INTERPOLIS
ireland
8
WHAT'S NewS Issue 4 April 1996
Paul Whooley
STRUCTURED COOPERATION
Both Lynda Carroll HtMOKL
and Paul Whooley
spend a lot of time
on the telephone-
to New York, Paris,
Antwerp, London
andjustabout
everywhere else in
the network.Just
overayearinto their
structured finance
marketing drive to
captureassetsfor
Rabobank Ireland,
Whooley describes
what thesmall,
though clearly effective team has achieved as 'A foundation. We are
building a large balance sheet, so that puts us under pressure,' he
says. 'But I think people, even in the asset market, have been
surprised at how fast we've come up to speed.' According to
Whooley, one of the reasons for the rapid progress has been
networking and the network's growing acceptance that Dublin can
add value through the existing financial climate there. 'A lot of our
co-workers around the world see the benefits for their clients
through bringing us in on transactions. I think there's an increasing
realization that what is good for the cliënt is ultimately going to be
good for the bank. So there's a trend in the network to make use of
the fiscal advantages here.Of course,we don't claim to be a panacea.
What we're saying is we have a particular niche in the market, and we
have a particular tooi available to the network. Our aim is to arrivé at
a position where any structure being put together would consider
Ireland as an option to add value for the cliënt.' But the Dublin team is
not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. 'It's not the case that
everybody has simply been bringing business to us,'Whooley says.
'Lynda is a specialist in the aerospace sector and we currently have
two aircrafts on our books. She's working with packagers in that area
and we have introduced them to the dedicated team in Utrecht. In
that sense, Rabobank Ireland has provided another option for the
aerospace team in terms of its international structuring and
participation. So we see our task as a dual function. We represent a
marketing tooi for the network, but we also generate business with
and for our colleagues elsewhere.'
execute them. The treasury
team also works for Interpolis.
Both reinsurance and captive
insurance activities generate
funds and our treasury
manages those funds. But
you'11 also find us sourcing
business through each other's
contacts. We make joint
presentations to corporates
because having a treasury
agency and a captive insurance
company gives additional
advantages.'
TEAM BUILDING
Careful team-building appears
a main priority at Rabobank
Ireland. There are currently 26
people on staff covering
treasury, structured finance and
banking, operations, credit
analysis and, of course, risk
management. When we started
in this market, we came in as
one of the most strongly
capitalized banks in Ireland in
order to anticipate growing
business volumes. And our
equity capital has recently been
increased again. Yet I believe
that the success or failure of
any institution, and certainly a
bank, depends for at least 90
percent on the people you're
able to recruit. We've been at
pains to find key core personnel
and build our teams around
those top professionals. You
know, you can spend a lot of
money on systems, offices, all
of that. But if you don't spend
even more time and effort on
finding the right people, then
you won't succeed. In the end,
it's not the general manager
who makes the money. It is the
staff, they are the most
important people here.'
OPEN DOOR
Rabobank Ireland's careful
attention to building team
spirit and creating the right
atmosphere for its staff to
make money has clearly paid
off. In its first full year of
trading, the Dublin operation
generated a balance-sheet total
of NLG 4.9 billion (previous
year), with lending up to NLG
3.9 billion (previous year). It is
looking to grow in the coming
years and Kuijpers envisages
Dublin will boast around 45
Rabobankers within two to
three years. New premises are
also on the horizon - the
Group will be moving in
September. 'Maintaining the
current atmosphere will be
more difficult then,' Kuijpers
says. 'Everyone here relates to
each other without much sense
of hierarchy. My door is
always open and people
certainly come in all the time.
We want to try and keep it that
way. We all have our own jobs
to do, but essentially we're a
team. We all need each other
to achieve the objectives of the
bank. And I'd say we are all
committed to that goal here.'
Captive is a word you'11 hear
frequently trom the four-
person Interpolis team headed
by Brendan Malley. But what
is a captive and why is the
Dublin-based operation so
profitable? Malley explains.
A 'captive' is an insurance
company which is used to
cover all corporate risks of its
owners. There are large
industrial companies which
wouldn't always be able to get
Brendan Malley
suitable coverage for all their
exposures. Malley explains,
'one option is for them to set
up their own captive
reinsurance structure under the
management umbrella of a
management company in
Ireland. One reason to do this
would be the cost-effectiveness
of the exercise. What they
agree to do is establish a
reinsurance captive company
which we can manage on their
Samenwerking met De Lage Landen betekent onder meer dat in de dealing room 3 desks zijn ingeruimd voor DLL medewerkers
die de funding voor de hele DLL-organisatie regelen. De transacties die daaruit voortvloeien worden door de treasury uitgevoerd.
Voor Interpolis worden de (her)verzekeringsgelden gemanaged. Naast deze interne zaken worden door de drie partijen
gezamenlijk presentaties verzorgd voor bedrijven,zodat additioneel voordeel behaald kan worden.
Structured Finance houdt zich bezig met het vermarkten van de fiscale voordelen die Ierland bedrijven kan bieden. Zij kregen contacten met
collega's over de hele wereld en introduceren daar ook hun eigen contacten. Het'All Finance'concept werkt in Ierland uitstekend.
