WHAT'S NewS Issue 7 July 1997
special
9
real help - this is currently the
star product on the Indonesian
market.'
CONTROL
PARAMETERS
Seliang and his two-dealer
team clearly have a wish list
along side the local currency
wiiche they have built over time
P- the rupiah market has
quadrupled in value over the
last couple of years. Yet, he is
equally quick to point out the
need for control, specifically
risk control, when suggesting a
bigger line may be justified
especially in view of the fact
that the current limit has been
in place since 1990. Head of
risk management Jeroen
Nijssen is equally quick to
agree. 'Before we can handle
the sophisticated products that
are becoming more and more
necessary and attractive to
clients, we need to put in place
essential control parameters,'
he says.
SHEERSIZE
Attractive to clients means
primarily the top F&A
companies in Indonesia. This
country appears an F&A
relationship manager's
paradise. With a population of
200 million (and growing),
increasing economie
prosperity and F&A
representing between 20 and
25 percent of the economy and
employing about 50 percent,
who could ask for anything
more? 'Well,' laughs senior
account manager F&A and
The Risk Management Team form left to
right: Dimas Malikus - Management
Trainee, Eki Widjiarti, Jeroen Nijsen -
Risk Management, Felix Hartadi -
Credit Control Support, Adriana
indrajatri - Risk Management,
Masniarita Silalahi - Management
Trainee, Lany Widjaya - Risk
Management, Dewi Wardoyo, Mayumi
Putri andMetta Ardaneshwari - toan
Administration.
health care, Chaidir Anwar
Sani, Til admit our target
market is very well defined, so
in that sense it is easy. The
sheer size of the market means
there is more than enough to
do.' The Jakarta team has
already built a significant
reputation as a knowledge-
based F&A bank in palm oil,
one of the country's most
important crops - Indonesia is
forecast to become world-
leader in this product, taking
over from Malaysia.
EXPORT RULE
But while the market seems
wide open, government
restrictions on financial
services providers also mean
the corporate banking team
must look at non-F&A sectors
more vigorously than may at
first sight seem necessary. 'No
less than 80 percent of RDI's
offshore borrowing has to be
export-oriented,' says Sani.
'And even though the
orientation is quite flexibile -
suppliers to F&A can count, it
still requires us to do quite a
lot of non-core sector business
purely because given the size of
this population, much of the
food generated here stays
here.'
CLEAR POLICY
Ferry Adiwono is the senior
account manager with the
challenging task of casting
around the wealth of sectors to
find the right non-F&A clients.
He appears almost stoical
when he explains his challenge
as 'convincing both clients and
The Corporate Division, starting at
the left: Nelson Batubara.Lucy
Pandjaitan - Trade Finance, Nancy
Tjahyono - F&A Healthcare, Ferry
Adiwono - Int. Corporate Unit,
Conny Nainggolan - F&A
Healthcare, P.Napitupulu -
Classified Unit, Chaidir Sani- F&A
Healthcare, Indra Ray Pesik (sitting
left)- Int. Corporate Unit and Vega
Mardiana - Secretary.
head office that we are just as
good as non-F&A banks. I
understand that we are very
focused on our niche; that's
essential if we're to keep it. But
it could be very useful to
define some kind of guideline
for the international
corporates among us.'
Currently, Adiwono is
interested in the fossil fuel
sector - Indonesia has oil, but
its reserves are finite. It also
has the world's fourth largest
THE PRIVATE SIDE
'Perhaps cliënt education is just as important as knowledge at this
point in time here in Indonesia,' reflects private bankerYanni Sri
Handayani.'We certainly have a lot of wealthy people in this country
who could really use the asset management and product knowledge,
but they are often rather conservative.So one of the things you try to
do in your cliënt contacts is to explain how their assets could be
enhanced through more creative use of thosefunds,which would
also earn more fee income for the bank.' Like most private bankers,
Yanni brought clients with her from Deutsche Bank when she moved
18 months ago.'But who ever you workfor,'she says,'and Rabo's
name recognition in this particular field is not really good, the word
of mouth referral is still the best way to win clients and keep them.'
coal reserves. 'So you'11 see
why Fm interested,' he says.
'Especially when you
understand that we have to
move to more sophisticated
fee-earning structures and
products. The pie doesn't get
any bigger, so you have to
make sure you keep at least
your slice and if possible
someone else's.'
TASTE FOR TEAMWORK
The pie is neatly comprised in
a tight-packed five-part
directory entitled Rabobank's
Target Markets in Indonesia -
a thorough and impressive
document that reads like a
who's who of reputable
Indonesian industry. It is this
kind of indepth research and
market insight and knowledge
that demonstrate Jakarta's
growing confidence. 'For some
years,' says head of the
corporate division Paul
Beiboer, 'we were focused on
booking quality assets
through, for example,
participation in syndications
handled by other banks. That
was then, this is now. What we
are doing fairly consistently
these days is converting those
early contacts into bilateral
relationships. We're doing
more cross-selling - treasury,
trade and commodity finance -
and we're actually the lead
managers of syndications now,
usually in tandem with
Singapore.' The Jakarta-
Singapore relationship is
described as extremely good by
De productie van F&A in Indonesië neemt een prominente plaats in, 20 tot 25 procent van de economie. De RDI beperkt zich niet
tot deze markt alleen maar kijkt ook naar non-F&A sectoren. Eén van de redenen hiervoor is dat de Indonesische overheid eist dat
80 procent van de financiering naar het buitenland op export gericht moet zijn. Flet grootste gedeelte van de F&A productie blijft
namelijk in eigen land.
