Who's the winner?
1994 - Good
Rabobank
Partnership
Looking
Olympic UP
YEAR FOR
AHEAD
AND RUNNING
IN ZURICH
in brief
WHAT'S NewS Issue 1 April 199S
In the housestyle special issue of Raboband published
last December we asked you to come up with a fun
(and printable) punchline to this cartoon. We also
promised the 30 best entries a prize. Five of the win
ners came from international offices and gifts are
on their way to Patrick Guyer in Singapore, Neil
Robinson in London, Ruth Bertolozzi in Chicago,
Alfredo Jiminez-Millas in Madrid, and to Roger
Bradshaw in Hong Kong whose punchline appears
here.
NEWS FLASH
- Raibo do Brasil is still in
hot pursuit of full branch
status. An announcement
could be in the pipeline
very soon.
The annual report is out and
the figures show last year was
another good year for the
bank. Net profit rose by over
14% and overall lending was
up 10%. These positive results
were achieved through a num-
ber of factors - an increase in
activities, a favourable yield
curve in the Netherlands and
elsewhere, and controlled in-
creases in costs.
The international division
again performed well, contri-
buting significantly to the
bank's overall results although
missing the tough NLG 540
million budget target by NLG
100 million. However, 1994
was a year of real geographical
growth and the network grew
strategically through the acqui-
sition of PIBA, the opening of
Dublin, Chicago, Shanghai,
Kuala Lumpa, Santiago de
Chile and Warsaw. Interna
tional lending also grew by a
strong 19.6 (26.5)%, in spite
of a low dollar exchange rate.
This increase was due in part
to the acquisition of PIBA.
For the coming year, the bank
is forecasting continued
growth and more expansion
internationally.
Rabobank's core business is in-
timately related to food, so
what better way to bring to-
gether clients and prospects
than to host a dinner. Obvious,
you may think. But the bank's
San Francisco office organized
a dinner with a difference.
'Everyone gives dinners,' says
William Bishop in San
Francisco, 'so we decided we
wanted to do something
special. Our customer port
folio is diversified and we have
a lot of food and fiber clients.
That gave us the idea of creat-
ing an entire dinner showcas-
ing each company's products.
A chef was hired to coordinate
the products into a meal of
lobster and rice or filet mignon
with potatoes as main courses.
The preceeding cocktail hour
also incorporated clients' prod
ucts - shrimp, chips and salsa,
crab, guacamole, and lots of
other delicious things.' But the
ingredients were not all exotic.
Staples like lettuce, carrots,
mushrooms, dairy products,
and a variety of other fruits
and vegetables were also on
the menu. Other Rabobank
clients provided the wines and
champagnes California has be-
come famous for.
Over 55 customers and pro
spects responded to the invi-
April
Annual report/group profile
1994, available from Marketing
Services, order number 7764
May 2-4
Utrecht:Treasury managers
meeting
May 7-10
Utrecht: Operations managers
meeting
May 8
International investor relations
- Roadshow Japan
May 12
Official opening new Milan
premises
May 16-18
International agribusiness
conference in Paris. Rabobank
sponsors
May 24-26
International investor relations
- roadshow Italy
tation, including those whose
products are not edible, such
as cotton and chemical com-
panies. But all agreed it was
worth doing over. So this
unique cliënt dinner - both
literally and figuratively - will
become a regular event in San
Francisco's annual calendar.
NEWS FLASH
- P&O Utrecht is working
closely with London
Branch to develop case
studies for use in market
ing programs designed for
all levels of management.
The first course is slated
for June.
Since September, Luxemburg's
specialized private banking
EDP team has been working
day and night with Zurich
staff on the conversion of The
Swiss office's EKi-Reis system
to the tailor-made Olypmic
software package. The dead
line was April 1 and the new
system went online right on
Schedule.
Over recent years, Luxemburg
has become a centre of private
banking EDP expertise. The
four-person team headed by Al-
varo Puebla Gonzales now acts
as a service unit for all the
bank's PB operations world-
wide. Three years ago, Luxem
burg installed the specialized
software package designed
specifically to handle the appli-
cations required for administer-
ing private banking products,
such as investment management
modules, security trading, and
for consolidating reporting to
clients. Since then, the team has
also developed additional soft
ware and enhanced appli-
cations. This expertise is now
being applied in the other
private banking centres. The
team has spent three months
working closely with Zurich
staff to install the Olympic
system and a close relationship
has developed between the two
backoffice operations. Over the
next year, a trust module will be
installed in Curagao, while full
packages have been earmarked
for Germany and Singapore.
VEILY fVNNV
SCOTTiE, HOW WAM
t«WN H|J CLOTHtS...' 1
