What's NewS
Singapore
Singapore - 10 years on
Supplement for What's NewS July 1996
'Booming market', 'strong economie growth', 'Asian tiger' - all are terms that are almost
synonymous with Singapore. Yet, when the bank first entered this market back in 1986,
Singapore was experiencing what would prove a sobering, though brief recession. In spite
of less promising prospects at the time, Rabobank still went in. And its confidence was
more than justified.Ten years later and the bank has built a strong position in this exciting
market, not least in commodity finance where it ranks as one of the leading banks. But
there is more to the Singapore branch than serving its own home market. Singapore's
mandate covers a constellation of countries as varied Vietnam, Thailand and India. As
^^Singapore Rabobankers celebrate the first decade, What's NewS asks them how they tackle
a variegated range of immature and maturing markets.
BURMA
BANGLADESH LA0S
VIETNAM
CAMBODIA
SRI LANKA
MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
Hl
INOONESIA
According to general manager,
Hans Hannaart, the best way
to describe Singapore is as the
regional centre for South-East
Asia. 'Our role,' he says, 'is to
be a support centre, a centre of
competence, for a geographic
region that covers Malaysia,
Thailand, Vietnam, the rest of
Indo-China, the Philippines,
Myanmar (formerly Burma),
and, of course, the big one:
India.' The development of
these markets has been
gradual. As a first step,
Singapore attempts to build a
presence in each. 'That's
correct,' Hannaart confirms.
'A good example of how we
proceed is Malaysia. We begin
marketing efforts from the
branch here in Singapore.
Once we have built up a
presence, we follow the
concept of being close to our
clients and subsequently
establish an operation there.
The Malaysia operation has
now been up and running for
almost two years and they are
gradually consolidating our
position there. Thailand is
another example - it has been
operational for almost a year.
The latest addition to the
network is Vietnam, where a
Singapore account manager
with a broad experience in that
particular market, Lai Chong
Tuck, will be opening up for
business this summer.'
CROSS-BORDER
ACTIVITY
Clearly, Singapore has a lot of
ground to cover in its own
specific region. But how does it
fit into the rest of the network
in the Far East? 'I think we're
extremely interactive,'
Hannaart says. 'Hong Kong
also has its own geographic
responsibilities - China is a
huge potential market. Then
there is Indonesia and, of
course, Australia. What we try
to do is to work closely with
all the other branches in the
whole region because there is
an immense amount of cross
border activity going on here.
Just to give you one example.
There are a lot of Australian
companies investing in South-
East Asia; and a lot of South-
East Asian companies investing
in Australia. Then there are
numerous Asian companies
going into China. So there are
major links between all our
offices, particularly in the field
of agribusiness project finance.
At present, we're working on a
couple of transactions in
Vietnam in which both
Australia and Hong Kong are
involved. And then there's a
Singapore acquisition of an
Australian company - both
offices are working on that. In
SINGAPORE - GROTE AMBITIES
In 10 jaar tijd is er al veel gebeurd, maar Singapore zelf is nog niet tevreden. De top op gebied van commodities is bereikt. Dit
dankzij het zeer ervaren team dat er nu zit en de naam als top F&A bank. Ook in andere sectoren streeft men een toppositie na.
Als Center of Competence voor de regio is men verantwoordelijk voor alle landen waar nog geen vestiging aanwezig is. Men biedt de bestaande
vestigingen ondersteuning waar nodig, met name op het gebied van syndicaten, projectfinanciering en speciale treasury producten.