Research goes global 6 financial markets WHAT'S NewS Issue 3 March 1997 High quality research is increasingly recognized as a critical tooi with which we can differentiate ourselves in financial markets. Rabobank International's Financial Markets Research (FMR) unit in Utrecht - comprised of seven professional analysts headed by Bernard Walschots - has formulated a clear philosophy regarding its task. What's NewS finds out how they put philosophy to work. Latin America, and detailed thought is also being given to the best regional distribution of research capabilities to cover Southeast Asia, China and the Antipodes. 'Overall, we think that the Financial Markets Research team will probably grow to some 20 analysts within the next two years,' Walschots suggests. They will work in full cooperation with regional sales and trading teams. The aim is to establish a global view, based on in-depth knowledge, which will generate value for our customers worldwide.' Real support - Bernard Walschots chairs a gathering of 'professionals': Niels Korleve, Olaf van Thuss, Camiel Houwen and Paulus de Vries (front left to right). Hans Honig and Sander Bus are missing. The job of FMR is not to prognosticate about long-term macroeconomic trends: it must provide timely analysis on currency, money, and fixed income markets, as well as on the important derivatives that build on them, and to deliver data in a form that can be translated into direct trading gain. FMR's analysts are physically present in the heart of the market action on the trading floor. For them, the tradition of market 'philosophers' confined to separate ivory towers is a thing of the distant past. ANALYTICAL WEAPONS 'In any knowledge-based organization, particularly one like Investment Banking, the research function has to be closely integrated with the actual process of achieving results,' says Walschots. To sharpen our cliënt focus, we need to give our people strong analytical weapons that will help them deliver bottom line rewards. Only those who can successfully synergize their assets in analysis, trading, and sales expertise will overtake their competitors and gain a market lead.' In addition to physically working together, our researchers, traders and salespeople hold regular daily and weekly sessions in order to exchange ideas and evolve specific tactics. These interactive spark-points serve to synergize collective knowledge and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. SPREADING THE WORD FMR also visits clients on a regular basis to exchange market views and generates several publications - some of them quite new. These include a daily Market Update, a series of new Country Bloc reports (which deal with Core Europe, Scandinavia, and Southern Europe on alternating weeks), as well as the weekly Financial Markets report, (received by all international offices and available to clients as well). During their recent gathering in London, Walschots met with the treasury managers and investment banking management team to discuss several initiatives that will significantly expand our global research capabilities. In the second half of this year, the London office will be adding three dedicated research staff to deal with the UK and the emerging markets of central and eastern Europe. New York will gradually build up its research capabilities, starting with a technical analyst. GLOBAL VIEW Investigations are also under way on a possible Sao Paulo-based team to focus on RESEARCH FINANCIËLE MARKTEN Goede research is een voorwaarde om zaken te kunnen doen op de financiële markten. Binnen Utrecht Branche analyseert een zeven man sterk team de financiële markten en handel in derivaten. De informatie wordt niet alleen gebruikt op de dealing room zelf, maar dient ook als basis voor uitwisseling van ideeën met klanten en als input voor diverse publicaties. Ook binnen de rest van ons internationale netwerk wordt gekeken naar het plaatsen van eigen researchers, zodat wij uiteindelijk wereldwijd over diepgaande kennis beschikken voor onze klanten. ACHIEVING SYNERGIES Of course, Financial Markets Research is just one part of a research network that has evolved just as fast as the bank has reconfigured its strategy. As a retail leader on the domestic market, Rabobank's traditional research needs were very different from those that have emerged in i recent times. The partnership with Robeco brought the formation of additional capabilities in the form of the IRIS joint venture, for instance. This inevitably produced certain overlaps but these are being addressed with an eye towards achieving synergies and efficiënt division of labour. For example, Financial Markets Research has been working closely with IRIS's quantitative analysts (the so called 'quants team') to produce several useful tools. These include a model for equilibrium interest rates that can help explain and (to an extent) predict market trendlines, as well as a so-called 'rich-cheap analysis' instrument to support the arbitrage activities of trading and sales. Financial Markets Research concentrates on short-term forecasts, while IRIS concerns itself with long-term analysis. OVERALL MIX The economie research department of Rabobank Nederland is contributing business cycle analysis to the overall mix - as well as refining the format of its work so that it more closely supports the requirements of Investment Banking and its clients. The Equity Research team within Rabo Securities is on the verge of supplementing its own capacities by adding new professionals in Paris and Frankfurt, whereas RI's Investment Banking units in Warsaw and Budapest will add analysts for their respective markets. The bank is clearly developing at an extraordinary pace - in terms of its product orientation, its global positioning, and its a far-reaching dient focus approach. The research operation, so important to our standing in a competitive W market, is evolving just as dynamically. It helps Rabobank International establish a clear market profile and demonstrable value for its clients.

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blad 'What's news' (EN) | 1997 | | pagina 6