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.'
