Customer intimacy at work i
80
Following focus on investment
banking at November's Rabobank
International Conference (RICO for
short), Antwerp offered the corporate
finance teams a similar opportunity.
The idea behind the two-day workshop
structure was for these teams to run
through their paces and spread the
word on building customer intimacy as
part of an integrated approach to
business. No less than 11 workshops
were scheduled, with a cluster
dedicated to corporate and structured
finance products and techniques.
What's NewS attended them for you
and provides a summary of each. But
first an overview of what Rik van
Slingelandt had to say about changes
at the top and where we stand half
way through our centenary year.
Off to Planet RICO
If you've never been to one of Sly Stallone's Planet Hollywood, then
perhaps the allustion will be lost on you. There were no movie stars at RI's
own version of Tinsel Town's hall of fame, what we did have was a series of
tableaux tracing our history over a very long time - no less than 100 years.
This RICO was held on the two days preceding Rabobank'slOOth General
Assembly (see pages 8 and 9). But our Planet exhibits and the two-hour
film that took the place of Sunset Boulevard showed Rl has something of
a history of its own - here's a very fleeting glimpse of the show.
Good choices
IO What'sNewS Issue 7-July 1998
a little while to get on top of what is
happening,' he explained after opening
the first plenary session of RICO '98.
However, there were a number of points
that he believes are so obvious, that they
should be on everyone's agenda - the
millennium and the euro. 'I have already
said events are moving much faster than
anyone anticipated even two years ago,'
he said. 'We thought there would be time
to make and impelement policies and
strategies and then take time to evaluate
the situation. Not so. The speed that the
outside world is imposing on us means we
have to react fast, but not necessarily
attempt to achieve everything at the same
speed. That's an important factor. Yet, we
still have to achieve three elements crucial
to the policies and strategies, in other
words to the choices we made. And we've
made some good choices. The issue now
is to make sure we rentember what they
are and to find each other in their
implementation.' Van Slingelandt
confirmed we will retain the triple-A
status for next year, at least front two of
Before the group of more than 120
international Rabobankers from all
over the world got down to business, they
were eager for more information on
developments announced only days before
RI's biggest gathering. People from the
product side, from the commercial side,
from the administration disciplines and
general managers of offices - all wanted
the background to a fairly succinct
announcement of the previous week.
Managing board chairman Arthur Arnold
had been appointed to a new position.
Henk van de Stelt had left the bank (for
personal reasons - his request for privacy
has been respected). Rik van Slingelandt
would be heading up Rl for
the time being and very
much on a temporary basis.
Executive board member
Rik van Slingelandt is no
stranger to Rl - he headed
up the international division
until his appointment to the
board in January 1996. But
he began by apologising for
his lack of indepth
knowledge on the exact
state of play: 'It will take me
The RICO structure was
designed to give workshoppers
plentyoftime for networking
