IT Update
EAL OF THE MONTH
Raibo SAYS
JTIANKS
What's NevS Issue 12 December 1996
info exchange
15
(from left to right) Peter Weber, Luuk Hans, Leendert Mastenbroek
and Andre de la Combé
The deal: House bank
agreement, including finance
facilities of around NLG 200
million
•'he cliënt: Reinier de Graaf
ealth-care group
The players: Leendert
Mastenbroek, Luuk Hans and
Andre de la Combé (Rabobank
International); Peter Weber
and Pieter Lagrauw (member
bank Midden Westland).
The merger of two major
health-care providers, the
Reinier de Graaf Foundation
and the Diakonessen Hospital,
in the Dutch province of South
Holland led to the creation of a
The long, complex and sensitive
process that ultimately led to
Raibo do Brasil's entry into the
domestic financial sector as the
first foreign bank in almost a
decade reached its true
conclusion recently. Says Teun
de Boon, general manager of
the Sao Paulo operation: 'We've
had a lot of celebrations and
"firstsfor the new bank, but
the visit by former finance
minister, Mr Rubens Ricüpero,
really rounded out a chain of
events that began years ago.'
Mr Ricüpero is now secretary
general of UNCTAD in Geneva,
but in his former role as
•inister of finance he had been
strumental in paving the way
for Raibo's upgrade to bank.
'We were really touched that he
made time in an extremely busy
Schedule - he was only in Brasil
large general hospital serving
the Delft region of the country.
Following the merger, the
newly-created Reinier de Graaf
Group (RdGG) reviewed its
banking relationships. 'The two
health-care providers had
previously banked with ABN
Amro, ING and Generale
Bank,'says relationship manager
Leendert Mastenbroek. 'Some
years ago, our member bank in
Midden Westland had put
together the finance for a
policlinic and this led the Group
to include us in their invitations
to come up with house bank
proposals.'
for a few days - to come and
see our operations at work,'
says De Boon. 'We had made
two special tombstones for him.
One marks the date we received
authorization to become a
bank; the second was dated on
our formal opening.' The
secretary general said he was
impressed at the rate of growth
already achieved - some 60
staff attended the presentation.
But he also reiterated that
Raibo's current status had only
been made possible by our
input into the development of
Brasil's food and agribusiness
sectors.
looking ahead
January
February
25-26
Studies
January
Working closely with colleagues
from Midden Westland, the
Rabobank team put together a
total package for the
prospective cliënt, including
everything from current
accounts and investment advice
to refinance of current loans
and interest-rate management.
'We even included employee
benefit programs,'says
Mastenbroek, 'resulting in a
total financial proposal of NLG
200 million.' Having compared
the proposals through a 10-
point scoring system, RdGG
finally opted for Rabobank. 'In
other words,'Mastenbroek grins,
'we beat all their former house
banks.'The team believes we
were successful because we
could demonstrate that our
structure, cooperation between
an active and highly professional
local bank and Utrecht branch,
and our expertise is creating
value added products was the
formula they needed. 'We were
able to put together a fantastic
allfinanz package that is custom-
tailored to the needs of health-
care providers,'Mastenbroek
says, 'we're all really proud of
this achievement.'
Slowly but steadily,
Rabobank is being transformed
into a 'wired' enterprise. At
years'end, after a complex and
painstaking four-month
preparatory phase involving
Rabobankers and outside
experts, the Opex IT program is
now being budgeted forfull-
scale implementation
throughout the network.
Significant
accomplishments to date
include the completion of
business reviews (i.e.the
identification of each unit's
precise business, operational
and IT needs);the crucial
process of matching these
needs (and those of the Head
Office) with the experts'
preliminary system designs; the
connection of all branch offices
to an integrated Communi
cations network that will
facilitate (among other things)
the smooth transfer of e-mail
and files; plus,the selection of a
PC banking system which can
be quickly implemented as
new branch offices are added
to the network.
Now, as the Opex program
enters its new phase, Rabobank
and all its branches must now
take a more active role in the
program's oversight and
management.The new steering
committee will also face tasks
as preparation for the
European common currency,or
euro, and the equally important
conversion of IT systems to
overcome the so-called
'millennium'challenge related
to the shift in computer clock
dates that will come when
1999 flows into the year 2000.
A new (and
organizationally flatter)
steering mechanism is now
being engineered. Hanno
Riedlin and Henk van der Stelt
will remain program sponsors.
Effective immediately, program
management will be the
responsibility of Rabobank
International's Erny Kahle (head
of Global IT).
Teun de Boon (left) and
mr. Rubens Ricüpero, General
Secretary for UNCTAD in
Genèue.
Roadshow Italy
Roadshow Switzerland
International Bond Congres
Attachments Beer study: country reports
