R
for
RNCC - wholesale
the home market
working relations
1
Kick-off hits target
Getting to work
Making available the full range of wholesale products and services to our
member banks' business customers has always been high on the agenda. And in
the early years of Rabobank International, the launch of this global network was
inspired by the idea of following customers as they participated in the trend
towards globalization. Over time, however, Rl pursued its own evolution around
the world. This meant a new approach to servicing medium and larger-sized
corporate customers was needed. It has been some time in
the making. But now the virtual 'Rabobank Nederland
Corporate Clients' (RNCC) is up and running. We find out how
it works by asking some of the players what's happening.
Singularsuccess
Easy access
4 What's NewS Issue 2 March 2000
Getting to grips with quality services
to the member banks and their clients
has been a priority issue for quite some
time. For many member Rabobankers, the
evolution of Rl into a global network
with its own (budgetary) goals was a
somewhat frustrating development.
The need for both Standard and creative
services and products suitable for their
medium and larger-sized corporates
(ie. not the large multinationals that feil
within RI's mandate) was increasingly
more pressing. Yet, they were not always
easy to find in a rapidly growing Rl.
A step towards rectifying that situation
was taken some time ago with the
establishment of
the so-called
middle market
strategy.
In essence, this
formed the founda
tions for RNCC.
For the past two
years, a virtual
group has been
operating in this
market, bringing
together expertise
from various disci
plines for member
bank clients (see
related article:
Bridging the gap).
It has been a chal-
lenging task, not least because of
Rabobank's specific structure. Says
Willem Cramer, who was appointed direc-
tor of RNCC late last year, 'our member
banks are autonomous, independent
players in their local market. We're not
like the competition (ABN-Antro, ING) in
that a decision is taken centrally and then
imposed on the organization down to
branch level. Basically, we work on the
basis that everyone buys into the plan and
we get to work.'
Vi.-
1 MpF
Cramer - getting everyone to buy in
This approach has
clear advantages -
especially over the
competition. The
member banks' au-
tonomy means they
can take decisions
close to the cus-
torner. If you add to that product know-
ledge and deep wholesale expertise, then
you can carry customer service to a signif
icant level. After some initial scepticism -
from both member banks and their clients
- the middle market concept has proved a
singular success. 'We see that as Phase I,'
says Cramer. 'We put product specialists
and relationship management expertise
into the member bank network to support
their activities and achieved some very
positive results. But the member banks did
not "own" those middle market teams.'
A next phase saw member banks joining
together to create their own 'shared
service centres'. But continually having to
prioritize service to one or another of the
partners in a shared centre is not always
ideal. Over time, there has been a true
evolution in the sense that a next step will
be shared service, but with one mem-
Continued on page 6 >-
NCC was launched with a
kick-off, rather than a bang.
Around 95 people from all over the
Rabobank network - local member
banks, middle market teams,
Nederland camc together in
Amsterdam to get the ball rolling.
Rabobank International and Rabobank Presentations were on offer from
people in the field - we've talked to
some of them to find out where the
new corporate cliënt focus is hcading.
