'OUR CLIENTS
ARE GOING
INTERNATIONAL'
16
talking heads
What's NkwS Issue 1 January 1998
Creative enterprise is not always the first thing you
associate with banking. But then there are not that many
bankers in the unique position in which our man in
Santiago de Chile finds himself. With growth into branch
status ruled out by domestic regulations, Ronald Blok and
his team had to be very creative and very enterprising, a
combination that he appears to thrive on. Chile's
representative on the joys of a modern rep office.
Ronald Blok loves Chile, he
loves the hreathtaking
mountain views he sees from
his window every morning (a
continuing novelty for this
flatlander), he loves the
opportunities in this
economically successful
country. He loves the challenge
of building up the bank's
business here within the
confines of a specific
regulatory environment. He is
proud of the team he has
gathered together - 'they're
great people, I should know, 1
hired them all.' In fact, there is
little he doesn't like about the
country that has brought in an
average 6 percent growth for
the past 15 years -
performance may have varied
between 2 and 10 percent, but
positive numbers have become
a habit and forecasts indicate a
steady 5 percent over the
coming years. But what
Ronald and his wife Marina
love most of all is the children
Chile has given them.
'Whatever happens after we
leave this country,' he says, 'we
will also take part of it with
us.'
The move to Chile didn't
always look that great. 'My
wife is a veterinarian,' Blok
says. 'When I got the
opportunity to come here, she
already had her own clinic in
Holland. So it was a tough
decision for her. In the end, she
said: I can have a clinic any
time, this is a once in a lifetime
chance. Let's do it.' Doing it
meant giving up 'the best job in
Utrecht - area manager for
Latin America' for what
proved to be 'the best job in
banking'. 'As area manager,
you're almost a free agent,'
Blok says. 'You travel around,
putting together deals. It's great
fun.' When first asked to open
a rep office in Chile, he needed
to define what that is. 'A rep
office is not a guy in a hotel
with a secretary and a fax
machine living out of a
suitcase,' he says. 'That's a
start-up office. Nor should a
Ronald Blok - having fun in Chile
rep office be perceived as no
more than the precursor of a
branch office. You don't
always have to be a branch to
offer customer value. That's
such an old-fashioned concept.'
So what is a rep office in Blok's
view? 'The modern rep office
makes optimum use of what
can be done in a country in
both a fiscally and cost effective
way. If you see the rep office as
a dedicated service unit with
very low overhead and high
earning potential, then that's
how I would define today's
rep.' What the Santiago team is
aiming for is the provision of
the kind of products clients
want within the possibilities of
what can and cannot be done
by a rep office. 'At first,' Blok
says, 'that seemed to be a
lintitation. In the end, by using
national legislation and
regulation creatively to benefit
our customers, we have been
able to turn the limitation into
an opportunity.'
Blok is referring to the start-up
of a trading company (see
What's NewS, 6/97) and the
recent acquisition of a second
subsidiary which will become
the bank's finance arm. 'The
reality of the situation here is
that we can make a lot more
money without being a branch.
Our customers are delighted
with the kind of service we
now can offer. The only
reasons for pursuing branch
status would he to highlight
how well the Chilean economy
was doing and to facilitate the
provision of the more
sophisticated investment
banking products. And by the
time our IB people are up and
running, that may be the way
to go. I'm very much a believer
in the new constellation that's
being created.'
Blok sees no ambiguity in his
present status as banker/trader.
Although he has been in
financial services throughout his
- comparatively short - working
life, his start with Amro Bank,
gave him a taste for enterprise.
'Looking back,' he reflects, '1
think Amro was a very
entrepreneurial environment. It
was great fun. Then the merger
happened and the fun stopped.
Fortunately, the fun at
Rabobank started around the
same time first as area manager,
then in Chile itself. It will be
clear to you that I enjoy working
in rapidly developing markets
like this one. The Chileans really
know what they are doing.
There may be a hiccup down the
line somewhere, hut they tend to
concentrate on what they know
best. Now, after building their
own economy and certain
hugely successful niche sectors,
such as forestry and fish g
farming, now they are looking
cross-border.'
This new focus, specifically on
Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and,
of course, Brazil, opens up
even more opportunities for
the Santiago team. 'M&A is
becoming a very interesting
activity for us,' Blok says. 'A
few of our customers have
already gone to Brazil to talk
to colleagues there. We've also
provided finance for expansion
into both Bolivia and Peru.
And we did a very big deal
with APFT recently in
Argentina. There is real
opportunity here and the great
thing is that like the original 4
Rabobank push into cross-
border activity, our clients are
going international and we're
going with them. This is real
fun.'
