New Zealand - dedicated
MARKETING
new zealand
14
WHAT'S NewS Issue 1 January 1996
Northern Territory is a good
example of broad-acre
horticultural development.
And this development was a
decisive factor in opening our
new Dar win office.'
CROSS-SELLING
OPPORT UNITIES
The Northern Territory
provides a fertile base for
PIBA, particularly in terms of
Around 60 percent of New
Zealand's exports are based on
primary products and the dairy
industry is the country's largest
single export earner. Most
classes of livestock outnumber
the human population of 3.4
million - just to give you a few
examples: we have 3.6 million
dairy cattle; 4.6 million beef
cattle; and 57 million sheep.
Given this dependence on agri-
products, it was hardly
surprising that the rural sector
was hardest hit by the
recession. There were a
number of factors at work -
government removed subsidies,
commodity prices were low
and interest rates high. This
downturn penetrated the rest
of the economy following the
Crash of 1987.
MARKET PENETRATION
You may be wondering why
land acquisition. 'We're also
receiving increasing numbers
of enquiries from very large
family pastoralists around the
country, but especially in New
South Wales and Queensland,'
he continues. 'We've already
secured the business of a few
accounts in excess of AUD 10
million. Generally, finance has
been supplied to purchase
large tracts of pastoral land.
PIBA chose this moment to
enter the market. Some may
argue it was a high-risk
decision; others that it was
astute timing. By mid-1989,
the worst of the recession
appeared to be over. In
addition, deregulation of
financial markets meant we
were able to offer New
Zealand farmers the same loan
facility that had been so well-
received by their Australian
counterparts. Besides these
factors, entry into the market
also offered us the chance to
diversify our rural loan
portfolio across this country's
substantial pastoral sector, and
especially in the dairy industry.
MORE PHONES
We started in New Zealand
with branches in Auckland and
Christchurch. Each had one
lending manager. We staged a
They'11 be used for beef
production by enterprises with
herds of up to 50,000 head.
These pastoralists supply live
cattle to export markets in, for
example, the Philippines and
Indonesia. And processed meat
to the Japanese and US
markets.
This means there may be
international cross-selling
opportunities. Even though
couple of promotional events
and did some media
advertising. But we were
hardly prepared for the
response. We had one phone in
each office and both started
ringing non-stop. So we
ordered in a few more phones
and back-up lending staff from
Australia to handle the initial
rush of inquiries.
OFF-THE-SHELF
PRODUCT
Six years on, and we are
already an established part of
the New Zealand rural lending
scene. We are the only niche
rural lender here, which gives
us a unique marketing
advantage. PIBA was also the
first bank to offer farmers an
'off the shelf', competitively
priced, highly flexible rural
loan facility. It provides a
range of variable and fixed
we're focused on primary
producers, we're always aware
of the other products we have
to offer through RAL. That's
what being part of a Group is
all about. And since the
acquisition, we've really feit
what it means to be part of a
strong, focused agribank like
Rabobank.'
Staff grew by 25 percent
(28 persons) in 1995 and is
still growing.
interest-rate pricing options.
The result of this focused,
dedicated marketing is two
new branches, one in
Palmerston North, the other in
Dunedin, to better service the
southern half of both islands.
Now our staff has increased to
14 and we still have back-up
support from Sydney.
CONSIDERABLE
COMFORT
To come back to the high-risk
decision/astute timing
question, I think in retrospect
we can certainly say it was
astute timing. Our acquisition
by Rabobank also gave us
momentum. The move was
well-received by the market
here. It gives existing clients
and prospects considerable
comfort to know we are a full
subsidiary of one of the
world's 40 largest banks, one
of the three with a Triple-A
rating, and the only one with a
committed international food
and agribusiness focus.
When PIBA entered New Zealand's rural lending market in 1989, the country
was tracking along at the bottom of one of the worst recessions in recent
history. Just over 10 years and a whole program of bold economie reforms
later, and New Zealand has been transformed from one of the most
regulated to one of the most deregulated economies in the Western World.
PIBA manager Ron Lander reports.
NIEUW ZEELAND
Toen PIBA zich in 1989 op de Nieuwzeeiandse markt begaf, en daarmee ook in de landbouwsector, verkeerde het land in een diepe
economische recessie. Halverwege dat jaar trad alweer een herstel in. Door deregulering van de financiële markt was PIBA in staat de
Nieuwzeeiandse boeren dezelfde financieringsprodukten aan te bieden als hun Australische collega's. De bank heeft inmiddels haar portfolio
uitgebreid met financieringen in de veehouderssector en de zuivelindustrie. Als de enige agrarische bank in Nieuw Zeeland neemt PIBA een unieke
positie in. De stap om in Nieuw Zeeland te beginnen kan achteraf dus als een goede timing worden gezien.
