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Warsaw Winner
Rabobank
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International
What's NewS
Monthly internal newsletter for Rabobank International
Issue 5 May 1997
Chairman Herman Wijffels' visit meant a lot for Rabo-BRP's media
exposure. From left to right: Herman Wijffels, Ewa Diedkan (bead of
Customer Service department) and Darivsz Ledworowski (President
of the Rabo-BRP Board).
You could be forgiven for thinking Rabo-BRP in Poland had long
been up and running - and in fact the Warsaw Rabobankers'
official 'opening' last month was more a bit of icing on their
commercial cake. Chairman Herman Wijffels flew to the Polish
capital to do the honours at what staff there describe as a low-
profile, but highly effective event. 'Last year, when the merger
between the bank and BRP was launched, there was a lot more
fanfare,' confirms GM Oet Bakker. 'This was a rather modest
event in the sense that we had a kind of 'family' get together for
the staff to meet Wijffels before taking him on to a full programme
of meetings with ministers and financial authorities.' One highlight
was the presentation by our chairman to Rabo-BRP's clients and
prospects. 'Wijffels told us to use him in any way we could to
promote our business and that is exactly what we did,' Bakker
confirms. 'He really impressed our clients and the government
officials with his knowledge of the Polish situation and their
prospects for EU entry. This was followed up by an in-depth
interview in one of Poland's most authoritative news magazines. If
you want to know why we 'opened', then the answer is clear. We
couldn't have achieved this kind of exposure without this kind of
top visitor if we had worked for a year. And it has already paid off
- one of our prospects has just become a cliënt.'
in brief
contents
HUNGARY MANDATE
Rabobank Investments
(Hungary) has won a
kprestigious mandate as advisor
"for the privatization of Raba
Rt, one of the country's largest
companies still in state
ownership. The bank was
invited to participation in a
closed tender with six other
institutions, including SBC
Rabo-BRP has issued its first
domestic bank bond.The
issue of PLN 100 million is a
privately placed Polish
Zlotych domestic bond with
full guaranteefrom
Rabobank Nederland, a
guarantee which
underscores the bank's
commitment to Central
European markets.
Warburg and Paribas. The
privatization process will
include a capital increase and a
combined international private
placement and domestic public
offering. Winning this mandate
is a spectacular start for the
recently established Rabobank
Investments and comes hard
on the heels of Rabobank's
banking licence. Says general
Rabo-BRP's Warsaw office.
manager Tamas Simonyi, 'this
was very much a joint effort,
with Ferenc Geiszt of Rabo
Investments and Jan Quist of
Rabo Securities offering
incredible support in gaining
this first mandate.'
WNS POPS THE
QUESTION
What do you think about
What's NewS? What could we
do better? What do you like,
what do you hate - or does the
best (read: only) internal
magazine leave you indifferent?
We want to know. We want
your views on current regular
features and on topics that
we're not covering for you.
With this issue, you will find a
readers' questionnaire and we
would be extremely grateful if
you would fill it in and return
it to us promptly. Your opinion
counts - let's hear it.
WHAT'S NEWS VISITS
RABO HOT SPOTS - AT
HOME AS WELL AS
ABROAD.
Rabobanker at Work - Judith
Hamilton gets the right
information to the right place. 5
Fun at the Fair - Utrecht
Branch worked and played hard
at the Knowledge Fair. 6-9
Customer Value Strikes Again
- At a roundtable conference
with some of our people from
Singapore, New York, London
and Utrecht. 12-13
Talking Heads - Rabo
Securities Andries Mak van
Waaij and the calculated risk. 16
