WHAT'S NewS Issue 9 September 1996
bankers on the spot
have that, and so does Philip, who is the
^Kirst banker to cross over from purely
^^rimary sector responsibilities to
corporate banking. Michelle is our
executive secretary. She did four years as
PA to the director of corporate finance at
Goldman Sachs in London. So she has a
sound finance background.' Both divisions
will be expanded. 'In the case of corporate
banking, this growth will be slow and
modest,' Clark says. 'At present, we're
looking for one additional person. I
understand the rural division is actively
looking for new people as well - the four
offices, at Auckland, Christchurch,
Palmerston North and Dunedin, are
strategically located, but the area they
have to cover is quite wide.'
EXPORT SHIFT
The New Zealand market appears the
^fclosest thing there is to an F&A banker's
paradise. Essentially export-oriented, in
the 1950s and 1960s, the UK was New
Zealand's biggest trading partner. More
recently, export focus has shifted,
especially in geographic terms. 'Australia
is a major partner,' Clark confirms. 'The
EU takes only 16 percent of our exports.
By far the biggest partners today are Japan
and the other Asian countries. Now I
could bore you to tears with all the
volumes and percentages, but in terms of
agriculture, Asia and especially Japan, is
the number one focus for us.' While New
Zealand does not have the agri-diversity
of neighbouring Australia, it has built
worldwide reputation and market share in
a number of products. 'We don't have
cotton, or sugar, and we don't have huge
grain harvests,' Clark confirms. 'What we
tf^o have is dairy, which accounts for 34
percent of agri-exports, meat, wool, fruit,
fishing and forestry, and of course sheep
meat.'
STRONG ECONOMY
New Zealand is a substantially bigger
exporter than it is an importen 'That's
right,' Clark confirms. 'And over the past
decade, successive governments have
been totally committed to economie
reform and to taking government out of
business. This has real advantages in that
we now have a thriving, competitive
business environment here. We have
minimal inward and outward tariffs, and
New Zealand boasts the least direct
support to agriculture anywhere in the
world. All subsidies to agriculture have
ëjeen abolished. What this means is that
rver the past three to four years, we have
had a very strong economy with high
levels of growth and low inflation.
Although we have actually dipped into a
tiny trade deficit, it is safe to say we have
F.l.t.r. Elwyn Violich - manager, Rural, Palmerston North, Allan Fleming - Rural Lending
manager, Jaap Klep - General manager, Dean Clark - National manager, Corporate Banking,
Diana Patterson - Secretary/office Supervisor, Ron Lander - Senior manager, Rural, Adrian
Brough - Rural Lending officer
a trade surplus and impressive budget
surpluses.'
PRICE OF LOW INFLATION
While other nations may look on this
development with envy, it also creates a
problem for an export-oriented country.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is
required to maintain price stability
through monetary policy. 'And it has to
keep inflation between 0 and 2 percent
annually,' says Clark. 'The only way it
does that is through the management of
short-term interest rates. And because our
rates are currently much higher than our
main trading partners, our exporters, are
looking at an extremely difficult scenario.
Just to give you one example, the New
Zealand dollar has appreciated 26 percent
against the US dollar in the last two years.
That alone has wiped more than NZD 2
billion off dairy export receipts. So you'11
understand that the management of
currency is paramount for our exporters.'
NETWORK RESPONSE
This type of service will be available to
New Zealand clients via the treasury at
Rabo Australia. 'We have opened as a
branch here for a number of reasons. One
is funding efficiency, the other is fiscal
advantages. But Rabo Australia remains
our 'parent' and provides all our vital
services. Our colleagues there are
extremely important for us, but also those
in the whole international network. When
we started up here, Philip and I sent out
over 70 faxes to all the offices in the
network. We told them who we were and
what we could do for them - there are
specific advantages for NZ-based banks.
We got a great response and now have
almost weekly requests from various parts
of the network for assistance to their
clients which have subsidiaries here. Even
though we have a number of our own
clients - and some are pretty big players,
even in global terms - you'11 understand
that the network is vital for us. Because,
as the smallest branch in the network
which is also 12 hours ahead of the rest of
the world, it is our life blood.'
NIEUW ZEELAND
OFFICIEEL GEOPEND
Op 28 augustus jl. is
Rabobank Nieuw Zeeland
officieel geopend. Vanuit de vestigingen in
Auckland, Christchurch, Palmerston North
en Dunedin richten accountmanagement
teams zich zowel op de primaire agrarische
industrie als op de F&A bedrijven. Het
kantoor is nauw gerelateerd aan Rabobank
Australië en wordt van hieruit ondersteund
op het gebied van treasury producten en
andere diensten. Nieuw Zeeland kan
ondersteuning bieden aan klanten van onze
andere kantoren die er een vestiging
hebben of er zaken doen. Op hun beurt
maken zij graag gebruik van de diensten
van andere kantoren voor ondersteuning
van hun eigen klanten.