On the road in Western Europe
C ApFT
WHAT'S NewS Issue 3 March 1998
strategy
5
CORPORATE FINANCE
•ourth, complementing our Investment
anking initiative, is the development of
our Corporate Finance strategy. Many of
our activities here, such as project finance,
are still largely balance-sheet driven. While
this business remains important, it is also
clear that we cannot be all things to all
customers. The aim is to build an
innovative, cross-border, product-led
wholesale capability in selected areas where
we can reach critical mass and clearly-
defined levels of profitability. Strategie and
high value-added products include Mergers
Acquisitions (M&A) plus Strategie
Advisory, Acquisition Finance, Structured
Finance, Syndication and Trade Finance.
RISK AND ADMINISTRATION
Fifth and sixth on the list are
Administration and Risk Management,
^■espectively. Our Customer Focus Strategy
^tias far-reaching administrative implications
that will have to be implemented by
specific, rapid, and streamlined operational
means. Administration must be further
professionalized and aligned with business
MAIN OBJECTIVE
In line with customer focus, the main
objective of the roadshow is to prove to
major Western European F&A clients and
prospects that Rabobank can provide
sustainable value through our niche F&A
knowledge, intensive value added financial
operations in corporate finance and
investment banking, as well as expertise in
targeting potential F&A project finance
transactions in emerging economies.
Adding strength to the roadshow is the
addition of corporate finance and
investment banking colleagues from all
regions of the world. The underlying
message the roadshow intends to deliver is
simple: demonstration to Western
European contpanies that Rabobank can
put together effectively integrated cross-
^Junctional teams that are proven capable
analyzing and executing dynamic
business opportunities.
CAREFUL SELECTION
True, any roadshow will have to remain
under the 'one team/one P&L' concept. As
for Risk Management, our procedures need
to be further streamlined, credit risk
methods upgraded to account for our
increasing role as an intermediary, and
procedures agreed for the management of
regional crises such as recently occurred in
Asia.
HUMAN RESOURCES
The Customer Focus strategy also depends
crucially on the inspired management of
our financial, informational, and human
resources. Hence the priorities numbered
seven - Information and Communication
Technology, eight - Human Resources,
and nine - Audit Compliance. In a
complex and interdependent global web,
an efficiënt transfer of data and the open
exchange of knowledge is quite literally
the lifeblood of our organizational wealth.
The challenge is to insure that our
common systems, which are designed to
help us serve our customers in better and
more inspired ways, are also implemented
in a coherent and cost-effective manner.
The same applies to the use of our Human
somewhat generic in its expertise profiling
when addressing groups of customers.
But, by careful selection of invited
customers and prospects, APFT hopes to
minimize such generalities as much as
possible. However, for important
customers, tailor-made presentations will
be given along the lines of the recent
Cargill presentation (see page 3).
According to Nick Streefkerk, 'such
custom made presentations, along with
our consistent reputation and visible track
record are the best instruments to get
Rabobank on the "CEO" agenda of major
F&A companies in terms of investment
banking and corporate finance business.'
ISOLATING TRENDS
Specific topics to be addressed during the
roadshow presentations include isolating
new global, regional, national and sectoral
trends in terms of the production,
marketing, distribution and consumption
of F&A products. Following the
groundwork, the team will consider the
Resources: 1998 will see the introduction
of a single new internal title structure -
the functional approach, the application
of the 'performance for the future'
process, the introduction of management
development audits on a broad scale, and
important performance-related
adjustments to the remuneration plan.
Meanwhile, Audit Compliance, a
critical success factor in the full
management cycle, is being reconceived so
that new, global standards will apply
throughout the network. The underlying
concept is that 'what gets measured gets
done.'
COST CONTROL
This leads to the tenth and final priority:
all of these initiatives must be strictly
carried out within the solvency constraints
and budgets agreed. 'Cost control will be
a major issue in 1998,' Arnold continues.
'It is up to all of us to show that we can
stick to the cost budgets as approved.' The
first and foremost theme for 1998, he
concludes, is that 'our customer is the top
priority.'
generic strategie business implications for
the F&A sectors and, within this, the
opportunities for Rabobank.
Demonstrating customer focus, the
roadshow will also take the time for cliënt
recommendations in relation to
globalization, change in regulatory
environments (trade liberalization and
food safety in particular) and far reaching
bio technological change.
PARALLEL MEETING
Completing the picture and running
alongside the APFT roadshow, is a
meeting scheduled 28 April for general
managers from our Western European
network. As global F&A business
manager Peter Greenberg explains, 'in
order to energize our cliënt intimacy in
Western Europe, knowledge must begin
on the ground and in close consultation
with general managers involved.' The
meeting is seen as icing on the roadshow's
cake, as general managers will be
addressing our specific F&A marketing
focus along with our overall challenge in
the region - namely, market penetration
extending beyond APFT and into all our
functions, including investment banking
and corporate finance.
For more information or suggestions
regarding the roadshow, please contact
Martine Boon of the agri project finance
team in Utrecht.
Our agri project finance team (APFT), in collaboration with colleagues from corporate
finance, investment banking and F&A research, is planning a Western European
roadshow running between 14 and 24 April.The presentation is a follow up to APFT's
successfully pioneered USA roadshow last year, only concentration this time will be
on Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, UK, Ireland and the Netheriands.
