Food Agribusiness Research
and Advisory (FAR)
Financial Markets Research
(FMR)
Knowledge and Economie
Research (KEO)
Talking research
Q: How is your research used
and by whom?
'The FAR department is the F&A
knowledge centre for the entire
Rabobank network,' explains Martin van
Vaals, Interim Flead of Department. 'We
employ around 20 industry analysts
in Utrecht, but we also have teams
or individuals working at different
offices around the world. The largest
of these are located in Australia, New
York, China, Brazil and India. This global
network, comprised of around 70
personnel, liases with the bank and
its clients, and carries out research on
the ground within individual markets.
If a cliënt in Australia, for example,
expresses interest in the Brazilian F&A
market, we can usually supply them
with all the information they need.'
As part of Rabobank International's
Global Financial Markets (GFM) depart
ment, FMR's 12.5 full-time employees
are located in Utrecht, London and
Flong Kong. 'We analyse the various
financial markets around the world -
from money and forex markets, gov-
ernment bonds and swap markets to
credit and equity markets - and arrivé
at forecasts for each market,' Bernard
Walschots explains. 'We also carry out
credit analyses, by name or sector.'
'The way we optimise our added value
is by maintaining almost continual
contact with everyone involved in
international markets,' Walschots
continues. 'Things can change pretty
quickly where international financial
markets are concerned and everything
is connected with everything else:
events in Japan, for example, have an
impact on markets in Europe and the
United States - and vice versa. We have
to constantly stay on top of situations
as they develop and adjust our fore
casts accordingly.'
Whereas FMR has an international
focus, KEO comprises a number of
teams that concentrate primarily on
the Dutch economy. 'Our 18 full-time
research employees are all located
in Utrecht and our main activity is
analysing business cycles, policy issues,
housing and labour markets, the Small
and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
market and regional developments
within the Netherlands,' explains Wim
Boonstra. 'We also undertake some
international research, in connection
with the country risk system, and
propose investment li mits for around
120 countries. Our other main function
is internal consultancy, which involves
research on a project basis within
the financial sector. Our reports can
cover anything from the competitive
environment within the Dutch market
to the Internet banking market in
New Zealand.'
Walschots: The reports and pub-
lications produced by FMR are all
very time-sensitive, so we publish
almost everything electronically.
We produce five publications on a
daily basis, several more on a weekly
basis and one monthly overview, in
addition to special one-off papers.
We distribute all of this material to
the appropriate people via email, and
our mailing lists can include anything
from 700 to 1400 contacts, located all
over the world.
We give around 130 cliënt presenta-
tions each year, to corporate clients,
institutional investors, central banks
and member banks, in addition to
internal presentations to other parts
of the bank. We also make ourselves
available to the media at home and
abroad. We're often cal led upon to
provide expert opinions on various
markets, which enables us to promote
the Rabobank name at the same time.
Issue 12 October 2006
The Word 23
