WOMEN'S WORK
Rabobank
'What's NewS
Monthly intf.rnal newsletter for the Central. Banking Sector issue4.April 1996
March 12 (not quite International Women's Day, but almost) saw
the launch of a formalized women's network spanning the whole
of Holland-based Rabobank Nederland. Over two-thirds of the
300 female Rabobankers invited responded positively to the
initiative which Anneke Broere, one of the organizers, says is to
make visible women's motivation and career orientation.
Everyone, even the Board's Paul Burghouts, who addressed the
assembled grade-eight and higher women, agrees that the
Netherlands as a whole, and financial sectors in particular, lag
behind much of the world when it comes to women at the top. In
1989, the bank stated its intention of 'facilitating' an evironment
in which women could develop their potential within the
organization. This intention was restated at the March-12
meeting, but according to Broere 'there hasn't been much
progress in the past seven years, so we're looking for ways to do
it for ourselves.'
(continued on page 6)
in brief
contents
ADVERTISING ASIA
Singapore and Hong Kong
branches have joined forces to
advertise the bank's syndicated
loan expertise - specifically in
the Asian market. A tombstone-
^tyle ad comprising 11 major
^ransactions appeared in recent
editions of both IER and
Basispoint magazines. Says
Henk Otten of Hong Kong's
corporate finance division,
'The idea was to highlight our
activities in Asia. We've
arranged some very interesting
syndicated deals for big
corporates here in the region,
so we thought we'd advertise
the fact.'
The ad has been effective in
the sense that a senior
executive front ABN Amro's
head office in the Netherlands
actually called to ask for more
information. 'This was the first
reaction we got - on the very
ly it appeared,' says Otten.
it however colleagial and
welcome the competition's
response may be, Hong Kong
and Singapore are definitely
expecting more commercially
viable reactions. They'll keep
the network informed on
future deal-flow.
36-HOUR UPDATE
March 1 marked the official
transition to a 36-hour
working week within the
Dutch section of the bank. The
reduction in working hours
was agreed last year between
Clients and staff of Rabobank
Duta Indonesia received a
presentation on the ins and
outs of European Monetary
Union from Bernard Walschots
of the financial markets
division.The presentation was
extremely timely as it coincided
with the Euro-Asian summit
held in Bangkok.
employers and employees'
organizations in an attempt to
retain jobs in the banking
sector. Late last year, CBS
initiated a number of pilots to
test the viability of the new
working hours. 'The results of
those pilots vary from
excellent to problematic,' says
operations chief Henk van der
Stelt. 'In my own division,
there are units where it's
working really well. We can
deploy staff to meet work
supply and offer our people
more flexibility in their
working hours. But in other
divisions, things aren't proving
that easy.' In response to this
varied result of pilots, it has
now been decided to continue
those currently ongoing and
to introducé new ones in areas
which had not yet participated.
'The idea is to define the
bottle-necks and then define
ways to solve them. We'11 be
looking at that in early May
and will keep you informed.
WHAT'S IN WHAT'S
NEWS?
Once again we're full of info.
Here's a sample of whatyou'll
find in this month's What's
NewS.
Client relations - Eneco talks
banking 3
Global approach - the new
media and telecommuni-
cations team 4
Ireland special - unique
Group approach in Dublin 7
Six of the best - innovative IPB
funds 11
Securitization - what it is and
who'sdoingit 14
Talking heads - Henk Visser on
fast growth and fast cars 16