Rl strategie review
Press alert
millennium update
Communicating
Leadership processes
Weighing risks
Addressing problems
4 What'sNewS
Issue 6-June 1999
Hulshoff has asked other offices in the
network to be 'prudent' in their spend-
ing as well. Other measures aimed at
shoring up efficiency will be particularly
focused on information systems; in the
short-term this will involve eliminating
duplication and increasing efficiency
particularly in the Mini-Euroland cluster.
Longer term, there are active discussions
underway about the architecture and
future system platform of RI. 'Manage
ment information systems (MIS) are
cruciai in order for us to know and be
able to report developments to date, to
control the financials on a day-to-day
hasis, and to plan our strategy and
tactics for the future,' Hulshoff says.
'We can't talk about improving efficien
cy without improving MIS.'
Another priority includes improving the
procedures of corporate governance:
'this is key,' Hulshoff says. 'The
Rabobankers in the Netherlands and
at London branch were first
suprised and then shocked to find an
extensive and detailed report of
Maarten Hulshoff's recent presentation
published in the June 4 edition of
Holland's authoritative financial daily,
Financeele Dagblad. The full
presentation, warts and all, had clearly
been passed on to the newspaper.
Operating on the old adage that good
news is no news, the journalists at
Financieele Dagblad had a field-day.
The frank - and often sensitive - figures
and conclusions that Hulshoff had
drawn from his initiai review of the
current situation within RI were spelled
out in rather negative terms and
positive factors were played down. As
the article here in What's NewS shows,
Hulshoff's presentation comprised a lot
more than the doom and gloom
scenario presented in the press.
However, the fact that other major
Dutch newspapers also covered the
presentation's contents, which revealed
the high costs generated by RI in the
last two years, means there is negative
exposure which could involve other
(international) media. Needless to say,
this might affect our credibility and
reliable image in the market. Let's be
alert to prevent sensitive information
reaching the wrong, ie. external, people.
decision-taking process can be improved.
For instance, how do IT decisions come
about? Are we truly looking at the total
picture? We need to talk about and
resolve the corporate governance issue
before we can really move forward. The
same story applies to credit - we need
to optimize risk-capital deployment and
make the credit process more trans-
parent. Finally, these issues also apply to
the relationship between the managing
hoard and the executive board.' Arnong
the first steps is the formation of the so-
called Utrecht Financial Organization
project, which has been established to
clarify functions, goals, and the overall
flow of management information.
Meanwhile the 10-strong strategie
review team led by New York's Reinier
Mesritz - a team composed of seven
nationalities and some 85 years of
collective experience in banking - is
moving steadily ahead on its mandate to
consider all strategie options during its
12-week tenure. The team is working
overtime to produce alternative scena-
rios for further development. It has
spent its first weeks gathering data and
ideas from around the network and is
now in a phase of analyzing this mate-
rial. We now stand on the threshold of
new challenges and opportunities. To
stress the importance of taking a
balanced view between the two, the
strategie transformation plan has been
named Ai Kai, after the Chinese word
for crisis, which is formed by two
characters that embody the dual con-
cepts of risk and opportunity. 'Banking
is about risks and windows of oppor
tunity - considering daily whether to
grasp certain opportunities, whether to
accept the associated risks, and about
considering the potential rewards.'
Analyzing the risks and opportunities of
Rabobank International to date has
encouraged us to act. 'We can't put our
heads in the sand and hope these pro
blems will go away. We have to address
them vigorously and openly, and find a
realistic response. And, as we move
ahead, I personally believe in main-
taining a lot of face-to-face communi-
cation about where we stand. I've seen a
lot of companies going through this
process of self-reinvention and I can teil
you that, although it was a difficult
process, they all came out a lot stronger
than they were before.'
The millennium and how to tackle it
has nudged its way into top
priority. To illustrate our commitment,
a series of communication tools have
been compiled, intended to keep both
clients and employees abreast of recent
developments. Establishing such
communication is to continue with
renewed acceleration during the year.
Let's first look at internal information
sources. Aside from this monthly
What's NewS millennium column are
the Public Folders. Like What's NewS,
the electronic Folders are generally
accessible and regularly updated with
millennium-related information. More
recently however, it was recognized
that specific millennium-related groups
needed to be directly targeted. At least,
that is the motivation behind the new
MillenniumNewS. Also making use of
today's technology, MillenniumNewS is
an electronic newslctter reaching those
with specific Y2K involvement,
including general managers, millen
nium coördinators, millennium teams,
legal and credit risk teams. Millen-
ninmNewS will be updated and
published regularly. Also hot off the
press is a customer brochure which has
recently been distributed to the offices
and is included in this What's NewS. It
explains both the Y2K problem and
RI's actions in counteracting it. Its
purpose is to inform clients about our
approach to critical issues like Business
Continuity Planning (BCP), credit risk,
change management and embedded
software. An updated version of the
brochure is also electronically available
via the Internet. Yet, according to
millennium communication's coördi
nator Sjoukje van de Kolk, avenues of
communication are by no means ex-
hausted. Developing a thorough
communication plan for the second
half of 1999 is the team's current focus.
'We'11 concentrate on BCP, including
chain testing and change control, and
the December 15 and January 15
transition period. For all the unanswer-
ed internal questions we have a service
desk in place.' For further information,
contact the millennium service desk on
tel. +31 30 216 6888 or e-mail:
fm.global.millennium servicedesk.
