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

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blad 'What's news' (EN) | 1996 | | pagina 1