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What's NewS Issue 7 November 1995
Dennis Ziengs
make for a good bank; excel
lent people make for an excel
lent bank. Basically, what I'm
saying here is that banking, the
way we practice it, and that in-
cludes industrial commercial
banking, is a people business.
And marketing here is also a
matter of having the right
people and giving them the
tools, the training and the in-
stitutional commitment to de-
velop the market. If you will, it
then becomes a matter of beat-
ing the bushes and out-market-
ing the competition. Very im
portant here is also to keep a
close eye on credit quality. Our
risk management team, headed
by Michel de Konkoly Thege,
does a great job in that area.'
NEW GROWTH AREAS
While the US operation con-
tinues to pursue growth in its
core food and agribusiness
area, out-marketing the com
petition is no longer limited to
this sector alone. Just over two
years ago, the bank began tar-
getting the health-care sector
and during the course of this
year four other areas have
been selected. 'Our aim here as
well is to become an industry-
focused bank,' Ziengs con-
firms. 'Our corporate banking
people are putting major effort
into a number of other market
sectors in line with that strat-
ialty chemicals/pharmaceut-
icals. At present, F&A is very
prominently the mainstay and
main core activity of the bank,
with approximately two-thirds
of our activities in that market
sector. But in the two years
since we entered the health-
care sector, we have already
built up a considerable pre-
sence there and it currently re-
presents 10 percent of our bus
iness. Eventually, we hope to
build a bank that is approx
imately 50 percent dedicated
to F&A and 50 percent to the
other sectors I mentioned.'
THETHREE D1MENSIONS
In effect, the North American
operation is tackling its im
mense market using what Den
nis Ziengs describes as a three-
dimensional approach. 'There
is the geographic dimension,'
he explains, 'which means we
gradually built up a still small,
but strategically located netw-
ork to serve our customers
throughout the region. Then
there is the market-sector di
mension in which we target a
STABLE VALUE PRODUCTS
The Stable Value Products Group (SVPG) offers financial products to
defined contribution plans with a stable value fund option. If that all
sounds rather jargonistic,CharlieTrainor is quickto add clarification:
'In the US,defined contribution plans are company-sponsored
savings plans which allow employees to invest a certain amount of
money each year on a pre-tax basis. Any investment income earned
on this money is tax-exempt until withdrawn from the fund.'
The SVPG offers deposit.synthetic and actively-managed products
which guarantee that investors in the funds will not incur market los-
ses in the event they withdraw their money for plan-approved, non-
economic reasons. At present, the SVPG book of business is USD1.5
billion. These are very interesting products,'Trainor says, 'and we're
also looking at ways to export them to other regions.'
egy. So besides our long-term,
nationwide focus on F&A,
which is defined very broadly
here in North America and
even includes some retail, we
are developing a similar focus
in health-care, telecommunicat-
ions, Utilities, automotive and
automotive supply, and spec-
number of carefully selected
sectors. The third dimension is
product development. In the
past three years, we have
worked hard to introducé a
number of products which
allow us to develop new sour-
ces of revenue and strengthen
our marketing activities. In
treasury, along side funding,
money market and investment
capabilities, we have built a
strong foreign exchange team -
an activity which was almost
non-existent until a few years
ago. We're in the final stages of
setting up a special purpose der-
ivative subsidiary called Rabo
Capital Services - that will be
activated in the very near future.
Then there is the treasury team
working on a very specific
American product called Stable
Value Products (SVP - see
box).' The US team also com-
prises a very active corporate
finance group managed by
Hans den Baas which, Ziengs
says, 'is working effectively in
structured finance, in syndi-
cations, in M&A, private
placements and project finance.'
DOUBLÉ VISION
Through this three-sided strat-
egy the North American oper
ation aims to doublé its oper-
ating profits over the next few
years. 'That is where we would
like to be by the end of the de
cade,' Ziengs says. 'We all
hope that the bank here will be
measurably larger, most impor-
tantly in terms of profit contri
bution and most probably with
a commensurate increase in the
size of the balance sheet. That
will, of course, mean an in
crease in staff levels. Nation
wide, we could well grow to
between 350 and 400 people
over the next three to four
years. And possibly we could
see the addition of a number of
offices in other major commer
cial and financial centres in the
US. The bottom line is that if
you want to be a strong, sig
nificant player in your chosen
market sectors, you have to be
close to your customers and
prospects. If you're going to
develop markets and build
market share, you have to be
there when they need you.
We're doing all we can to en-
sure we provide that service.'
Dennis Ziengs, general manager V.S. vertelt over het behaalde resultaat en de verbreding van de doelgroep. Naast Food Agribusiness worden
mm nu ook de gezondheidszorg, telecommunicatie, nutsbedrijven.de auto(onderdelen)industrie en chemicaliën/farmaceutica als belangrijke
sector voor acquisitie gezien. Het aantal medewerkers groeide in de afgelopen 14 jaar tot 270 en zal zich binnenkort nog veder uitbreiden. In het
jaar 2000 hoopt Ziengs het operationele resultaat verdubbeld te hebben.
