Annual Forecast
generates useful
discussion
International grain
conference will be
held in Madrid
Rabobank
joins the super
highway
International 7
Madrid
For the second year in succession, top management met with Rabobank Antwerp's clients
to talk interest rates,foreign exchange developments and taxation.
Rabobank is one of those rare organiz-
ations - a bank that is prepared to stick its
neck out and make forecasts and predictions
on how it sees worldwide economie develop-
ment over the coming year - and actually
publishes them in book form. Traditionally,
this so-called Forecast is presented in Jan-
uary to clients and the press in Holland. But
in 1994, a similar presentation was also
made to Rabobank Antwerp's customers.
The success of this relatively informal meet
ing of minds - in classic Belgian style, clients
are also given dinner - prompted the bank to
turn it into an annual occasion, getting the
new year off to a lively start.
Executive board member Wim van den
Goorbergh talked clients through interest-
rate and forex development. Unpredicted
rapid economie growth in 1994 led some cen
tral banks to increase interest rates to prevent
inflation rearing its ugly head, while others
pursued a wait and see policy. Van den Goor
bergh questioned whether the fear of infla
tion is justified and concluded it was not,
although he did think Germany would face
rising inflation in the not too distant future.
Following a year in which the dollar feil
dramatically against the mark, van den
Goorbergh predicted it would rise modestly
during the coming year. 'There are a number
of reasons for this,' he said. 'One, monetary
policy will gain credibility over the next few
months. Two, the balance of payments sur
plus between Japan and the US will decline.
Three, higher US interest rates and a favour-
able bond market later in the year will
attract foreign capital.' On European
monetary union, Van den Goorbergh
suggested economie revival and the entry of
three new members had breathed life into the
notion only a year after the collapse of EMU
had seemed imminent. 'But,' he added, 'we
shouldn't be too optimistic because the high
level of - often structural - unemployment
and the weak public finances of many
member states are hardly satisfactory.
Besides this general economie overview,
the bank also made full use of the event to
talk about corporate finance. Exporting ent
repreneurs working within Europe are often
confronted with major differences in fiscal
regimes. Rabobank Nederland can prove a
very useful instrument in managing these dif
ferences. Talking fiscal management could
hardly fail to lead to questions on the tech-
noleasing structures the bank has designed
over the past couple of years. Almost every-
one wanted to know the finer details of the
Philips and Fokker deals, but as the press
was well-represented, Rabobankers sufficed
by saying they would be only too happy to
discuss these structures with individual com-
panies - in private.
Like last year, a useful discussion and an
excellent dinner for the 120 participants at
Forecast 1995 did much to cement relations
with what the Dutch call their 'southern
neighbours'. Clients certainly appreciate this
kind of down-to-earth discussion with their
bankers and there are still plans to hold simi
lar events in other countries. 'We actually
have three major annual publications which
could be ideal opportunities to enter into
dialogues with clients,' says Freek Hoek of
the financial markets division. 'The first is,
of course, the Forecast, then we have the An
nual Report and the interim report. The way
things look at present, we hope to start orga-
nizing events of this kind next year - 1996 -
with other foreign offices, because it is one
more way to get our client-orientation mes
sage across and to improve name recog-
nition.'
Wim van den Goorbergh's presenation is
based on information contained in Forecast
'95. This publication is available in both
English and Dutch from Marketing Services
in Utrecht.
29-
30th of March
1995
Following the tremendous impact of the
World Fruit Conference organized by the
bank in Rotterdam early last year and attend-
ed by top international representatives from
the sector, this year's conference will focus
on grain. Spain is one of the leading Euro
pean grain countries and was therefore se-
lected as ideal location for the conference.
Lists of potential participants have been
drawn up by the various foreign offices
worldwide and invitations were sent out
early in the new year. Says Maarten van den
Bergh of Marketing Services who is organiz-
ing the conference:
The response has been overwhelming.
This is hardly surprising because we have
really put together a fascinating program of
top speakers, including Spain's minister of
agriculture and a former EU commissioner
for agriculture.'The conference is slated for
March 29/30, with Popular Rabobank playing
host to the expected 400 participants.
Rabobank is the first major Dutch bank
tojoin Internet, the global information
network used by around 20 million sub-
scribers.The bank's information pages can
be accessed through Dutch Flome Page or
directly through http://rabobank.infor.nl.At
present, only general information on the
bank, the new house-style and telebanking
is accessible on the World-Wide-Web pages,
but this will be extended in the future.The
information is available in both Dutch and
English.
