f ft 05 infoexchange ®Talking Turkey New look budget cycle Services provided Historical associations Framework Plan approval Budget translation What sNewS Issue 5* May 1998 Out Istanbul branch will begin an important new phase in its operations this month when it moves into new premises in a prestigious quarter of the require that we open our office by this summer, the majority of our time is being devoted to basics: recruiting qualified staff, preparing the office to receive clients, and getting our information technology systems on-line.' management team in place, Istanbul can now concentrate on bringing itself fully up to force, with the number of employees slated to rise from 10 at present to about 25-30 by year's end. Istanbul has also arranged for new office space in the prestigious Besiktas quarter. Now being redeveloped, the area is seeped in the history of the old Ottoman court. Turkish associates like the fact that we've moved here,' Adams says. 'It seems to have strong and positive historical associations.' Istanbul will provide corporate banking and finance services, with particular focus on M&A, structured trade finance, tax-driven and cross-border deals. On the investment banking side, there is a huge need for structured funding solutions that can address the financial risks of working in a high-inflation environment. 'Turkey is quite self-sufficient in food production, but the processing industry is still rather undeveloped and on the verge of enormous growth. We are also actively preparing to capture opportunities in private banking. Last, though certainly not least, there is a growing pool of middle-class people who can afford high- quality medical care. We are very actively involved in seeking local health care partnerships that will address this fast- growing market,' Adams says. Turkish capital. Having been granted a regulatory green light to open a full branch office ahead of Schedule, our Istanbul colleagues are now working full-tilt to get the operation up and gunning in time for its formal inauguration in a few months time. 'We originally thought the approval would take as much as a year. However, our application received a rather positive reception and the whole process, including the required ratification by the president, was finalized within three months. In the meantime, as a temporary representative office, we've been able to start some limited marketing activities,' says general manager Henk Adams. Nevertheless, 'since authorities The Istanbul team outside the new premises, left to right: Halil Albayrak, Yesim Yesiltepe, Dilek Özgören, Nazli Bayindir, Davut gelik, Sibel Namli, Yat^in Uyaroglu, Henk Adams, Dilek Can (missing Sinan Yal^in) Adams is somewhat modest about Istanbul's accomplishments to date. In point of fact, he has already successfully recruited 10 staff members including the management team consisting of: David Celik, assistant general manager, Sinan Yalcin, treasury manager, and Nazli Bayindir, operations manager. With this Until now, business plans have appeared in a wide variety of forms, 9'ith varying lengths and entphases. The new budget cycle, which takes effect immediately, has been designed to intro ducé consistency in this format. Moreover, it will also clarify the relationship between the 3-year business planning cycle (on the one hand) and the coordination of those plans with the annual budgets (on the other). 'Timing is the key,' says Bert Bruggink, head of control RI. 'If we want to effectively integrate our customer focus strategy and the associated business plans into our budget development, we need to make an earlier start. Thus, by the end of every April, the man agement teams and policy committees will be expected to have their draft busi- »ess plans fully completed. Since these 'ill serve as a basis for the plans that will be submitted by the individual offices at a later date, they will henceforth be consid- ered and approved by the managing board before summer's end. During this sarne A major initiative aimed at streamlining the annual budget cycle has now been launched, and the new process will differ considerably from the one that has prevailed to date. initial cycle, the managing board will approve a Consolidated financial frame work for these broad business plans. The framework, together with a detailed guideline on the issues that need to be covered in the individual business plans and financial budgets, will be generated by our control department in time for RICO, which takes place from 9-11 June this year. Together, the business plans and financial framework will provide a foun dation upon which the offices can build their own plans that address the specifics of their local markets and customer bases. Individual offices are expected to prepare their detailed 1999-2001 business plans during the months between June and September. These plans will be subject to an intermediate check by the global policy committees and the management teams, and will be approved by the managing board before the end of September. The actual budget calculation will be tackled in a second phase of the new process, which will take place during the last quarter, after the results of the first three quarters have already become clear. The offices will be expected to prepare their new annual budgets, within the broad frameworks discussed above, dur ing the months of October and November. 'Assuming the office did a proper job with its 3-year business plan, it should have no trouble translating it into a budget pro- posal during the course of the summer,' says Bruggink. Under the new plan, the RI managing board will produce a clear disposition on these budgets by the end of November, so that the entire bud get will be sent to the executive board of Rabobank Nederland for final approval before year's end.

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'What's news' (EN) | 1998 | | pagina 3