Sounding boards in
core sectors
customer service
Local anchors
Full implementation
In our continual pursuit of ways to position Rabobank International (RI) as a
knowledge-driven organization in our core food and agribusiness (F&A) and health
care sectors, the advisory board concept can pay real dividends. For some of our
people in the network, such as Australian and US Rabobankers, advisory boards
have long been a fact of life. We ask Arnold Kuijpers and Peter Greenberg, global
business managers of health care and F&A respectively, how these boards work and
what they can contribute to knowledge sharing at the very top level.
Evolutionary trends
What we're aiming for is one window,
one consistent point of contact. If a local
bank trying to serve its clients has any
questions about payments services in
France or Belgium or anywhere else, it
should be able to contact the Dutch
Desk and get a clear answer.'
Until now, there has been a certain
reluctance on the part of some foreign
branches to accept the business of local
bank affiliated SMEs - due in part to the
low profitability associated with handling
numerous relatively small payments.
Indeed, Nagel says, 'operating a Dutch
Desk has always been costly for a
foreign branch and this is why service
quality is so mixed. But this has
produced a lot of frustration among the
local banks, who reasonably feel the
Dutch Desk should be their anchor
abroad. This is why we've agreed that
every branch of RI will eventually have a
Dutch Desk, and that it will always act
as a front office for the local bank and
its clients. This doesn't necessarily mean
it will always provide the service itself,
but at least it will be the point of contact
and, where necessary, a content or-
ganizer. It will come up with an answer
to any questions, and propose alternative
solutions in those cases where it cannot
offer the needed service on its own.'
'In practice', Nagel says, 'this implies a
lot of work still needs to be done - for
example, in some countries, to improve
ties with our local strategie alliance
partners. And, although appreciation is
feit towards those working throughout
the network to deliver such services, the
priority is to insure a full and consistent
implementation of the Dutch Desks
concept and this will, realistically, take
time. For one thing, the practicalities of
accounting and paying for these services
need to be resolved, most probably
through a system of detailed service level
agreements between WAB and RI. In the
meanwhile, however, there is an
unwavering commitment at the highest
levels of the bank to ensure that every
office in the RI network will remember
the importance of serving all Rabobank
clients, wherever their business might be.
'What is at stake here is our image as an
internationally-oriented bank,' Nagel
points out.
won't change. But what we would like to
see is perhaps a more regional
composition, which the US, again spear-
headed with the addition two years ago
of Mexican representation on its board.'
The advisory board
concept (called
'advisory councils' in
health care) goes back to
the very beginnings of RI's
internationalization. Back
in the mid-1980s, our food
and agribusiness people in
the US were the first to
invite prominent people
from all sectors of the
industry to join with
Rabobank management in
an open exchange on
developments and trends.
Captains of industry,
academies - all found a
role to play in the bank's
industry platform. Boards in the UK,
Australia, Argentina and Spain eventually
followed. 'I believe this was an organic
development,' says Peter Greenberg, who
Arnold Kuijpers and Peter Greenberg
as general manager in Buenos Aires was
responsible for establishing the board in
Argentina. 'At that time, each new board
was a local management initiative. That
According to Peter Greenberg, 'The
thrust of the F&A advisory board is as a
forum for the exchange of strategie
points of view, for both
the mid and long-term.
Topics are chosen with the
big picture in mind,
locally, regionally and
globally and discussions
are always of the highest
calibre, with subjects
concerning F&A value
chains, segments within
the chains and evolu
tionary trends. 'Our
purpose, and I think it is
served, is to help
Rabobank find its way in
the local market, and to
decide our own strategie
direction there.' The
thinking behind this is, of
course, that a new financial institution
moving into a market cannot possibly
acquire essential in-depth local know
how overnight.
