Belgium
What's NewS
Belgium -
REDEPLOYING FOR
THE FUTURE
Supplement for What's NewS June 1996
A new commercial structure, a new corporate
approach in treasury, a revised internal organization
and a new general manager - all are descriptions
which can be applied to Rabobank
Belgium's development over the past year. What's
NewS went visiting to find out exactly what
has been happening.
Rabobank Belgium is one of
only three branches - the other
are Luxembourg and Curagao
Willy Van den Houdt
- in the international network
where Dutch is not a totally
foreign language. But the
similarity with their northern
neighbours ends there. The
market is different; the
business culture is different;
the mentality is different. 'The
first thing you have to
understand about the Belgian
market is that it is hugely
overbanked,' says Willy Van
den Houdt, who is the new
general manager as of
January 1. 'It is also a highly
sophisticated and competitive
market so margins, even in
treasury, are very slim. This
means you have to come up
with ideas that will really add
value. I'm thinking of
corporate finance here - tax-
driven structures, focused
treasury marketing. These are
two distinct areas where we
should penetrate. But you must
also be very seléctive in your
marketing. You must know
everything there is to know
about a potential cliënt before
you even think about calling.'
FORTUNE 500
In terms of food and
agribusiness, Belgium is a
relatively small market.
'However, that doesn't mean
we don't have a lot of
opportunities there,' Van den
Houdt adds. Trade finance is
another area where we see a
lot of potential. Antwerp is the
fourth largest port in the
world, so there are openings
for us there as well. And
another very exciting area is
the coordination centre
market. Delivering added value
corporate finance and treasury
products to this niche will be
a key priority in the future.
Belgium may not be a
significant country in terms of
indigenous multinational
corporations, but virtually all
the Fortune 500 names have
sizeable coordination centres
in this country. Essentially,
we're typically a subsidiary
market. So the further
development of our
international networking,
which should result in more
cross selling is another key
element here.'
CREDIT QUALITY
Given the specifics of the
Belgian market, the bank has
been engaged in a restructuring
process over the last year
which is designed to tackle its
market more effectively.
Another change has been on
the credit side. Until April,
Gilbert Reyns and his team
reported to Tim Zumpolle.
Now they are directly
responsible to Van den Houdt.
Gilbert Reyns
'There was a kind of conflict
of interest,' Reyns says.
'Relationship managers tend to
have an almost emotional
involvement in their credit
applications. So it is important
for the analysts to be
independent, to be able to
monitor both income and the
quality of the credit. In
view of ROS requirements,
quality is a top priority. And
objective analysis can only
enhance that.'
FOCUSSED APPROACH
The commercial restructuring
has been far-reaching. 'I think
Tim Zumpolle should explain
that,' says Van den Houdt.
Tim Zumpolle
Wh en Zumpolle took over the
commercial division last year,
he found 'a good hard-
working team, but our
approach was rather
opportunistic. I hate to use
buzz words,' he grins, 'but we
needed more focus. We looked
carefully at the market and
have defined three segments:
food and agri, the middle
market and the larger
corporate market.
'Essentially, our response has
been to form three dedicated,
nationwide teams, thus
abandoning our former
regional approach. We think a
middle market customers need
a different approach. In
DE RABOBANK IN BELGIË
Een nieuwe commerciële structuur en een nieuwe klantbenadering en dat onder leiding van een nieuwe general manager Willy
Van den Houdt. De markt is "overbanked" met ca. 130 banken. Hierdoor is de concurrentie groot en zijn de marges klein. Het belang
van fiscaal gedreven constructies en andere creatieve oplossingen is groot. Voordat een potentiële klant benaderd kan worden,
moeten alle beschikbare gegevens voorhanden zijn.
Op het gebied van Food Agribusiness is België een relatief kleine markt, waar echter wel kansen liggen.Trade finance ziet goede mogelijkheden
