Managïng in
THE REGIONS
ii R
I
Treasurers AGREE|
ON MORE
AGGRESSIVE SALES
4
management
WHAT'S NewS Issue 5 May 1997
As the 1997 international meeting agenda picks up speed, March and
April saw general managers from both Europe and Asia-Pacific
getting together to discuss their region's issues. What's NewS brings
you a summary.
very much a cross-border business.'
According to Du Pon, in the past
B corporate finance has worked as a series
B of local groups. 'That has to change
because the business is no longer local,' he
stressed.
LIVELY FORUM
Achieving that change and putting in place
the type of products that will contribute to
customer value is clearly not only a
regional affair, but very much a global
matter. This was well recognized by all
members of the various management
teams and policy committees, many of
whom were present.'What has also been
really valuable here,' said Du Pon, 'is the
fact that it provided us with a forum for
isolating any discrepancies or differences
between thinking in various teams and
committees in terms of matters that need
to be resolved. By talking through these -
and the discussion was pretty lively
sometimes - we have been able to come
up with real contributions to consistent
plans for further development.'
General managers from Europe between
discussions.
For the Europeans, good news was the
fact that the meeting started with the
announcement that the region as a whole
was making budget targets, which is more
than encouraging in these highly
developed markets. Wouter Kolff
introduced a full program covering similar
topics to those discussed in Mexico in
March and which included heavy focus on
F&A. In addition, Len Steffen of
Administration/MIS lobbied the need for
cooperation in defining management
information system requirements.
'Working out what information is needed
by management is not the task of
operations people, but the managers' job,'
he argued. 'They have to find the time to
sit down and put together requirements so
that we in Administration can then meet
those needs.'
DELIVERING THE GOODS
Investment banking was clearly a priority
here, with London's Mare Blundell
presenting a progress report on
development of regional focus. Corporate
finance was also heavily represented. 'One
of the difficulties with corporate finance is
that it is actually a whole series of
different types of business,' said Berend du
Pon of London Branch. 'What we are
looking at here is how to deliver that
complete range to the bank as a whole.
What we have to understand is that this is
Len Steffen
JAKARTA COOPERATION
On the other side of the world, general
managers from the Asia-Pacific region
were equally active in their attempts to
work out intensified cooperation. 'This
was the main theme of the meeting,'
confirms Chris Mol of Rabobank Duta
which hosted the gathering. Indonesia,
Hong Kong and Singapore had joined
forces to produce a combined plan for
enhanced cooperation, with Rabo
Austrialia/New Zealand coming up with
Presentations by the Treasurers from Hong
Kong, Jakarta, Singapore and Sydney were
given at the recent Investment Banking
Management meeting in Singapore.These
focused on two main themesicentralized
trading, decentralized sales;and avoidance of
product duplication in the region.The
treasurers agreed that a more aggressive sales
approach is needed, as there is still too much
concentration on trading.The participants
acknowledged that the biggest bottlenecks in
the region are to obtain sufficiënt counterparty
limits and off-course country limits for the
active regional banks. Because of its relatively
great distance from the rest of the region,
Australia will develop its own trading niche, as
it has a 24-hour FX trading capability.
their own tailored proposals for their
market.
LOCAL AND REGIONAL
One of the primary concerns was to avoid
duplication. Following in-depth discussion
on this potential pitfall, the
recommendation is to designate Singapore
as trading centre for all products. This
also applies to a variety of currencies,
excluding the Hong Kong dollar and the
rupiah which will be traded in local
offices. More resources will be allocated
to marketing treasury products by both
the Hong Kong and Jakarta offices.
Discussions also focused on how best to
tap various markets in the region. It was
decided that Hong Kong would handle
financial institutions in North-east Asia,
which includes China (and Hong Kong
from July), South Korea and Taiwan.
Singapore will concentrate its efforts on
South-east Asia - Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore itself and Thailand.
Cooperation in Jakarta and new sarongs for
everyone.
