Flexible organization
FOR STRATEGIC GROWTH
KNP - SHARED
SUCCESS
22
financial markets
WHAT'S News Issue 1 January 1996
Financial markets is adopting a flexible new organizational structure to
prepare for a dynamic phase of strategie growth. While maintaining close ties
with major clients, managing investor relations and looking after the funding
requirements of the bank, Arthur Arnold is stepping back from daily
administration to reconnoiter the strategie ground ahead. Hands-on
supervision over this fast-moving operation is being passed to a new
management team - headed up by Jan Haars and his deputy Jan Sijbrand -
under Arnold's general directorship.
TWO ACTIVITIES
The new team - which also includes Theo
van Koningsveld, Elizabeth Merica and
Ruurd Weulen Kranenberg - will
synchronize the operations and interplay
between two self-contained activities. The
first, grouping together both foreign
exchange and money market initiatives,
will fall under the chairmanship of Jan
Haars (right photo). Jan Sijbrand (photo
below) is overall head of the fixed income
and derivatives business.
INCREASING COMPLEXITY
What the two men have in common is a
grounding in applied mathematics - which
is an interesting coincidence that delivers
practical benefits. 'Under the new
structure,' says Haars, 'we each have
clearly-defined areas of responsibility. But
both the derivatives business and financial
markets as a whole have become much
more complex, and numerical and
analytical thinking becomes more
important all the time. The fact that we
share this mathematical background
means that each of us can understand the
way the other one thinks, and hopefully
make useful contributions.'
CROSS-FUNCTIONS
The Haars (left photo)/Sijbrand (photo
above) team will try to inject this same
dynamism into the division as a whole.
Haars: 'we will maintain clear lines of
responsibility but also provide for forums
where the right people can talk to each
other at the right times and synergize their
ideas. There are several cross-functional
committees, for example.' One, devoted to
risk management, is chaired by Jan
Sijbrand. He notes that the last three years
have seen a fivefold growth in the number
of dealers and a rapid expansion in the
derivatives portfolio, now Holland's
largest. 'The nominal value of outstanding
transactions now amounts to nearly 700
billion guilders,' he remarks. 'Obviously,
sharp risk management is crucial.'
CUSTOMER COVERAGE
Another cross-functional committee,
aimed at optimizing customer coverage by
Rabobank's international network made a
smashing contribution to the success of the
second, NLG6.3 billion phase of the
Koninklijke PTT Nederland privatization,
also dubbed KPN2.We were not only joint
lead manager of the Dutch syndicate, as in
the first placement, but also co-manager of
the syndications in the UK and the rest of
the world.Thus, we were able to leverage
the entire national and international team
to generate demand for over NLG 1 billion
worth of shares.'This was an impressive
effortall around/says Dominque Bech of
Rabo Securities,'especially when you
consider that this placement of 115 million
shares wasa bit smaller than KPNI.It's clear
that our relative performance in this
exercise brightened considerably.'
the respective sales departments, is headed
by Haars, while a third focuses on
leveraging research expertise. Jan Haars
comes to Rabobank with a 15-year
background in the management of
corporate treasuries. His task has been to
develop Financial Markets' ability to sell
products to corporate clients and
institutional investors; this is an important
strategie initiative in view of the fact that
Rabobank has hitherto focused more
exclusively on using its strong Triple-A
status for trading in money markets, fixed
income, and derivatives.
PRUDENT BALANCE
Striking the prudent balance between
trading and sales is also more important
given the growing complexity of the
markets themselves. 'Trading income is
inherently more unpredictable,' says
Sijbrand. 'A higher commercial profile
towards the banks' institutional and
corporate clients gives us a more
predictable source of profit and balances
out some of the risks,' adds Haars.' The
key challenge is to make sure the right
people are communicating all the time.
After all, says Haars, 'flexibility and good
communication are now the key.'
FINANCIËLE MARKTEN
Het directoraat Financiële Markten
heeft een nieuwe flexibele organisatie
structuur. Jan Haars neemt de dagelijkse
leiding over. Jan Sijbrand is zijn plaatsver
vanger. Arthur Arnold zal zich met name
richten op de te volgen strategie.
