jessie Spong and Dolf Meurs are engaged in
building the office's own portfolio as well as
servicing other Latin American and certain US
and European activities operations. 'Our cur-
rent focus is Venezuela,' Dolf, the senior area
manager, explains, 'but our market includes
the Andean countries, Central America and
the Caribbean. We're using a step-by-step
approach based on GDP, and trade opportun-
ities. Although in this region the level of pol-
itical stability is a major factor in any decision
to go into a market.' Accountmanger Jessie is
also responsible for business in the Nether-
lands Antilies itself. 'We concentrate on L/Cs
there,' she says, 'because a lack of agri-prod-
ucts on the islands means its difficult to do
pre-exports. But part of what we're attempt-
ing to do is follow the bank's basic strategy of
being involved in the local community.'
The Antilles occupies a very special position in
that, with the exception of the island of Aruba,
it is officially part of the Netherlands. It has
its own government bodies as well as a gover-
nor appointed by the Crown. 'As a result,' says
deputy GM Nol Hollander, 'at the bank,
Dutch is the lingua franca, although staff
switch to Spanish, Papiamento, English and
even Portuguese will the ease of practiced
polyglots.'
This is one area where no improvement is re-
quired, 'but,' adds operations manager Efraim
Mansana, whose back-office, accounting and
treasury services staff now numbers nine, 'the
office's upgrading meant most staff followed
extensive (re-)training, not only in computers,
but also the courses in various banking fields
given by the local professional association.'
The course results showed that, on average,
Curacao's Rabobankers consistently score higher
than any other bank on the island - and there
are a lot of them. 'I suppose it's gratifying,'
says Donald Heukels, 'but quite honestly I
didn't expect any less from our people. We
have grown very quickly, but that didn't mean
we weren't extremely selective when appoint-
ing new staff. Curacao's current and future
role in the region means we have to have the
best, and I think we've got them.'
There was a time not so long ago when the bank on Curacao was a very small affair -
more a presence than a thrusting operation. It handled some private banking and trust
activities, a little corporate banking and not much more. This all changed two years ago
when the international division decided to transform Curacao into a high-tech service
centre for the bank's growing activities in Latin America. And this meant not only a
whole new approach to operations, but also a whole new 'old' building.
The large villas set in spacious gardens on
Willemstad's Scharlooweg still retain much of
their fin-de-siecle elegance, although many
have fallen into disrepair and seem to cry out
for renovation. Not long ago, Rabobank's
Beau Sejour, built in 1869 by the old Maduro
merchant family, was little more than a shell.
Its neo-classical facade had faded into obscur-
ity behind the overgrown garden, the fine in-
laid wooden floors were scuffed and damag-
ed, the lofty ceilings sagging, and the cellars
were filled with the debris.
Yet, when GM Donald Heukels first saw Beau
Sejour he was quick to perceive its potential
and managed to arrange a renovation pro
gram sponsored by local government. 'In the
space of two years,' he says, 'we have grown
from 14 staff to 35. And we were getting des-
parate for more space. The bank's original
building was a residential house. But we had
literarlly reached bursting point and that is no
way to start tackling our new role in the
region.'
However, Rabobank Curacao elected to re-
main in its cramped old offices until the
renovation and redesign of Beau Sejour was
completed. 'It was definitely worth the wait,'
says the EDP department's Debbie Cordero-
Walle of the glorious burnt-sienna facade with
its white frosted stucco. 'Patience paid off in
the form of a fantastic custom-designed, light
Growing numbers at Rabobank Curacao
- both on and off the balance sheet
and airy building, with enough space for us to
work effectively and efficiently.'
Debbie and her EDP colleagues Francois de la
Court and Jesse Brewster all joined the bank
around two years ago as part of the recruit-
ment program to transform Curacao into a
high-tech service centre. 'When we arrived,'
recalls Francois, 'there was a very simple PC
network designed solely for processing basic
administrative tasks. We've had to change all
that because of increasing demands on our
system.' In the early stages, the team forgot
what weekends were. 'We literally worked day
and night installing the Olympic, building it
and introducing networking' says Jesse. 'Plus,
a lot of programs had to be written because
what we need here is not available off the
shelf.' The original system had almost no se-
curity, so that was another major problem.
Then there was staff training in using the new
applications. 'And we're not finished yet,' says
Debbie with her ready smile.
But though the EDP department still has cables
hanging from patch panels like pieces of ex
tremely modern art, the system is up and run
ning and its working. It has to be because
along with Curacao's own revitalized private
banking operation, headed up by Ad Huis
man, the Trust company staffed by Michel
Schoenmakers and Yvette Cuales and its cor-
