Guernsey
l/Vhat's
Private banking
L
CHANNELS
Supplement for What's NewS October 1997
A single five-story high-rise in the old harbour of St Peter
Port is home to Rabobank International. What's NewS
dropped by to find out about private banking
Channel Island style.
In the stiff early-morning
Channel breeze the masts of
countless sailing boats moored
in the harbour rustle like so
many wind chimes. The
picturesque harbour boasts the
town's sole roundabout to
handle the occasional increase
in traffic and here high rise
means a five-storey building.
Cute whitewashed fisher
cottages flank the steep streets
giving the whole place a
picture postcard look. But as
business hours approach, the
old harbour begins to fill with
people. Not tourists in casual
clothes. These are power-suited
professionals equipped with
laptops and mobile phones
who move with determination
towards the same cute
whitewashed cottages and low-
rise buildings. A peak inside
reveals Reuter sereens and the
kind of security more usually
associated with Switzerland.
Because this is, of course,
Guernsey.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
In spite of the almost holiday
atmosphere in the mid-
morning streets, there is
Ireland
The Netherlands
Guernsey
Germany
Belqium
France
Morocco
nothing relaxed about the
activity or the dress code at the
bank, or in the offices of other
private banks glimpsed briefly
in passing through ground-
floor windows as they traverse
the small town. Once inside
Holland House, and if you can
Working hard to win business, from left lan
Giles, Fionnuala Carvill and Moira Sermon.
Dropping in on Rachel Gallienne and Ronald
van Beek.
ignore the view of St Peter's
port, then Guernsey branch is
very much Rabobank business
as usual. But, perhaps, with a
difference. In the past few
months, the bank has been
focused on a reorganization
whose aim is to bring more
staff into direct contact with
clients so that a new pattern of
customer service emerges. The
idea is very much to ensure
team work in producing the
end product for customers.
SPECIAL LEGISLATION
In Guernsey, Rabobank and
Rabobank Trust positions
itself as a quality niche player
specializing in a relatively
small number of products.
However, explains managing
director Ronald van Beek, 'in
that respect, we're not vastly
different from the other
players here or in Jersey- and
they are all here. What we
have to try and do is
distinguish our services. You
do that by providing quality
service all the way down the
line.' Aside from the usual
activities associated with a
position as general manager
and handling investment
