du
Career PATHS
WHAT'S NewS Issue 11 December 1997
special
working with Robeco, Interpolis
and De Lage Landen to create
new pension schemes and reverse
factoring options.
CRUCIAL PEOPLE
In spite of these positive
developments,a further adverse
factor is staffing.Experienced sector
experts with extensive banking
experience, such as Dick Schultz,
who is currently devoting his time
to carrying out market surveys for
offices throughout the network, are
few and far between.'Recruiting
people with real expertise is crucial,'
Kuijpers stresses.'And our
experience shows that once we put
I^omeone with that kind of know-
ow.the market really takes off.So
this is an area where we have to
make great efforts.'ln the
meantime,selected initiatives are
intended to increase Rl name
recognition in the sector. Rl has
agreed to sponsor two international
health care conferences and is also
preparing publications.Training
programs for relationship managers
is also a priority as well as the
creation of an infrastructure for info
exchange.The bottom lineforthe
health care people is: Great start -
still a long way to go.
Mans Barendrecht
colleagues in the product
groups are explored.' Credit
also remains a GM
^Responsibility and according
Von Ungern-Sternherg the
delegation of more credit
authority to the network is a
necessity in the near term as
our customer dealings will
increase. Control and
supervision is another area
where responsibility remains
in the branch. 'However good
the global product managers
may be and however expert
their local traders and sales
staff may be, in recent years a
number of august Investment
Banks have learned the hard
way how important local
control is, even if the books
are elsewhere. Local risk
management functions will
obviously report to the
general manager and I would
hope they take their risk
management function
seriously.'
SHARED
RESPONSIBILITY
He rejected the suggestion
that we are looking at a
situation in which 'over-
powerful' global product
managers will 'demote'
general managers. Everyone,
he argued, has a roek-hard
commercial and managerial
role to play within the
organization and 'it is much
more challenging to have to
operate within a
geographically dispersed
matrix than to be the biggest
fish in a small pond. The do-
it-yourself corner shop is to be
replaced with concepts such
as: How can we work
together? What can we do for
each other? What do you need
from me? There can be no
more: Stay out of my patch!
Essentially, his whole
presentation was designed to
offer a clear and concise
representation of a reality in
which everyone's
professionalism is respected.
Stressing the concept of
shared responsibility, the basic
message appears to boil down
to: responsibility will lie with
the person or function where
knowledge resides or is
assumed to reside.
OLD AND NEW
However transparent both
Arnold's and Von Ungern-
Sternberg's message was, an
open forum was still needed to
clear the air and give people a
chance to have their say. A
special session was tacked on
to Thursday's program which
brought together 'old
Rabobank' and the newest
international Rabobankers for
a frank discussion of
reniaining concerns. Among
these were, for example, the
question of how the
performance of an office like
Milan will be evaluated once it
loses lucrative local treasury
trading to a more centralized
investment banking operation.
'How can I maintain my
bottom line?' asked Maus
Barendrecht. Arnold agreed
that everyone likes to be
responsible for his own bottom
line and in this case strategies
would be developed to assist
offices similarly 'deprived' in
The first ever general managers
meeting was held in 1982 - it
was attended by three people
and lasted one-and-a-half
hours.
management development
Management development
(MD) has been a hot issue for
a very long time and shows
no signs of cooling off.The
general consensus is that
we've covered some ground,
specifically in Latin America
where MD activity started up
in 1996. But, says Pieter van
Gent, even though the
framework for a structured
approach was put in place last
year, we're still in the process of
completing that structure,
getting used to the procedures
and tools, linking roles and
responsibilities.Work is
still ongoing on these
processes.
focusing on human
resources - review and
management of existing
staff, the I 997
remuneration round,
and internal transfers.
Michele di Stefano -
global foreign exchange
Like his colleagues in
other fields, Di Stefano
is a very new recruit but
had already drafted a
customer-focus oriented
statement.
Michele di Stefano
Accomplishing this will
involve achieving a
number of critical
objectives:
recognition as a
highly competitive
institution, providing
innovative ideas and
products that meet
our clients' demands
and objectives
the creation of a
global cross product
and cross divisional
business
the improvement of
staff skills - hiring
and retaining talent
building a close
relationship between
the front office and
business support
areas
becoming a low cost
provider of FX
services
investment in
development of new
global front office
and settlement office
systems
global credit lines
upgrading of credit
