WHAT'S Nf.wS Issue 1 January 1996 cbs happy new year 5 Frans Jaap Keesing (financial markets, Utrecht): 'l'm glad to hear we'll be recruiting new people and I hope this won't be limited to the foreign offices. The workload is increasing and will increase even more when the 36-hour work week is introduced.' Augie Braaksma (country manager,Canada):'I was impressed with the gross profit numbers Rik presented, but I think there's still room for improvement. If we continue to work the network that has developed nicely,we should meet the overall return on solvency hurdles.The emphasis on working the network to maximize the results came through loud and clear. Having a presence in Canada - the plan for 1996 - makes sense only because of this unique network which is very attractive for Canadian business as Canadian banks have limited global presence.' Barend Schol (financial markets, Utrecht): The CBS-day was a very good opportunity to talk to colleagues informally. Not hurried by the thought of having to get on with the job. necessary Central Bank licences for our new Polish operation there. New offices have been opened in Malaysia, Taiwan, Bangkok and Beijing. Raibo do Brasil received a banking licence by presidential exception. Milan was upgraded. We made a real splash with the KPN issue. Our acquisition of Swiss Bank Corporation's securities unit is paying off. We've brought back clients such as Ikea. In fact, 1995 has been a year of milestones for CBS.' PARTNERSHIP APPROACH According to Van Slingelandt, making assets work for us is only part of the story. Positioning CBS as a relationship-oriented organization has also made its contribution. 'We set out to work with clients on deepening relationships. That is where partnership thinking comes into play. And I don't just mean in our approach to clients, but also in how we work together. Over the past year, a lot has been accomplished. We're seeing better cooperation. But there's still ample room for improvement. This is an internal factor in the results we've generated over 1995, a factor we can influence, expand on and control.' INTEREST RATE AND ECONOMIC FACTORS Outside elements are less easy to control. The overall stable interest-rate climate in the countries where CBS operates also worked in our favour during 1995. 'That's right,' says Van Slingelandt. 'But if that trend turns, as it did in 1994, then I can easily see us losing one or two percentage points on RoS. So we have to be vigilant.' A second important factor is solid growth in the economies of those countries where we have a presence. 'That created an environment for improved performance,' he says. COOLHEADS That's the good news. The bad news is that forecasts indicate those upward trends may not be as stable and helpful in 1996. 'That's why we have no over-heated expectations built into budgets for next year,' he says. 'Economie growth will probably continue at the same pace next year - two or three percent in the western world; seven to ten in the east. No surprises are expected there, or at least, no surprises have been built into the budgets. But we have to be very aware that interest-rate environments and economies can turn sour. Even small hiccups mean we have to adapt our positions. That takes time and during that time, we lose money. Or we don't make money. No one can predict with any certainty when hiccups could occur. But we're working on the assumption that we'll be in a low-rated environment where even small increases can cause some damage. We have to keep our heads cool.' MASSIVE INVESTMENT While budget targets are not over-heated, CBS is Daniël Rodrigues de Oliveira Araujo (account manager, Brazil): The most important message of the video was that Rabo must be able to deliver what the customers need.Communication plays a keyrole here, as can be seen in the Deal of the Year. In 1996, networking will be even more important for Brazil as we are going to be upgraded into a fully licensed bank.The number of clients will increase and so will the needs to deliver products.'

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'What's news' (EN) | 1996 | | pagina 5