ORGANIGRAM
The new Chairman of Rabobank
has come a long way from the small,
bulb-growing village of Noordwijker-
hout on the Dutch coast. His career
in the financial world is also a far
crv from his initial plans.
Heemskerk first studied theology
and philosophy in both Germany
and France, before rounding out
his education with a Masters in Fxo-
nomics in Rotterdam. Although he
opted for a career in finance, his
favourite authors - Plato, Descartes,
Sartre and Tagore - still betray his
early interest in philosophy and
theology. But that interest shifted
and he was in the process of com-
pleting a PhD on integration in the
Kuropean banking industry when
Amro Bank made hint the proverbial
offer he couldn't refuse. instead of
finishing rny PhD,' he recalls, '1
decided to take up the job at Amro.
My first posting was Tokyo. LJlti -
mately, I became the bank's Interna
tional Director, with responsibility
for 50 international offices.'
The offer from Van Lanschot came
just after the merger of Amro with
ABN. 'By this time, I was General
Director, responsible for retail. My
sense was that there were too many
chiefs at ABN Amro. There were no
less than 19 General Directors and
12 Executive Board Members. Too
many people, too many talents.' Van
Lanschot would prove a major chal-
lenge for Heemskerk. 'What we did
there was a real achievement,' he
says, 'although 1 should add that
economie conditions and mergers
among other major banks helped us
a lot.'
When Heemskerk was approached
to join Rabobank, he had broad
experience, both domestic and inter
national, in both listed and private
institutions. How does he see the co-
operative organizational structure?
'The success of any organization
depends on knowledge,' he says,
'and specifically on local knowledge.
At Amro, I headed up international
branches and there was a kind of
natural tension between head office
at a distance, and locally operating
branches with a lot of freedom to
rnanouvre in the market. I had no
problem with that. It is a fallacy to
believe that a centrally managed
organization is better run.
Rabobank is a financial institution
with a very solid position - at home
and abroad. Domestically, who has
such a finely interwoven network
rooted both locally and regionally?
Internationally, we are a bank that
counts. Who knows the customer as
well as Rabobank?'
Given these basic, strong components,
Heemskerk sees the challenge ahead
for the Rabobank Group as, 'retain-
ing and expanding our current market
leadership position. That is a sound
and attainable ambition. We all need
to put a lot of energy into achieving
it, especially in those areas where
our market share is under pressure,
or in urban areas where we still have
a lot of room to grow. In addition,
the Group has a cluster of strong
financial services units focused on
insurance, private banking, leasing,
real-estate and private equity.
Internationally, we are top financial
services providers to Food and
Agribusiness (F&A) and are moving
into country banking in a major
way. All of these activities have great
growth potential. We intend to pursue
them all vigorously, building the al-
ready strong Rabobank Group into
an even stronger organization.' I
The Word I 5