WHAT'S NewS Issue 3 March 1996
networking
HIGHLY-QUALIFIED TEAM
The creation of a fully-fledged banking
operation also includes changing systems,
procedures and, perhaps most
importantly, policies. 'Besides all the
technical things we have to take care of,
such as installing SWIFT, running EDP
audits on systems and so on, we also
have to get approvals from head office
for credit policy and treasury policy,'
Adams says. 'But all of those matters are
well in hand. The next high-priority item
is language. We have a highly-qualified
team, but because of the original
domestic focus, that team was recruited
on banking rather than language skills.
We have asked them to start polishing
their English as fast as possible so that it
is the main language here in the bank
within a year.'
MOBILIZING KNOW HOW
Another priority for the new Polish
operation is to mobilize the know-how
available in the rest of the Rabobank
network. 'We have already reached an
agreement with Rabobank Germany,'
Adams continues. 'They have been really
supportive. A number of their people
from, for example, treasury, EDP and
internal auditing have already visited
Warsaw to go through systems and
procedures and to provide advice. Our
people will also be able to go to Frankfurt
for training. Germany is an important
link for us, not least because it is Poland's
largest trading partner. And vice versa, of
course. I think this close cooperation
between our staff will also enhance
networking opportunities in the future.'
INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING
The future remains a challenge for Rabo-
BRP. The new bank is extremely
ambitious and aims to become Poland's
premier food and agribusiness bank. 'Our
first priority, however,' says Laskowski,
'is to become fully integrated in the
POLEN - SNELLE
EXPANSIE
Op 1 maart werd Rabo BRP
Bank een feit. Het
meerderheidsbelang in de Poolse Bank
Rolno-Przemyslowy (BRP) betekende dat de
vestiging binnen 18 maanden van een
eenmansvertegenwoordiging naar een
volledig bankkantoor met 70 medewerkers
groeide. Henk Adams en correspondent Jan
Laskowski benadrukken dat de Rabobank
en BRP elkaar goed aanvullen. Zij gaan
ervan uit dat collega's de nieuwe bank
weten te vinden. De aanwezigheid in Polen
kan voordeel opleveren voor hun klanten.
Rabobank Group, spearheading the
bank's expansion into the rest of Central
and Eastern Europe. Up until now, our
clients have been medium-sized and larger
Polish corporates. Now we can increase
our product range significantly and offer
our services to a broad range of
international companies already active in
Poland. We've already received referrals
from the international network - Casino
from France and Alfred Toepfer from
Germany. But we hope our Rabobank
colleagues around the world will also be
able to use our presence to their
advantage when talking to clients. We can
now provide assistance and support to
their customers if they want to do
business here in Poland. A lot of new
business is opening up here and we
believe there are countless opportunities
in our part of the world, especially in
F&A. Our aim is to make sure the whole
international network can take advantage
of them.'
F.l.t.r. Piotr Czarnecki, Vice President
Operations and CreditJan Laskowski, First
Vice President Business Development; Fienk
Adams, Managing Director and Dr. Dariusz
Ledworowski, President
OVERWHELMING LOGIC
Doing even better meant finding a suitable
strategie investor. Once this decision had
been reached, and Rabobank had proved
interested, things moved very quickly
indeed. 'A man I know at a German bank
which has just started operations here told
me he couldn't believe we'd done it in less
than a year,' Laskowski laughs. 'It had
taken his bank around three. But I think
^kveryone concerned was convinced of the
^^verwhelming logic behind working
together. We approached the transaction
as partners and took each regulatory
hurdle together. It has been an extremely
positive experience.'
WELL-DEFINED TASKS
But Rabo-BRP still has a long way to go.
'This is just the start, of course,' Adams
confirms. 'Our challenge is to take this
small, domestic-oriented, zloty bank and
turn it into a fully-fledged international
Rabobank operation. First, we will have
to reorganize the existing structure and
introducé well-defined responsibilities and
tasks. In addition, we will be developing
new departments to handle international
business. We have already recruited a
number of people to take care of
^perations, customer service, back office
and also commercial activities. BRP had
no dedicated business development
departmenr, so the team from Rabo
Polska will join forces.'
