research
did you know?
did you know?
F&A - core research
Integrating information
London calling
RI's website
Sydney asset
There is a well-known anecdote in the bank about a
competitor thanking the than newly appointed FAR chief
Frans van Bijsterveld (below) for the quality of our
research and studies. Much has changed in the interim,
and FAR studies are now structured so that we either keep
the 'meat' inside the bank or we
sell this increasingly valuable
product. But in the end, a lot of
what the now global team
achieves is knowledge sharing.
FAR studies are still eagerly awaited all along the food
chain. And Rabobank International conferences continue
to be the place to see and be seen.
Conference call
8 What'sNewS Issue 7 7 November 1998
The very first information
centre was created in
Frankfurt, and today the
initiative lives on through
Wilma Sperling. A somewhat
smaller operation than that in
London, the Frankfurt version
serves the entire German
region with specifc infor
mation for credit analysts and
corporate banking in
particular. Like London, it also
has sophisticated databases
and on-line services.
As part of the effort to build
up a stronger knowledge base,
the Singapore branch also
holds monthly market and
industry meetings. Recent
developments in, say policies,
trade and production are
weighed up in relation to the
bank's sector exposure - with
particular attention to deve
lopments concerning clients
and any potential commercial
openings. In attendance are
representatives front M&A,
trade and corporate finance,
corporate banking, APFT,
credit risk management and
various members from offices
over the Southeast Asia region.
'Certain people or departments
within the bank have access to
a lot of information. Getting
together to integrate that
information is proving to be
very valuable.' While still in
initial stages, sectors currently
concentrated 011 are palm oil,
poultry and sugar.
The concept of RI's first fully
fledged information centre
began over four years ago,
although according to Kate
Hedges now heading the
London information centre,
the need existed long before
then. 'Sticking to the bank's
strategie decision in being
knowledge-driven, we need to
have direct access to more and
better information. "Efficiënt
and economie" are our infor
mation centre's cornerstone
objectives. Our mission is to
get the right information to
the right people at the right
price, quickly.'
Dynamic, creative and
thoroughly enterprising,
Hedges and new recruit to the
information centre, Judith
Hamilton, do anything hut fit
the image of stuffy librarians
creeping around dusty files.
They see themselves as
facilitators. Making use of
metaphors, Hedges sees their
role at the information centre
as being like 'a spider at the
centre of a web. We have so
much knowledge and
experience walking in and out
the door every working day.
Our job is to try to capture
that knowledge in a practical
fashion and make it accessible
to others in the bank. But it's
not only internal sources we
tap into, we also have rnany
on-line databases, CD-roms
and various public files we
make use of. Instead of locking
that information away we
bring it to employees desktops.
Additionally, in terms of
specific requests, we are relied
on to offer not only tailor-
made information, but a
seamless service.'
At RI in Australia, new recruit
Valerie Conseil has joined
team-leader Michael O'Keefe
to provide strategie advice to
F&A companies as well as
contributing national and
regional input to global
studies compiled from out of
Utrecht. Their major areas of
expertise include food retail,
fresh foods and industrial
waste water management.
As part ofFAR's ongoing
attempts to exchange
personnel so that people get a
chance to build different
experience, Utrecht-based Anjo
van Potten is currently on a six-
month assignment in Sydney.
The small group of F&A
researchers set up in the
late 1980s has come a very,
very long way. Always highly
respected and authoritative,
the role played by FAR
people has changed
dramatically as their product
was increasingly recognized as
adding real value. You'11 find
FAR team members addres-
sing top level conferences
around the world on a
regular basis - and we don't
mean Rabobank events
exclusively. Always aware of
the need to disseminate infor
mation, FAR has recently
channelled its in-house
knowhow into the so-called
public folders. This makes it
accessible to anyone who
might need to piek the brains
of our sector specialists (see
sidebar for who's who).
The business of knowledge
sharing underpinned another
venture by FAR in the early
I wik. RI's global
conferences, now into their
sixth year, have become
world-class events, often used
to do sensitive and other
kinds of interesting business -
