Top appointment
for IPB Far East
WHAT'S NewS Issue 2 February 1996
international private banking
17
The bank's recruitment of Christopher
Hayes as managing director of IPB activities
in the Far East is hot news on the circuit. It
actually made the front page of Institutional
Investor's specialized publication Global
Private Banking. Hayes comes from BNP-
International Financial Services, an
investment arm of Banque Nationale de
Paris in Hong Kong.The new man on top
will be based in Singapore; his deputy is
another BNP-IFS hire, MarcTomchek.They
will be working closely with Rabobank's
Vincent Lim.
PRIVATE BANKING -
ONTW|KKEL|NG VAN
P®* DE STRATEGIE
De strategie voor private banking, in 1984
ontwikkeld doorThomas van Rijckevorsel
en Heinz Zimmer, wordt steeds verder
ingevuld. In eerste instantie werd met
behulp van de F&A account managers een
lijst opgesteld van potentiële klanten in
deze sector. Om deze goed te kunnen
bedienen werd een flexibel basis
produktenpakket ontwikkeld. Dat wordt
nog steeds verder uitgebreid. Bij de
benadering van klanten hanteert men een
regionale aanpak om elke markt op de
juiste wijze te kunnen benaderen. Dit
betekent bijvoorbeeld dat de meeste
Europese en alle Latijnsamerikaanse
doelgroepen vallen onder Zürich, en het
Verre Oosten onder Singapore. Luxemburg
^heeft bovendien de taak om op te treden
^als coördinatiecentrum voor alle IT-
activiteiten.
art Olympic system specially developed
for private banking applications,' says Van
Rijckevorsel. 'Now, they are disseminating
that expertise and know-how to other
offices.'
OLYMPIC TRAINING
Through the high level of support they are
providing, Olympic specialists from the
Luxembourg office have almost become
part of the furniture in some offices, such
as Curayao. However, the team has now
adopted a different strategy. Rather than
going to other offices, other offices are
coming to them. A group from Hong
Kong and Singapore were in Luxembourg
late last year for training and discussions
on how to approach implementing
Olympic in Singapore. 'This actually
makes more sense,' Van Rijckevorsel says,
'because people can then see the system at
work. Luxembourg did a great job in
preparing for this visit. The team
organized sessions on the impact for the
front office, how the back office sees
Olympic. This exchange of know-how and
ideas on how the system can be used in,
say, Singapore, is essential.'
RABOBANK CULTURE
Talking about how IPB is structured
brings Van Rijckevorsel neatly to how the
bank is expanding critical mass. 'We have
already developed a certain culture within
IPB,' he says. 'So when we examined
options for building critical mass, we
ultimately decided that the best way to
approach that was to hire small private
banking teams or through selected
acquisitions. What Heinz Zimmer and his
team are doing in Switzerland is a good
example of what I mean. By its very
nature, private banking is a people-
oriented business. So, essentially we're
taking over senior private bankers and
their clients.'
CLEAR GUIDELINES
The IPB team believes it is crucial to
determine culture so that it meshes with
that of the whole bank, not least because
their target market is food and
agribusiness people. 'This focus is
entrenched in the bank on the
corporate side. We have to
ensure our teams share it. In
addition, the bank itself is very
clear on the kind of IPB
operation we should be. We
work on the basis of a distinct
code of conduct. While our
aim is, of course, to optimize
our clients' assets, generate
income for them and structure
attractive fiscal packages,
there are definitely areas we
steer well clear of. We will not
handle funds from what we
consider dubieus or suspicious
sources. We always work
within legal and fiscal
guidelines. Rabobank has a
solid reputation in the market.
It is one of our marketing
strengths. Our IPB team will
utilize it to the full as we
penetrate our target markets
worldwide.'
TOUGH TARGET
Says Hayes,'I have been given the go-ahead
and means to do whatever is necessary to
make this private banking division a major
contender in Asia within 12 months.'The
means are approval for the recruitment of
75 staff.Around half will be front-office
people, such as cliënt relationship officers
and investment managers.The other 50
percent will staff the back-office operations
essential for the smooth running of such a
large team whose target is a critical mass of
USD 600 million in private assets under
management by the end of the year.
ROBECO CONNECTION
One of the value-added products Hayes and
his team will be offering to the Asian market
is access to European equity markets
through the bank's strategie alliance with
the major European fund manager, Robeco.
'And we will also develop a range of
leveraged bonds, Asian equity and
convertible products as part of our package,'
Hayes says. 'We're looking at tough targets,
but we have already recruited a number of
very senior private bankers here in the
region so we're already on our way.'
