10
Robeco special
What'S NewS Issue 12 December 1996
out dedicated market, country and sector
research and advisory work for the
domestic Rabobank organization and for
Robeco itself its inception over five years
ago,' says director of research, Rob
Heerkens. 'During that period, we have
built up a mass of knowledge and expertise
that is used, among others, to support the
member banks in their sales and advisory
activities for domestic clients. I think I can
safely say we have been successful in this
area and have built up a real reputation for
the quality and added value of our work
for the domestic cliënt. In contrast,
Rabobank's international network is
relatively new for us - and for the people
around the world who are now starting to
use our services.'
GROWING SUPPORT FOR Rl
According to Heerkens, networking was a
key element in the development of
cooperation with the international offices.
'International private banking was the first
to use our services in any significant way,'
he says. 'Increasingly, private bankers are
using model portfolios in a structured way.
The question then is how can you generate
the material, data and analysis you need to
create these portfolios. The answer is that
we, at IRIS, can provide it. Now, of course,
we also work closely with Rabo Securities,
offering them similar support.'
CUSTOMIZED OUTPUT
Over the past five years, IRIS's over
70-strong research team has built up
extensive expertise in global asset
allocation and this is one area where they
fee! they can add value for the international
network. 'It's certainly one of our
specializations,' Heerkens confirms. 'Our
focus and primary expertise is, of course, in
Europe and even more so in Dutch equity
and bond markets. However, we also follow
the US and South-east Asian markets,
although that is on a secondary level. But
the end result is that we can generate sound
global market information and we can also
provide it to any Rabobank operation that
can use it - be they in Switzerland,
Singapore or New York.' Heerkens is keen
to emphasize that IRIS research not only
produces this kind of data and generate
analyses and forecasts based on it, but can
also tailor output to specific needs. 'That's
our mission, our philosophy,' he says. 'We
can take our basic outlook on, say, world
asset allocation and customize it for
portfolio managers, investment advisors in
Utrecht, Zurich or Singapore. All they have
to do is ask us for what they want and we
will find ways to supply it.'
GREATER GLOBAL INPUT
IRIS makes the results of its research and
analyses available through a whole host of
publications which appear on a regular
basis. These vary from sector analyses to
company commentaries, and from equity
research on specific companies to weekly
market analyses. 'Of course, we don't
have the resources of, say, Morgan
Stanley, but in specific areas, such as
European stocks, the quality of our data
base and what we generate through it is as
good or even better.' What Heerkens
would like to see in the future is the
establishment of analysts in other regions
of the world. That would mean we could
Rabobank international offices are not
automatically sent all 24 regular IRIS
publications. Says Rudi Kanters,head of
investment information:'We have a list of
publications available at any one time and
all are available in English. Any office that is
interested has only to call us and we will do
what we can to help. Plus, we're in the
process of producing a folder with a
description of all our publications.That
should make selection easier.You can call us
on: +31 (0)10 224 2492; or Marlies on +31
(0)10 224 2791.
combine know-how on a truly global level
and it would give us even more clout in
the market.'
INFORMATION SUPPORT
Perhaps unsuprisingly, IRIS already has
one of the largest documentary libraries in
Continental Europe. More and more
departments and even Rabobank
subsidiaries are finding their way to IRIS's
documentary information service. 'We had
De Lage Landen here last week,' says head
of documentary information support,
Marlies van Baardwijk. 'And increasingly
we're receiving requests for info from the
international network.' Requests can be
anything from specific company data to
sector information. 'Depending on what is
needed, we'11 put together a sub-set of
information, some of which will be drawn
from our own archives here, but we also
trawl electronic data bases so that we can
supply real-time information. What is
really good news is the fact that the whole
Rabobank international network will soon
be linked by e-mail. That will make
requesting and transmitting the required
data even easier and a lot laster. We're
here to help - everyone in the network at
any time.'
IRIS - EEN BRON VAN INFORMATIE
IRIS bestaat uit vier activiteiten, asset management, marketing en ondersteuning voor lokale Rabobanken, productontwikkeling en
research. IPB en Rabo Securities maken al volop gebruik van de informatie die het 72 man sterke research team biedt. De focus ligt
met name op Nederlandse en Europese aandelen. Daarnaast wordt gekeken naar de V.S. en Zuid-Oost Azië. Hierdoor is IRIS in staat mondiaal
betrouwbare marktinformatie te geven. Ook kan zij op verzoek aangepaste rapporten leveren aan portfolio managers.
