Man
AT THE TOP
16
talking heads
WHAT'S NtwS Issue 4 April 1996
Henk Visser doesn't seem old enough to be labelled
'a grand old man' of anything. But the fact is that his
career with Rabobank parallels the development of the
once tiny 'cooperative finance' department started in
1971 into today's CBS. Visser has been with CBS every
step of the way. Essentially a banker's banker, he
knows the organization inside out.
Keeping ahead of fast-moving
developments leaves him little
free time. He claims he has no
hobbies and doesn't see the
need for them. But is Visser the
true workaholic he appears to
be? Wbat's NewS asks him.
The executive board member
with co-responsibility for
growing CBS is a man of
subtleties and nuance. He
weighs and measures his words
carefully so that what he says
is not only exactly what he
means, but also clear, concise,
and not open to
misinterpretation. 'I have no
hobbies,' he says almost
dismissively. 'And I don't want
any.' But as he gets into this
unaccustomed role of talking
about himself, rather than
work, it appears he definitely
has at least one passion other
than the serious business of
banking - his 1948 MG/TC.
'I've had a preference for MGs
ever since I was at university,'
he admits with one of his rare,
almost self-deprecating grins. 'I
used to tinker with these little
two-seaters, take them apart
and put them back together. A
few years ago I found a 1948
model. I look after it myself-
do the maintenance, keep it
roadworthy.' And, of course,
he drives it whenever he gets
the chance, which is not often.
An overflowing weekly diary
tends to spill over into the
weekend. 'Every Sunday is a
normal workday,' he agrees,
'and I do two hours on a
Saturday.' But doing his credit
committee reading at home has
its advantages. He puts on
classical music as background
and so is able to hear some of
his favourite composer, Bach,
as he works through the stack
of applications. Although
Visser reserves two hours for
work on Saturdays, this is also
a family day, when he builds in
time either with his two sons,
who come home once a
month, or with friends. Visser
doesn't class the mountain
biking expeditions in the
Utrecht countryside, or the
skiing trips with friends to
Switzerland as hobbies. 'I have
a sedentary job,' he says, 'and I
have to do a lot of official
lunches and dinners, so they
are primarily to keep me fit.'
The same thinking does not
apply to the garden. 'I just sit
in it,' he laughs. 'My wife does
all the work with the help of
our gardener. I actually hate
gardening.' But he does enjoy
summer days spent reading
there. 'I love reading and I try
to finish two or three books a
month.
Banking is a favourite, of
course, and management. 1
also like fiction. I suppose
you'd call it literature.
Recently, I've become
interested in Indonesia. I
visited the country last year
and then I found a book called
Nation in waiting, about
recent developments there. Tm
also reading a Dutch book of
essays on the country. It's
fascinating.'
But Visser's real fascination
remains banking and
everything and anything
connected with it, especially
when it concerns the
development of CBS. At
present, he is presiding over
the formulation of a new
strategie policy for
international wholesale
activities. It is an exciting time
for a man who saw the start of
CBS. 'There were six front
office people, and 10 in the
back-office then,' he recalls.
'We began with a balance total
of around USD 1 billion and a
few billion in interbank
deposits. When I started, back
in 1971 in the economie
research department, what
would become CBS was
focused exclusively on
cooperative clients. That
changed gradually during the
1970s and by the end of the
decade we had people working
in financial markets, forex
markets and international
payments. It was then that
CBS was actually created as a
dedicated unit. That was an
exciting time as well.'
Over the past 20 or so years,
Visser has played an integral
part in steering the growth in
that unit. He is now co-
responsible for an
international network,
including Utrecht, of 65
operations in 29 countries and
a balance-sheet total of USD
35 billion. As new directions
are plotted for CBS, he
remains in the driving seat,
steering the vehicle he has
maintained and kept more
than road-worthy for many
years. Maybe tinkering with
his classic MG/TC, a car that
combines a strong, well-
designed engine with the
flexibility and adaptahility of a
sportsmodel, is not such a far
cry from what he does - more
than 6 days of the week.