Big steps down under
regional focus
They're based on the 'bottom of the world'. But based on current
results, you'd hardly say that's the position of RI's offices in Australia
and New Zealand. With a prestigious dient base that's virtually totally
F&A, an extensive IT project underway, and a dedicated approach to
customer focus, our offices 'down under' seem to
be rapidly making their way up. What's the view
from the top? Bruce Dick, recently appointed
regional head, and key members of staff offer a
picture from their place in the sky.
What'sNewS Issue 4 July/August 2001
What's NewS (WNS):The Australia/New
Zealand region has really taken off since set
ting up in 1994. What's the secretto these
great results?
Bruce Dick (BD): First you have to look at
the structure in this part of the world. It's
unique because we service major players
on both the corporate side and the retail
side. For corporates our focus areas are in
line with the rest of the network - capital
markets, corporate banking, M&A, struc-
tured finance. For our farmers, we're pri-
oritizing transactional products, Internet
banking and expansion into financial
planning, including succession planning.
But rhe basic ingrediënt here is the same -
it's about a dedicated customer-focused
strategy. For every cliënt, we're taking an
in-depth look at what the cliënt does and
striving to add value to that business.
When we're doing that, we're positioning
ourselves as a leading financial institution.
We provide the insight, the knowledge,
and the services, and our clients respond
by seeking to do more business with us.
WNS: But these aren't just any clients - your
portfolio is quite selective.
BD: Yes. We want to be working with the
successful people and companies that are
going to be around for years and years to
come. If we're establishing intimate and
close working relationships with the
clients, providing profitable products and
services, then we're in the right place. In
our rural cliënt base, we're talking to the
large scale producers, the top 15 to 20%,
the farmers who are looking to buy the
farm next door. And as far as corporates,
F
Bruce Dick, heading up the region
it's the rated
companies, the
major players in
the F&A supply
chain. We're not
interested in any-
one with poor
credit. The qual-
ity of the loan
book in Australia/New Zealand is para-
mount. Key to these relationships is that
they're mutually beneficial - we offer
clients top quality expertise and services;
we work with clients who have the right
profile and where we can gain the right
access.
WNS: What is the 'right access'?
BD: This is really the essence of our cus
tomer-focused strategy. Our people need
to be getting in front of the clients, talking
to clients at all levels from the Board of
Directors, Advisors to the businesses, to
the executives running the day-to-day ac-
tivities, understanding what they're doing
and where they're going. We want to min-
imize the bureaucracy and maximize the
number of people with direct cliënt re-
sponsibilities. We don't want to be talking
about doing business - we need to be our
there, in the field doing it. That's the way
to achieve results.
WNS: How are you ensuring the internal in-
frastructure supports the needs of both
clients and employees?
BD: There are really two elements here -
the systems and the people. We've got a
major IT project underway that will
replace the current rather outdated system
in 2002. That includes more electronic
banking which will facilitate the needs of
our rural clients. Efficiency is reaching a
much higher level. And the way we work
together is also improving - a genuine
team environment is really growing here.
That comes from strengthen-
ing the internal relationships
in Australia and New Zealand
between the corporate and re
tail arms of the bank. The
idea is to extract more value
out of working together better
and leveraging our knowledge
and teamwork, encouraging
the exchange of business
ideas. We also need to rein-
vest back into the people
through training and career
development opportunities.
The idea is to continually
build on our success and
achievement, so that we're
scaling higher and higher
peaks.
WNS: Let's look at your rural
clients - why the focus on Internet banking?
BD: It's important to address a very im
portant trend that we're seeing here -
many traditional banks have been closing
branches and withdrawing services in the
more remote parts of Australia and New
Zealand. With many people migrating to
urban areas, the numbers in the rural
communities are diminishing. This has
created a gap in the market, which is a
great opportunity for us. Rather than run
ning away, we're turning it around and be-
coming a friend to the cliënt. Key to this
strategy is technology - using products
and services we can deliver through the In
ternet enables us to put banking back in
the hands of those rural farmers. It's em-
powering for the customer to transact the
business and it doesn't require great num
bers of people on the ground.
WNS: So the focus is on bringing the bank to
the people.
BD: That's one part of the picture. What
must accompany our approach to the ru
ral farmer is a demonstration of our deep
F&A knowledge. We offer farmers oppor
tunities to gain additional insight into
their business by organizing presentations
from RI sector specialists, we send
