Driving e-treasury to the next level
e-commerce
As RI's first movers into e-commerce, our people in treasury markets began
designing, testing and implementing electronic products before many of us had
logged on for the first time. 1995 was only the first step in the efficiency drive
that would ultimately become part of the team's core business. Five years later,
we look into the latest news from our treasury markets team.
Smooth approach
Efficiënt package
Better business
What's NewS Issue 5 August/September 2000 *J
CTVTe started quite a bit ahead of the
W pack,' says Theo van Kon
ingsveld, senior vice president and head of
treasury markets sales Benelux. 'People
weren't talking about e-commerce when
we launched our first product.' In 1995,
Van Koningsveld was part of the team re-
sponsible for the processing system that
fully automatized foreign exchange and
money market products for member
banks and staff. Since then, milestones in
e-treasury for RI's member banks include
the RaboTreasuryWeb (since January
1999), which receives between 50,000
and 60,000 hits a day, and the web-en-
abled Rabo DealAssist, which went live 5
June. 'With DealAssist, what we have es-
sentially created is over 400 mini-dealing
rooms in the region,' explains Van Kon
ingsveld. 'On behalf of clients, member
banks call in to the central dealing room
in Utrecht, who provides the desired rate
on the transaction, and the customer at
the member bank simply clicks to "ac
cept" or "decline".' With the external ver
sion of Rabo DealAssist, corporate clients
enjoy the santé benefits - a few clicks of a
mouse and tltey can enter foreign ex
change and money market transactions
from their own desktops, thus becoming
another 'niini-dealing room', contacting a
centrally-located
dealer as needed.
Theo van Koningsveld
Mare Baseliers
Integrating strategy,
planning and knowl-
edge bas driven trea
sury markets' numer-
ous successes in
e-commerce. A two-
phase approach en-
sures the smooth roll-
out of new services -
as products serve both
Dutch member batiks
(and their customers) and RI's interna
tional and RNG's national corporates,
e-commerce initiatives are first developed
and installed for member banks before be-
ing offered to corporate customers. 'Our
internal clients serve as a kind of testing
ground,' explains Mare Baseliers, member
of the treasury markets sales team. 'After
we implement the program internally, we
closely monitor it as it matures. Once we
see that a product runs smoothly, we're
ready to move into the corporate market.
If we experience any hiccups or need to
make adjustments, it's much easier to
work within our own internal system.'
Most recently, RaboDealAssist Web has
undergone this
process: after the 5
June installation, mon-
itoring throughout the
summer has helped the
team ensure it will eas-
ily transition to the
corporate market. The
results from clients'
feedback are incorpo-
rated into the corpo
rate RaboDealAssist
version, which will be
introduced by the end
of September 2000 in
the Dutch Corporate
Market. In a later stage, R1 will
offer this product to its interna
tional cliënt base, once the inter
national infrastructure and secu-
rity are in place.
In order to best serve users' inter-
Afek ests, treasury markets always de-
velops programs that offer a
'package deal' - combining web-
enabled transactions and up-to-
date market information. Users
have access to latest develop-
ments, rates, news, and publica-
tions. 'We want to link in our customers
in two ways,' explains Baseliers. 'With ac
cess to up-to-date news and market rates,
customers can make commercial decisions
and immediately switch to the transaction
module. This creates a dual reliance on
our products and services - instant infor
mation and easy, direct transaction capa-
bilities.' In future, this electronic package
will become even more 'customer-
friendly': in a one-to-one service, offering
individualized information. 'Rather than
our customers having to inform them-
selves, we will reverse the process,' says
Baseliers. 'Via email or a WAP-equipped
cellular phone, clients will instantly re-
ceive market updates that influ-
ence their business. For example,
a cliënt can enter a price at which
he is willing to buy, and when the
market hits that price he'll receive
notification. We're continually
working to improve efficiency
and offer the most useful, infor-
mative products to our cus
tomers.'
Given their years of experience,
our people in treasury markets
have witnessed many of the
changes these automated products and
services have brought to their business. As
customers can now access market devel-
opments and automated services on their
own, smaller transactions are performed
without Consulting a dealer. While you
might think this would lead to less busi
ness, it doesn't - the time saved 011 the op-
erational side allows dealers to shift focus
from an operational to an advisory role.
'We've seen the quality of sales improve,'
explains Van Koningsveld. 'Dealers can
spend more time working with clients on
higher-end, strategically critical transac
tions. By providing in-depth information,
advising products which minimize risk,
the dealer becomes the advisor, rather
than the operator, for the cliënt. In the
end, this nteans we're expanding our ser
vices - offering more knowledge, leverag-
ing our resources, and ultimately adding-
value to both the dient and the bank.'
Questioiis regarding treasury markets'
products sbould be addressed to
dealassist@rabobank.com
