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Mandelbrot
opens Rabo Olsen
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Rabobank
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International
What's NewS
Monthly internal newsletter for Rabobank International
Issue 9October 1997
Professor Benoit Mandelbrot on fractals and scaling in finance.
Benoit Mandelbrot, the pioneer of fractal theory, was present
for Rabo Olsen's official launch of this dedicated currency
overlay operation. A professor of the practice of mathematics
at Harvard, Mandelbrot's presence at the opening is in line with
a growing tendency to do more than speeches and toasts. Rabo
Olsen organized a half-day seminar to mark the occasion with
Mandelbrot as star speaker. Other speakers included Richard
Olsen of the Swiss-based partner in the joint venture which
handles dynamic hedging of forex exposures in investment
portfolios and for corporations. Professor Kemna, director of
equity investment at Robeco, also offered a presentation on the
relevance of currency management. The seminar attracted
around 35 clients for this very specific product; Rabo Olsen is
the only Dutch company offering currency overlay on a global
basis. It was something of a scoop for the Amsterdam-based
operation, which also picked up further name recognition by
sponsoring a guest lecture for Mandelbrot at the University
of Amsterdam.
in brief
contents
COTTON PICKIN'
Rabobank New York recently
co-hosted a three day GSM
102 financing seminar with
^obal cotton merchants
Uilenberg Cotton Company (a
subsidiary of the Louis Dreyfus
Corporation) in the Chinese
city of Guilin. The GSM 102
program is a USD 100 million,
three year financing scheme
sponsored by the US
Department of Agriculture to
promote the export of US
agricultural goods into China.
Rabobank presented to almost
200 Chinese bankers and
cotton trading merchants the
required treasury operations
and documentation needed to
achieve the maximum benefit
from the GSM program. In
turn, Allenberg discussed
futures, hedging options and
Bke current economies of the
global cotton markets. 'In
addition to being one of the
largest participants in the GSM
102 and 103 financing
programs offered by the
USDA, Rabobank is North
America's largest financier of
cotton,' according to Barbara
Hyland, New York's manager
of agribusiness, commodity
and trade finance. 'The
seminar in Guilin helped to
solidify our reputation as one
of the world's leading
agribusiness banks, with
specific industry expertise in
the global cotton sector.'
HUNGARY'S OFFICIAL
OPENING
It's now official - as of 16
September Rabobank Hungary
office (counting allready
80 staff) is open. In Budapest
to do the honours were Henk
Visser and Wouter Kolff from
the managing board as well as
network development and
support's José Bours and Henk
Leliveld, former leader of the
team in Budapest's
representative office. The
opening included a press
conference and two grand
opening events with the Dutch
ambassador and state secretary
of agriculture, finance and
trade in the historie museum
area of Budapest.
SHARING
KNOWLEDGE OF
WHAT'S HAPPENING
HOME AND ABROAD,
ANOTHER NEWS-
PACKED ISSUE OF
WHAT'S NEWS.
Updating the change process
where we stand one year on 4
Global IT online product
inventory 6
Policy committees Corporate
finance and international
corporates 12
RaboAcademy New F&A
training program 14
Talking heads On safari with
Paco den Doop 16
Tamds Simonyi (chief executive
officer Rabobank Hungary) left,
doing the honours with Henk
Visser (executive board).