APF'S ANNUAL
TEAM-UP
Exporting KNOW-HOW
14
info exchange
That time of year has come and gone once again - a total of 33
APFT members from ten points around the globe including
Asia, Australia, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe,
North America, Mexico and South America met on Dutch
home ground.The meeting successfully covered two themes;
thrashing out policy, budgeting and planning as well as
polishing up the team's skills through a professional bankers'
training course.
First on the agenda was a look at the
team's direction to date. Participants from
RI's managing board, namely Arthur
Arnold, Henk Gentis and Hanno Riedlin,
all acknowledged APFT's role in RI's
customer focus strategy; a strategy which
is epitomized by the team's flexible,
customer-orientated global operations.
That APFT's scope should not be
restricted only to operations including
F&A project finance was also
emphasized. Instead, increased
networking opportunities should be
sought through including other product
groups in executing parts of APFT-
identified and arranged financing sources.
In this way, according to Henk Gentis,
'we hope and expect APFT to be a front
runner in the transformation process of
RI - from an essentially credit-driven
institution, into one that is significantly
more investment banking, corporate
finance driven.'
STREAMLINING COOPERATION
In an effort to improve coordination, head
of the team Niek Streefkerk from Utrecht
and deputy head Bruce Tozer, operating
out of Hong Kong, highlighted the
importance of communication between
members and other Rabobankers. To
illustrate this, another group was involved
- ICD (International Credit Department).
'We held a joint seminar with ICD, a
player in most of our operations,' says
Streefkerk. 'The seminar was an important
vehicle in streamlining cooperation and
enhancing communication between both
our units.' He adds, 'but aside from ICD,
we also used the opportunity to assess our
own communication. The team's financial
and operational performance was
reviewed - with work process
improvements scheduled to be put into
practise for 1998.'
POLISHING SKILLS
The second part of the meeting was a three-
day training course held at Rolduc
monastery in the historie province of
Limburg. The professional banking theme
emphasized financial solution seeking
especially in the area of investment banking.
The team in full force at the APF seminar.
TEAM SPIRIT STRENGTHENED
Conclusions are, according to Streefkerk,
that the team is in good spirits. 'The
meeting was an overall success. And as a
team we keep growing, expanding and
developing. In fact, since this year's annuaflj
meeting, another four APFT people have
signed up - in Australia, Hungary, the US
and South America. If all goes according
to plan, we expect some ten new faces to
participate in our next annual team
meeting.'
The North American structured trade finance
group hosted its second annual export
finance conference this summer. Export
finance involves the financing of capital
goods exports from OEDC to non-OEDC
countries, and the aim of this conference was
simple - to build synergy and establish cross-
selling awareness with export finance
products. The conference attracted
Rabobankers from 26 offices representing 19
different countries from across the network.
Aside from bringing team members together
geographically, it was also a chance to
exchange know-how. Numerous specialty
and product groups were represented with
delegates from project finance, APFT,
telecommunications, corporate finance, and
derivatives and securitization.
COMPETITIVE EDGE
Following up from the first of the annual
conferences, held last year in Holland's
Noordwijk, delegates took part in a series
of presentations covering critical products
and issues in today's global export finance
market. In addition to internal Rabobank
presentations, a selection of exporting
clients participated in a panel discussion
aimed at improving support for exporters
in an effort to gain a more competitive
edge on the market. Panel members gt
included clients such as Wartsila Diesel,
Lucent Technologies, Case Corporation,
Ahlstrom Capital Corporation and ATL
Ultrasound. 'The conference clearly
illustrated that there are two key
requirements in delivering a competitive
export finance product,' says New York's
vice president of structured trade finance,
Guillermo Mairena. 'The first is achieving
an effective coordination within our
network, regarding both exporter and
importer. And the second is the ability to
add value by risk sharing and providing
structures that reflect and meet each
transaction's particular needs. Due to the
success of the seminars over the past two
years, we have made this kind of customer-
focused exchange an annual event.'
Aerospace and export finance's head Jan M
Berntssen (right) presenting the export
finance 'special achievement' trophy. Winner
of the award, China's Dai Hui was unahle to
attend - instead Gui Hua Chen (left) accepts
it on her colleague's behalf.