Strong alliance
On the radar
Rabobank's share of the Dutch corporate market is currently 22%.
The aim is to increase that in the medium to long-term to 32%,
as befits market leaders. In 2005,24% is the target. While 2004
was a good year, with revenues €22 million above the estimated
budget, market share remained stable. It is a difficult market in
Holland, many companies are still reticent when it comes to
investments, fierce competition is looking to win back market
share, and there has been a drop in demand and over-supply of
credit loans.These things have resulted in limited growth potential
and lower margins. To counter this, Rabobank wholesale is now
structured to leverage from it's position in the Netherlands to
achieve growth throughout the network.
The Wholesale Federation, created in 2004, strengthened
the link between our product providers and the cliënt Relation-
ship Managers,' Schat says. 'As a result of the Federation, our
professionalism is improving, our product range is expanding and
our processes are becoming increasingly geared to the specific
needs of our clients. But as always, there's room for improvement.'
He continues, There's a big commitment from the Executive
Board to develop the wholesale business as there are clear
benefits for our clients, our local member banks, our people,
our profile and profits. The link between Rl and Corporate Clients
is very important to the wholesale business. It enables us to share
information from our international operations with our domestic
cliënt base, service domestic clients with plans for abroad, and
import products from our centers of excellence. We are also
better positioned to strengthen our position in the professional
market via Corporate Clients. Furthermore, our product special-
ists and clients' account executives are positioned to collaborate
fora larger wallet share.'
A number of activities are underway to increase this collaboration.
The current 'Radar' project, which is a sales portal to enable prod
uct specialists from Global Financial Markets (GFM), Corporate
Finance and Rabo Securities to work more intensively with the
Account or Relationship Managers of the wholesale bank, essen-
tially providing customer insight to all wholesale Ra bobankers,
is one of the most eagerly awaited. (More on this on page 14.)
Weekly meetings, held between the Heads
of Large Corporates, F&A, Corporate Finance,
Corporate Advisory and GFM sales people
to discuss current and potential transactions,
seem to be the current backbone to
co-operation. And monthly meetings, regar-
ding policies, goals or other general issues
are also providing an effective platform to
share ideas and plans.
Spotlight on Financial Logistics
One of the other primary customer
needs of Corporate Clients, besides
credit loans, is Financial Logistics.
Financial Logistics encompasses
the short-term banking-support of
clients' financial and administrative
processes. It combines liquidity-
and risk-management: responsibilities
of those in charge of finance in large
business. Aspects of Financial
Logistics include: (documentary)
payments, short-term credits,
factoring and treasury.
Despitea turnoverof €1,6 billion
up to August 2004, gross profit for
Financial Logistics wasjust€15,1
million. Rabobank believes good
growth in this area can be achieved
by first centralizing the customer
approach: creating one single point
ofcontactforall products and
matters, instead of multiple product
specialists who approach the
customer individually. Stay tuned
to meeting point for more
developments.
