WHAT'S NewS Issue 1 January 1998
investment banking
15
INTERACTIVE PACKAGE
fact, as Grubb sees it, bis analysts will
complement and add to existing
knowledge in the bank. He envisages the
installation of an equity research team as
an enhancement to a multi-focused
approach to research. Each department
has its specific brief and is targeted at the
business where it can add most value. But
each also has a contribution to make to
the bigger picture which can provide the
foundations for a truly knowledge-driven
organization - from every perspective.
Interaction with the global equity
derivatives people is yet another example
of how the various disciplines within the
bank - both commercial and investment -
will open up more and more opportunities
for providing a rounded package of
structured solutions to customers.
STRUCTURED SOLUTIONS
You may be wondering why the
international equity people will be doing
equity derivatives, but we are a different
department from Teym Eiiazov's global
equity derivatives. 'When you think about
it,' Grubb says, 'it makes sense. You need
very different skills for Teym's business.
His group will be working more on
Global equity
derivatives Teym
Eliazov
sophisticated products. They will come up
with bundies of instruments which in
addition to their programming expertise
will create solutions for both their own
sales and for clients of other departments.
So we have split the business in as far as
broking exchange traded derivatives is
concerned. The broking of equity
derivatives you can buy and sell on the
stock exchange will be handled by my
group because they are very
commoditized and standardized products.
Teym's people will stick to the
sophisticated solutions.'
LOOKING EAST
|Kor Grubb, it is clear that close ties are
^eeded not only between research
analysts, but also between sales people.
'Interaction between corporate finance
and investment banking people is very,
very important,' he stresses. 'Especially,
for example, in markets in which we are
all extremely interested, such as Central
and Eastern Europe. The whole bank is
expanding in that region and I think there
will be a lot of interesting business for
both my group and Michael Ice's people
on the bond side. This is a prime example
of how London will act as a hub for some
activities, but local activity will be crucial
to grow both corporate finance and
investment banking in the regions.'
LONDON HUB
The choice of London as a central hub for
the international equity brokerage is based
on a number of factors. Most important is
the fact that of the three major financial
centres worldwide, more international
equities are traded in the City than
anywhere else in the world. 'While we
intend to build on the F&A and other
Rabobank franchises, these are not our sole
raison d'être. As a stand alone brokerage,
we also have to build up confidence and
relationships with major institutionals, such
as big money managers and pension funds.
Our aint is to be perceived by these players
as a credible international counterparty.'
But, as Grubb already indicated, the
importance of local know-how and activity
cannot be underestimated.
SEAMLESS SERVICE
'You see it to some extent in Rabo
Securities,' he says. 'The team there has
already built up a reputation in the Dutch
equity market as a player in the mid-
market and IPO business. What we intend
to do is link up with them. They will trade
and market-make primary business in
Dutch equity and sell their product in
Holland, but also in the rest of the world.
To that end, Rabo Securities may want to
base sales people selling Dutch equities in
London and I may wish to base sales
people in Amsterdam to sell non-guilder
shares to Dutch investors. There will really
be a lot of cross-over - the Rabo Securities
example is only one of many interactions.
What we want to end up with is one global
product line so that equities is presented a
seamless service to our istomers wherever
they may be in the world and whatever our
internal organization looks like.'
TEAM EFFORT
How does Grubb see this seamless service?
'Well, let's take a hypothetical case of a
primary transaction for the F&A sector,' he
suggests. 'A relationship manager in, say,
Italy is talking to a family-owned business
cliënt who indicates they are interested in
going public. We may be lucky and be the
only financial services provider to whom
they mention their plans, but it's not very
likely. Let's assunte here that we're in a
competitive situation. The next step would
probably be the general manager phoning
me - the contact would be at this level
because of the sensitivity and
confidentiality of the matter; there may be
Chinese Wall issues. We would then talk to
the head of syndications, our head of sales
and other relevant people to work together
with the relationship manager in Milan on
putting together our pitch. And it would be
a good one as we will have the best people
in the business.'
MAIN GOAL
Bringing in the best people is Grubb's current
priority alongside product presentations to
the network. 'We are looking for the best in
equity traders, syndication origination, sales,
research and emerging markets people,' he
says. 'We're using head hunters and our own
contacts to make sure the Rabobank team
is top of the range to join existing staff in
the network. Our main goal at present is
to get the London hub up and running to
provide you all with a centre for
operations that will meet the pressing need
for the kind of products we'll be offering in
the very near future.'
in brief
TAKING RISKS
For two days towards the end of November,
members of our risk managementteam got
together in order to improve worldwide
strategies in line with more product-based
investment banking organization, as of January
this year. Risk managers and Central Market Risk
Control discussed methods and policies,
regulatory aspects, organizational improvements
and worldwide IT progress on risk management
systems.Global risk manager and event organizer
Robert Armstrong added that the 'conference
was a success - learning how to work as a team
and establishing the best ways to take risk
management forward for our bank.'
Taking no risks from left to right: Elles
Jangelen, Franz Maier, Theo Koeken, Sylvain
Martinez, Victor Makarov, Amanda Comber,
Bertiard Walschots, Robert Armstrong, Karen
Walter, Chris Curtis and Patrick Schenkhuizen
