Rabobank
regional focus
What's in a logo - II
did you know?
Successful synergy
"jitoitorpü! TrSieW!
What'sNewS Issue 1 January/February 2001
*- achievement considering the various
management, regulatory and fiscal ap-
provals, not to mention systems changes,
that were required. The team's cooperative
spirit and 'can do' attitude were instru-
mental in launching the Centre within
such a tight time frame. Currently, the Ser
vice Centre is working on additional
transactions sourced from South Africa
and Hungary, and plans to expand cover-
age to other European offices over the
next few months. Serving the needs of
other offices is no new phenomena for
Rabobank Ireland, which has several
years experience supporring a credit port
folio for Argentina, facilitating transac
tions for Hong Kong and managing struc-
tures for New York, London and Utrecht.
The Dublin team also provides active
management and administration services
to Group clients within Dublin's 'IFSC'
environment.
One of the Centre's larger challenges is the
provision of settlements and administra
tion support for the new streamlined Ger-
man business in Frankfurt (see main
article). Rabobank Ireland plc will provide
these services on a remote basis from
Dublin, thus avoiding duplication of these
functions - and cutting costs - in Germany.
Fergus Murphy, managing director, and
Adrian Whiteman chief administration of-
ficer/ deputy MD of Rabobank Ireland are
delighted with the new opportunities to
work with European offices across the re-
gion. 'The key to success of this project so
far has been teamwork,' says Murphy,
who, with six years experience in the
The case has been solved. After our
old-style logo made a mysterious reap-
pearance in Hong Kong, investigations
revealed that it was in fact the tempo-
rary tea lady who was the culprit. Wait-
ing for a new franking machine, the
Hong Kong office had disabled the
logo button. But the unknowing tea
Group's treasury activities understands the
'win-win' situation arising from inter-of-
fice cooperation. Whiteman is just as en-
thusiastic: 'We've been impressed by the
positive approach of our Istanbul, Utrecht
and Frankfurt colleagues in making this
work,' he says. 'Together with the support
of the systems team in London we have
been able to develop a business focused
solution.' Therein lies the secret of success:
a desire to provide a profitable business
solution for customers.
ya*aKa*»s»,'i^B
-5. VOO
lady re-enabled the 'banned' button,
causing the subsequent 'logo conun-
drum'. After the incident, the button
has been permanently sealed, ensuring
that the old logo will appear no more.
»- continued from page 6
any, would help us serve Dutch customers
of member banks in the region. We're also
looking into how to use their network to
maintain and expand RI's (F&A) franc-
chise. We are talking to them, and Rik van
Slingelandt has asked us to get answers,
positive or negative, quickly. RZB has a
growth strategy, with a good chance of es-
tablishing a strong position in a number of
countries in the region, which will some-
day join the EU. Their approach is less fo
cused than ours, their methods are differ
ent, but their business plan is interesting.
And what about commercial banking? We're
still not up to speed in the local countries in
these activities.
If that's true, then I'm delighted. The
strategie direction I proposed to the man
aging board 18 months ago was "moving
from commercial banking to corporate fi-
nance" (and from a bit fat to lean and
mean). The main reason for that is, out-
side the Netherlands, it would be ex-
tremely difficult to build a competitive ad-
vantage in commercial banking. Besides,
without a top-notch global cash manage
ment system, I don't think that commer
cial banking in Europe can produce the re
turns we want. This said, I would like to
see the European offices working closer
with RI Netherlands. The deep relation-
ships the Dutch RM's have built over the
years should be a source for more cross
border deals with the rest of Europe.
That's why we are building more bridges
with Marise Voskens and her team. We
can learn a lot from each other, and in the
end, it will create a stronger, more cooper
ative network.
What can you learn from the other regions?
There's a lot to be learned in Europe from
our successes in Asia and North America.
Particularly from North America, as much
of what's happening there will eventually
happen in Europe. We need some "Ameri
can fighting spirit" in Europe. RI's team in
the US has been innovative product-wise,
and they've gone after and won big deals.
But they've also done it the old-fashioned
way - through trusting, long-lasting rela-
tionships with clients. They've been proac-
tive and they know their customers. I'm
not saying we don't do that in Europe. But
considering the sheer size of the North
American market, they've achieved mar-
ket penetration and visibility which I envy.
And that's what exactly what we're going
to achieve in Europe as well.
In December 2000, the Polish
Bankers association avvarded
Rabobank Poland for the best an-
nual report of the year. Reports
from Poland's financial world were
judged on lay-out, depth of informa-
tion, and quality of financial state
ments. Tomasz Supernak of War-
saw's MIS department coordinates
the annual report and accepted the
prize on behalf of the office.
