c
REB:Shared
celebration
Getting IT
RIGHT
Rabobank
What's NewS
Monthly internal. newsletter for the Central Banking Sector
Issue 3 June/July 1995
The impromptu staff cocktail party to celehrate the
bank's acquisition of the Swiss Banking Corporation's
Dutch operation in Amsterdam began as a meeting of
two very distinct groups. It ended as an ethusiastic
gathering of a single team. The party was held on the
very day chairman Herman Wijffels announced the ac
quisition. Over the next few weeks, Rabobank equity
staff will be moving to Amsterdam where the SBC unit
is already based and the two groups will be forged into
one integrated unit, the Rabo Effectenbank Securities
bank) (REB). As the champagne flowed the new colle
agues quickly started mixing. The move was welco-
med by everyone - whether they'd started the day as
Rabobankers or SBCers. 'I had to get used to the idea,'
said one new REB staffer, 'but its always great to be
part of an organization with growth prospects.'
(see story on page 2)
-( in brief )-
FINANCIAL MARKETS -
PROGRESS REPORT
As financial markets become
increasingly international and
complex, the Utrecht team has
home up with a new idea to
^eep staff from other divisions
informed on developments.
Every Tuesday morning ac
count managers and other
colleagues from corporate
finance, corporate banking and
operations attend the 30-
minute briefing given by econ
omist Hans Honing. 'They
could probably get all the info
I give them from the news-
paper,' he says, 'but that would
take a lot of time. This is really
more efficiënt. What I try to
do is provide an overview of
macro-economic develop
ments, explain exactly what is
going on, and, perhaps most
importantly, what we're fore-
^isting in the short to medium
term.' According to Honing,
account managers are most
NEWS FLASH
Although the official ope
ning of the new private
banking operation in
Turnhout, Belgium is not
slated until September, the
office is already up and
running. lts target group is
high nett-worth Dutch ex-
patriates.
concerned about interest rates
as these are of real importance
to clients.
The Tuesday meetings begin at
08.15 and are held in R397 -
they are open to all CBS staff.
THE NETHERLANDS
INDEPTH
The economie research depart-
ment has developed a Country
Profile on the Netherlands as a
tooi for use in investor re
lations roadshows. The aim is
to provide foreign institutional
investors with a background to
the Dutch market. However,
the 16-page, full-colour publi-
cation comprising a broad
range of topics, such as econ
omie structure and policy,
monetary policy, financial sec
tor and medium-term pro
spects, has proved an equally
useful tooi for the interna
tional network and its clients.
The publication is now availa-
ble from the department. Ple-
ase contact Jolanda Kok on
+31 (0)30 902661 for details.
NEWS FLASH
International chief Rik
van Slingelandt has an
nounced the opening of a
new US operation in
Atlanta, Georgia, at the
end of 1995. This is the
bank's fifth office in North
America.
The first two issues of What's
NewS tested a specific concept
- half of the information was
in English and destined for the
international network, the
other half in Dutch for
Utrecht-based CBS staff. Now
we have had a chance to evalu-
ate this approach, the genera 1
concensus is there is simply too
much information relevant to
all staff to continue along the
original lines. From now on,
What's NewS will appear in
English, with brief summaries
of the most important infor
mation in Dutch.