The Strategie Framework in the
regions
Healthy growth
Beyond F&A
'We have a huge and unrivailed knowledge base for F&A business within F&A
Research. We need to capitalise on thatthrough M&A mandates.'
Rutger Schellens, Managing Board Member and Regional Head Europe
'As one of the leading players in F&A banking in Australia and New Zealand,
we are actively seeking opportunities that extend our market in support of the
global international strategy.'
Bruce Dick, Regional Head Australasia
'Asia will be key to delivering on our objective of achieving worldwide market
leadership.The F&A markets in Asia in general are booming and consolidating.'
Fergus Murphy, Regional Head Asia
'Rabobank is the premier F&A bank in the United States. We plan to develop
this further to become an integrated financial services provider for the whole
F&A supply chain, from farmers and growers to distributors, wholesalers and
retail outlets.'
Cor Broekhuyse, Regional Head The Americas
services to private banking and larger
enterprises, and expanding our activities
beyond core banking,' says Heemskerk.
In addition, Rabobank has built a solid
reputation as a leading F&A player outside
its home market. 'We want to grow
internationally by focusing on specific
customer groups and promoting a broad
range of modern F&A products, both
wholesale and retail,' Heemskerk contin-
ues. 'We are also looking into extending
our presence in rural or "community bank
ing" in the leading developed agricultural
countries: America; Canada, if the right
opportunities arise there; and Australia
and New Zealand. We plan to invest more
here in the coming years.'
In terms of growth, it is anticipated
that there will be further investment in
companies in new and pending members
of the European Union, such as the recent
acquisition of BGZ in Poland. There are
also important F&A expansion opportuni
ties in emerging economies such as China,
India and Indonesia. 'We're also growing
our retail network in Brazil, from around
three offices to 25, and may also partici-
pate in banks who are developing from
micro-fïnance to local community banks,'
says Heemskerk.
In this context, as part of the bank's
longer-term strategy, there are plans to
invest in East Africa, with a 34% share in
Tanzania's National Microfinance Bank, a
planned participation in a local Zambian
bank and a cooperative in Mozambique.
These sort of investments are not immedi-
ately profitable,' says Heemskerk, 'but we
see them as a way of fulfilling our social
responsibilities. We want to help create a
better world, and sharing our knowledge
and investing in cooperative banking is
the best way we can do that.'
Non-F&A activities such as Global Financial
Markets, structured and corporate finance,
Mergers Acquisitions (M&A) and so on
are, of course, an important part of the
bank's international activities, and can
also be extremely profitable. Cutting edge
products include weather derivatives,
carbon dioxide emission rights trading,
financing for biofuel production and so on.
These products can strongly compliment
our F&A activities, because the profitability
of plain vanilla F&A banking is limited.
But whether the bank is investing in large
profitable transactions or small, socially
responsible ones, it never loses sight of
its goal of steady, sustainable growth that
will benefit the bank and the communities
in which it is active. The 2010 vision may
be ambitious, but as Heemskerk says, it is
realistic because it is firmly rooted in the
bank's long F&A history and the expertise
that has been built up over the years.
Issue 12 -October 2006 The Word 11
