Man at the top
12
talking heads
What's NewS Issue 6 October 1995
When asked about the man behind the job title, finan-
cial markets chief Arthur Arnold says: 'I don't really
think l'm a different person outside the bank.'
'My wife Barbara
says l'm a bad
communicator,'
he laughs. 'I don't
think that true,
but I can see why J
she says it. During J
the day, I try to
put 300 percent of myself into communi-
cating with people. Financial markets is all
about communicating information. We're
in one of the most fascinating areas of
banking because it has such a direct link
to what today's world is all about. We live
in an age of information. That's probably
true to the extreme in financial markets.
We end up suffering from an overload of
information. The biggest challenge is to
figure out what information is relevant.'
According to Arnold, information means
communication. 'You take information
and try to translate it into a valuable
product for your customers and for your
own use as a bank. That's really the chal
lenge we're all faced with. And what 1've
learned over the years is that two people
have more information than one, and
three know even more. So you have to
spend your time communicating with
others, you have to commit to listening to
others and include them in the decision-
making process - then you can actually
use the constant inflow of information to
full advantage.'
Asked if he considers himself a good lis-
tener, he laughs. 'I think some people who
don't know me very well see me as dom
inant. But most people know I have a ten-
dency to listen first. In financial markets,
the people you work with tend to have big
egos. It's human nature - we all think we
know better. But the market is always
right, that's why it's so important to listen
to what it is telling you. I can get really
frustrated after a day when I feel I've been
dreadfully unsuccessful in communicating
or getting a message across to people.'
When Arnold gets home, he wants to be
quiet. 'That's why my wife says l'm a very
bad communicator.' In fact, the Arnold
family catch up on communication during
their brief holidays together in the Pro-
vence. 'We're a pretty international
family,' says Arnold. 'My wife is Dutch,
but was raised in France. We met when I
was located there and we've actually spent
23 of the last 27 years
abroad. With our three
children, we have lived
in about 11 different
houses in seven coun-
tries. This type of con-
tinual travelling puts
an extra responsibility
on your partner. Every time you move,
you leave something behind. And you
have to start again from scratch. Your
flexibility is constantly tested, it is a life
full of different experiences. I think it has
made us an especially close family.'
Their youngest child is at school in
Holland, but both of the elder Arnold
children live in the US. 'They try to get
back to Europe for the traditional family
holiday in Southern France whenever they
can,' Arnold says. 'I remember friends
saying we were absolutely crazy when, 16
years ago, we bought the, well, I can
hardly call it a house, perhaps "shed" is
the best word. It hadn't been used for 50
years and there were no mod cons - there
still aren't. We don't have a telephone or
electricity there. The local municipality
did connect us to the main water supply
not long ago, but we still use the well
most of the time. l'm not saying it's totally
primitive, but it is certainly a far cry from
the IT world we live in most of the time.
But oddly enough, we're very comfortable
there.'
Arnold experiences these family holidays
holland update)
as very intense times. 'It's incredible. We
all have the same need to be around each
other, but we do that through simple
things. Cooking some good food, having a
glass of wine, talking a lot about every-
thing and nothing, reading a book in front
of a big open fire in the winter-time,
looking after the land, especially the olive
trees. It would be great to have a piano
there.' Arthur Arnold actually blushes
when he admits he enjoys playing, 'thougJÉ
l'm not very good,' he adds immediately.
'I'd like to make more time for it.' He
doesn't blush when he says: 'I think Elton
John is one of the most brilliant musicians
of our time and 1 love Eric Clapton, in fact
I love most rock music and jazz. For me,
classical music stops around 1900. I can't
do much with composers like Schonberg,
but my wife and I are real opera fans,
Italian opera, that is. Verdi, Puccini. It's an
interest we truly share, along with
theatre.'
He glances briefly at the two Karei Appel
works on his office wall, almost as if he
were trying to communicate as much use-
ful information as possible. 'They're
mine,' he says, 'l'm an absolute fan. I
chose them. That's another thing my wife
and I share - a love of painting, and espec
ially Chagall. Colours are very important^
in our life,' he says, clearly thinking care-
fully about what he wants to pass on. 'But
this is starting to sound like a list,' he con-
cludes. 'You figure out what's relevant...'
GREEN INVEST-
MENTS
As the first bank in the
Netherlands, Rabobank
has introduced a so-
called 'green'investment
fund.The fund was set up
in cooperation with the
Robeco Group and is fis-
cally attractive for inves-
tors.The environmentally-
friendly way tohelp
money grow will invest in
green projects in the
Netherlands. Any income
earned from this fund is
tax-free.
90 216
Yes.you've read that right.
From October 10, almost
all telephone numbers in
the Netherlands will
change. Exceptions are
Rotterdam,The Hague
and Amsterdam. When
calling the bank, this
means you no longer dial
the familiar 90-prefix,
but 216 instead.
With the excep-
tion of the
dealingroom,
the direct-dial
extension num
bers remain unchanged.
You will receive a list of
all numbers which
change.
Please remember to in-
stall the new prefix in
yourtelephone's memory.
These are the new pre-
fixes for the locations you
might need:
Utrecht
Zeist
Best
Eindhoven
(030) 216 xx xx
(030) 215 xx xx
(040)219xxxx
(040) 217 xx xx
