'A banker must be at
the customer's service -
24 hours a day.'
executive profile
He is almost an institution at Rabobank International. The man who
was part of internationalization even before we had an office outside
the Netherlands, let alone a comprehensive global network, is leaving
the bank. He will pursue what he describes as the second phase
of his career elsewhere. We ask Henk Visser why he has taken such a
momentous decision at this pivotal point in our development, and
what he sees as the highlights of close to 30 years with Rabobank.
What's NewS Issue 1 January/February 2000
Why have you chosen to leave the bank now?
I did not take this decision lightly. After
almost .30 years, 1 saw the letter of intent
with DG Bank as the end of one chapter
in RI's development and the beginning of
a new one. The establishment of the joint
venture means a number of my tasks
within the executive board and especially
with our clients would more appropriately
reside with DG-RI. I feit this was a good
time to reconsider my role. I had a choice
between taking on new tasks or doing
something entirely different outside the
organization. After a great deal of
thought, I decided on the latter course.
A lot ofpeople are surprised thatyou have made
this decision, especially in light of the fact that you
were one of the founding fathers ofUnico.
I think the question is a pertinent one. In
1978, 1 was one of the people behind the
establishment of Unico. Since then, Unieo
has always met with a somewhat 'mixed'
reception within Rabobank. But when we
took the decision to start a pan-European
cooperative umbrella organization, we
already envisaged an integrated single
financial market in Europe and an ongo-
ing cross-border integration of various
international companies and institutions.
We believed a similar integration would
ultimately come to the cooperative
banking movement. The question was
never 'if', but rather 'when'.
So why go now?
Every cooperation has its own specific
structure. In the enterprise we have under-
taken with our German colleagues, there
can only be one chairman. For the initial
phases of that cooperation, it seems to me
self evident that the chairman should
come from our partner bank, especially
given the size of their domestic organiza
tion. I think they have a valid claim to the
chairmanship. And given my perception
of that situation, I took my own decision.
How do you see this new cooperation?
Obviously, the future will show how
successful it becomes. However, in my
view, we are talking about two financial
institutions which have the same roots.
Their mission is almost identical, and
their ambition for the future is practically
the same. There has been and there will be
a lot of talk about differences in culture.
But maybe it is interesting to note here
that when I joined Rabobank, they had
only just announced the rnerger between
the Netherlands' two cooperative
movements. Quite frankly, I think there
is less difference between DG Bank and
Rabobank today than there was between
those two 'domestic' organizations.
Are you serious?
Absolutely. A lot of our people in Rl have
significant international experience. The
same applies to DG's staff. So, it is much
more a cooperation between people who
may have different nationalities, but have
the same working context and that is
international, rather than a pure Quteh/
German approach. When the south and
north of the Netherlands joined up, both
had a very different orientation.
A lot has changed since you joined the bank.
I actually started in a department called
economie research. Our primary task was
supervision. But in 1976, 1 was one of a
small team which started to extend the
bank's reach to non-cooperative domestic
companies. Looking back, I think we were
rather successful in breaking away from
our image and profile of being a very
dontestically oriented financial institution.
What prompted that move?
The Dutch economy was becoming
increasingly cross-border. We wanted to
broaden the bank's clientbase by moving
into all segments of the economy. And to
internationalize in order to service our
customers in their activities outside the
Netherlands. Our first international move
was an office in New York. That was a
huge step for Rabobank. No one had ever
heard of us, so we had to market the bank
on that side of the Atlantic, but we also
had to sell the idea at home.
How?
We decided to organize a seminar. The
idea was that we'd bring Dutch clients
and US prospects together. As I recall
(laughing), the two parties quickly became
