Trade and commodity
TARGETED F&A MARKETING
FINANCE - NEW MARKETS
corporate banking
l
WHAT'S NkwS Issue 2 February 1996
FOCUSSED BUSINESS
PLANS
In spite of this rather gloomy
general outlook, London
Branch is clearly optimistic.
'The real thing here is to get
our higher valued added
products into our
relationships. And in this
respect, two things have been
happening. The first is we're
developing a really focussed
product range in corporate
finance, trade finance and
treasury. The second is we've
established business plans for
each of our target sectors.
These define the basic outlines
of companies in those sectors,
what is happening in the sector,
what we're trying to achieve
there and what sort of products
we can deliver into that sector.'
SPELLING IT OUT
The aim here is to ensure it is
clear what the bank has to
offer - both for account
managers and clients. 'It's
much more efficiënt if
everyone in the bank knows
what's happening. And clients
appreciate this focussed
approach. The last thing we
want is for a corporate to
think: Oh, here comes another
bank, I wonder what they're
trying to sell me today. By
structuring our cliënt
approach, the customer
knows, for example, that the
next time we visit, we'11 be
there to discuss structured
finance or treasury products.
Our people are increasingly
familiar with the new products
our colleagues here are
developing. And we're now
rolling them out to clients. 1
think we're being quite clear
on what our capabilities are
and what we see as their needs.
But also on how Rabobank
can help deliver, satisfy, some
of those requirements. Our
experience is that no corporate
sees that as wasteful. In fact,
everyone says its great because
we're spelling it out so clearly.
I think that means we may be
half way up the hill. 1996 is
not going to be any easier than
1995, but I'd say we were
already in the starting grid.'
Last year, London Branch reorganized its approach to
tackling the extensive and varied UK food and agribusiness
market. Ben Davies, who leads the dedicated F&A team,
outlines the thinking behind the new structure.
There was a time when
London Branch focussed its
F&A marketing strategy
primarily on major corporares.
But that approach changed
when Ab Gillhaus joined the
branch to target the middle
market. 'When Ab left us last
summer,' Davies recalls, 'we
were, to all intents and
Simott Tyler
purposes, operating two
parallel food-related
businesses. He had developed
an excellent platform in the
middle market and we saw
that as highly complementary
to our more established
business with larger customers.
It made sense to combine our
efforts in both.'
In the five years since Tyler
joined the bank, his group has
doubled in size to handle the
growth in business. 'We started
with three or four customers
and were seen as a very small
SHARPER FOCUS
At London Branch, major
corporates are those, many of
them giant, companies active
in food processing, brewing,
beverages and food retail. 'We
already had quite some
expertise in these areas,'
Davies explains, 'so there were
obvious benefits in bringing
the two target markets
together.
And not only in terms of
efficiency and shared
knowledge, but also through a
sharper focus on individual
segments of the market and the
enhanced capacity for cross-
selling the bank's growing
product base.' Given the
strong franchise in UK F&A,
bank in soft commodity
finance. Now, we're one of the
largest banks in London,
probably one of the top four.
But,' he says, 'even though
we're very pleased with the
Ben Davies
Davies and his team believe the
new structure will improve
already considerable returns
even further.
way the business has
developed, you have to ask
yourself: What now?'
GROWING TRADE
FINANCE
One answer is clearly to
optimize the whole bank's
cross-selling potential to
existing clients. 'We will, of
course, be developing that,'
says Tyler. 'We'11 be bringing in
our people in structured
finance, securitization and the
new products treasury is
developing, as well as the
Over the past few years, this area of corporate banking has
been expanded, slowly but surely by Simon Tyler and his
team. Now, the group is looking for new markets.
CORPORATE BANKING
De marges voor kredietverlening worden steeds kleiner. Daardoor moet het zakenvolume bijna worden verdubbeld om hetzelfde
resultaat te bereiken. Ook sluiten bedrijven bestaande leningen over tegen gunstiger tarieven. Het kantoor heeft hiermee rekening
gehouden. Produkten met een hogere toegevoegde waarde (structured finance, M&A en securitization) werden aan het pakket toegevoegd. Ook de
benadering van klanten is gestructureerd van opzet. De klant weet van te voren over welke onderwerpen tijdens een bezoek zal worden gesproken.
Zij waarderen deze wijze van benadering.
