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RABOBANK POLAND
Banking pro file
Food focus
Growing demand
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Darius Ledworowskir'Transformation came with a price tag.'
can also expect EU support in develop-
ment of infrastructure and rural areas.
This will give the economy an added
boost. The Poles have certainly conté a
very long way in just 15 years.
Obviously, economie stabilization and
monetary control have not been pursued
in isolation. The whole of the Polish
economy has been restructured and
developed, literally 'transformed' into a
ntarket economy. And that includes the
financial services sector. 'In the early
1990s,' Rabobank Polska's General
Manager Rob van Zadelhoff explains,
'there was basically only one bank -
state owned and offering limited ser
vices. Poland is still a very cash-based
society; even today, around 50% of
Poles have no banking relationship
whatsoever. Wltat we saw in the 1990s
was privatization, with foreign banks
participating in a significant way. Ten
years on and you see the financial ser
vices map of Poland has changed radi-
cally. There are now around 10 huge
banks, many of theni foreign, and
including names like Citibank, ING,
Unicredito, Fortis and so on. These are
the universal players, offering retail and
corporate services.'
In line with Rabobank International
(Rl) strategy, Rabobank Polska has posi-
tioned as a niche player - even so, we
rank 20th in size. The focus is Food and
Agribusiness (F&A), of course, and
especially the Food services sector. 'A lot
of wltat we do currently is "plain vanil-
la",' Van Zadelhoff continues. 'That is
what the ntarket needs in the present cli-
mate. Clients want straight credit and a
number of other products and services,
such as payment traffic and treasury - in
that sense, we are different to other
Huropean offices. Our view is that you
have to give clients what tliey need. And
we also have a budget to nteet. If your
customers have a limited interest in
sophisticated value-added products, then
you have to find other ways to achieve
better revenues per cliënt.' This current
climate is changing, however. Rabobank
Polska is gradually introducing struc-
tured finance and other value-added
products. 'We recently did a sophisticat
ed structured finance deal with Cargill,'
confirms Van Zadelhoff. 'And this is just
the start. Going forward, our goal is to
continue to expand our service offering.'
I he move into more sophisticated
products and services goes hand in hand
with an increasing sophistication in the
market. 'One of our challenges,' says
l.edworowski, 'is to continually rein-
The Word I 17
