IPB IN
Belgium
8
r
private banking
1
WHAT'S NewS Issue 6 June 1996
addition, we look for industry
specialization within each team
so we can better understand
and anticipate cliënt needs.
We've hired several very
promising new people - the
team which markets larger
corporates is almost entirely
new. We have brought these
people together with our
corporate finance team in a
single location in Brussels.
Their brief is to target the top
300 large corporations in
Belgium; around 100 are
Belgian, the others are
subsidiaries. We've also made a
change in our approach to
food and agribusiness. In the
past, the food and agri sectors
were tackled separately and on
a regional basis. We've
reorganized that now and
brought that expertise into a
single team that targets the
market nationwide. We were
According to private banker Frits
Helders, the Turnhout operation
can be compared to a
representative office. Launched
Erwitt Vandendriessche
Frits Helders
just over a year ago,the eight-
person team's main concern is to
advise Dutch clients intending to
emigrate from the Netherlands on
IPB, trust and estate planning
activities. Many of these clients
relocate to Belgium, but their
assets often travel further. Their
portfolios are managed by our
international private bankers in,
for example, Luxembourg or
Zurich/says Helders.
While this appears a relatively
straightforward task, IPB account
management is complicated by
the fact that the relationship built
up between cliënt and private
banker is intensely personal. 'Our
marketing efforts are aimed at
member-bank clients who are
often owner-directors of family
firms.They are selling up, perhaps
because they have no successor or
simply because having worked 16
to 20 hours a day for decades, they
want to enjoy their retirement. For
fiscal reasons, it makes sense for
them to emigrate.'
STRUCTURING ASSET
MANAGEMENT
The Turnhout team is involved in
every aspect of relocation. 'Once
we've established contact with
the cliënt through one of the
member banks (we've visited
around 100 member banks in the
past 15 months), we try to
discover exactly what the cliënt
wants and needs.
We help structure his asset
management and then advise on
placing those assets in, perhaps,
Switzerland or elsewhere. It all
depends on how much is
involved.Clients with assets under
around NLG 500,000 are usually
advised to keep them in Belgium.
Higher amounts usually go to
financial centres specialized in
managing extensive portfolios.'
COMFORT FACTOR
While the team is concerned to
retain the client's assets for the
bank,their advice and assistance is
not only financial. 'We also talk to
them a lot about things like how
they will handle leaving their
family and friends. We even help
with finding a new home in
Belgium if that is what they want.
It really is a very personal
relationship. Our aim is to make
them feel as comfortable and as
happy as possible with the bank.'
RETAINING ASSETS
While Helders and the other
Turnhout private bankers have
already given presentations to
numerous member banks, there is
still a hugetaskahead.'Estimates
show that we have around 30,000
millionaires banking with Rabobank
and based on previous behaviours,
between 10 and 20 percent of
those clients will ultimately
emigrate to Belgium. Our task is to
retain those clients for the bank -
we're talking hundreds of millions
in assets here. Every other Dutch
bank is looking for those funds.
But this is not only a reality in the
Netherlands. I think our message
to the network would be: Let's be
aware of the assets in our
organization and let's make sure
we retain them for the bank.'
well positioned in what you'd
call the middle market, but
we've also concentrated that
know-how into one specialized
team.'
PROBLEM-SOLVERS
Erwin Vandendriessche, head
of corporate finance, believes
the closer proximity to the
Rabobank in Brussels
The corporate bankers and
corporate finance team are now
located at:
Avenue deTervueren 270, bte 23,
B-1150-Brussels
Telephone:+32 2 776 0020;
Telefax:+32 2 771 4345.
corporate bankers can add real
value. 'We communicate much
more intensely than before,' he
says. 'You have to understand
that as a corporate banker,
you're in competition with
other banks and coordinating
centres.
If you go in with no more than
traditional products, then
you're not offering any more
than the other banks. What
we're doing now is going into
a large corporate with a
problem-solving attitude.'
CRUCIAL COOPERATION
One of the aims of this new
approach is to enhance cross-
selling. The relationship
manager clearly plays a central
role, but both corporate
finance and treasury are also
inputting information and
support on potential products.
'There's a comfort factor
involved here,'
Vandendriessche adds. 'If the
relationship manager wants
immediate support, we'll go
along with him, or someone
from treasury will join him.
But sometimes it is more
effective if he or she does the
pre-marketing and brings us in
later. Because we're physically
closer, crucial communication
is easier. And we're not only
Roger Delcroix
talking internally. We're also
in constant touch with the
international network.'
GENERALISTS AND
SPECIALISTS
Back in Antwerp and the F&A
met Antwerpen als vierde havenstad ter wereld. Een andere speciale doelgroep zijn de"coordination centres"Door deze fiscaal
aantrekkelijke structuur zijn bijna alle Fortune 500 bedrijven in België vertegenwoordigd.
PRIVATE BANKING
Het Private Banking kantoor in Turnhout kan volgens Frits Helders vergeleken worden met een vertegenwoordiging. Het richt zich op
Nederlandse Rabobankklanten die van plan zijn zich in het buitenland (meestal België) te vestigen. Bekeken wordt waar zij hun vermogen