WHAT'S NewS Issue 12 December 1996
rabobankers at work
5
worldwide. The harmonization of market
^konditions and the removal of barriers to
^^rade both within the EU and under the
auspices of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) mean that the market for
agricultural products will be still further
internationalized,' remarks Gerard van
Empel. 'The shift from a producers' to a
buyers' market has meant that cooperatives
have been forced to increase their size in
order to maintain their bargaining power
and attain economies of scale. We can expect
this trend to continue worldwide - and so
the number of specialized joint ventures,
mergers, and acquisitions will certainly rise.'
Through an early implementation of
enlightened aid and intervention
strategies, RIAS has been assigned the
increasingly important role of preparing
the ground for a erop of profitable
relationships in the decades to come.
OPERATIONS MEETING ON REPORTING mus.be
mdividualiy evaluated in order to generate
an accurate assessment of the associated
risks and thus to precisely calibrate the
necessary levels of capital that must be set
aside for coverage. During the first day of
the November seminar, which was opened
by managing board member Henk van der
Stelt, 'an entire morning was devoted to
explaining the intricacies of the 5720 and
the (semi) annual account,' Lichtenberg
notes. This was followed by work on the
CAD directive and on miscellaneous
allocations, taxes and risk reporting.
REAL FACES
By the end of the second day, which
focussed on the treatment of off-balance
sheet products, derivatives reporting,
reconciliation of results between different
branches, time schedules, spreadsheets and
country risk reporting, the participants were
understandably weary but nevertheless gave
the event high marks. 'It was extremely
helpful for all of us to be able to connect
real faces with the names and voices we
hear over the phone every day,' says Patricia
Verdoe Pons, a member of the operations
department at Rabobank in Madrid. 'It was
also a relief to know that other colleagues in
the network confront the same challenges as
we do, to sensitize our colleagues in head
office to our heavy workload, and to better
learn whom to phone when questions arise.'
CLEARIDEAS
Miriam Quealy of the Dublin Branch agrees.
'What I found especially useful was how this
meeting was organized as a two-way affair.
For instance, by raising a question about
how interest receivables are calculated, we
were able to improvise a better way of
accounting that will have the effect of
reducing our set-aside requirement.' Hong
Kong's Sammy Woe noted that it was
helpful to get the OPEX information
technology team's report on plans for new
system roll-outs in the foreign branches.
'This gave us a clear idea that will help with
our own planning,' he said afterwards. A
management decision can only be as good as
the information on which it is based. The
November reporting seminar, which may
well be repeated again next year, was an
inportant step in helping make sure the
bookkeeping capacities keep pace with the
very rapid growth in the business itself.
1 Margaret van Leeuwen, Utrecht
2 Sharon Lesley Clancy, Guernsey
3 Patricia Verdu, Popular Rabobank S.A.
4 Jennifer Sim, Singapore
5 Krisztina Sipos, Hungéria
6 Genivieve Dumont, Luxembourg S.A.
7 Julia Teo Siew Ngin, Asia
8 Umberto Ortelli, Italia
9 Jos Savelsberg, Utrecht
10 Corinne Piastrelli, Luxembourg S.A.
11 Lilianne Dijkman, Utrecht
12 MarianneRemie,Curaqio
13 Louis van Moer, Antwerp Branch
14 Miriam Quealy, Ireland
15 Jose Bours, Utrecht
16 Marielle Lichtenberg, Utrecht
17 Mr. GaborTrenyik, Hungaria
18 Tibisay Goede, Curagao
19 Leonard Sanders, Utrecht
20 Joanne Quinlan, Ireland
21 Jeroen van Dijk, Utrecht
22 Sammy Woe, Hong Kong Branch
•23 Susan Crosbie, Ireland
24 Hans Blankestijn, Utrecht
25 Antonio Carlos Queirolo Ferreira, Raibobank do Brasil
26 Ingeborg Spielmann, Deutschland
27 Maria Gerold, New York Branch
28 Noel Rattner, New York Branch
29 DaiJian Yang, Shanghai
30 Andreas Stutzer, Switzerland
31 Albert van Gulijk, Utrecht
32 Paul Hofmans, Antwerp Branch
33 HannaWrzosek, Polska
34 Menno Kleijburg, Utrecht
35 Serge Kagan, Paris Branch
36 Tomasz Supernak, Polska
37 Peter Hendriksma, Utrecht
38 LoekCremers, Utrecht
39 Hannes Kobelt, Switzerland
40 Harold Rosler, Utrecht
41 Bart Weurding, Utrecht
42 Frits de Vries, Utrecht
Late last month, Rabobank's Utrecht-
based Financial Analysis and Management
•nformation Systems (FA &c MIS) unit
ilayed host to an important two-day
conference on the annual and semi-annual
financial reporting requirements. Mariëlle
Lichtenberg was instrumental in
organizing the event, which drew some 40
participants from Rabobank offices
throughout the global network, and
explained its importance to What's NewS.
'Financial reporting requirements are
getting more complicated all the time,' she
says. 'The people in the foreign branches
who are responsible for bookkeeping are
confronting an increasingly demanding
task. We want to help make their lives as
easy as possible - because the better we
manage this information, as an
organization, the more accurately the bank
can put its money to work.' Examples? The
harmonized European capital adequacy
directive (EU CAD) now requires a report
on market risk in addition to information
about credit, counterparty, equity, and
foreign exchange risk. What's more these
new rules will in turn be replaced by fresh
Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
rules in a very short time. Moreover, a
fiendishly complex 17-page report (the so-
called 5720 Form) now required by the
Dutch central bank has also added to the
demands on the bookkeepers' time.
EXOTIC DEVELOPMENTS
As if this were not enough, new financial
products (like exotic derivatives) are being
