Retail therapy
Same bank, local flavour
For the fïrst time in its history, Rl organised a Global Retail
Conference in the Netherlands in November last year.The
aim was to establish a cross-border network, share experi-
ences and exchange best practices. Participants included
chief executive officers and heads of Retail, SME, Rural
Banking and IT from all of RI's foreign retail banks, as well
as representatives from Rabobank Nederland.
Participants at the conference shared their current business
positions,as well as their so-called 'headaches'- hot issues
such as IT, wealth management and human resources.These
headaches were discussed in workshops, which helped
participants find solutions. By way of contrast, Marcel Smit,
Chief Financial Officer of KPN, gave a presentation on 'Retail
in the Telecom and Internet Industry'.This gave participants
a chance to learn from a completely different retail environ
ment. Bruce Dick, Chief Executive Officer Rabobank Australia
and New Zealand, also gave a presentation on rebranding
Primary Industries Bank of Australia (or PIBA, acquired by Rl
in 1994) to Rabobank Australia.
The conference clearly addressed a need amongst the del-
egates and together they developed a better understand-
ing of common issues and points of concern. Neil Dobbin,
Head Rural Banking Rabobank Australia and New Zealand,
neatly summed up the feelings of participants:'This confer
ence is like income because of all the quick wins and best
practices we share and the fact we don't have to reinvent
the wheel.'
Several projects of common interest were identified.
These include a core proposition for SME customers,
credit re-engineering at the branches and human
resource improvement.These projects will be developed
in the coming months depending on demand from the
various retail banks.
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Acquisitions in other countries also allow
Rl to improve its services to existing
Dutch clients in their business activities
abroad. 'Unfortunately our coverage
of countries has been relatively limited
until now,' cautions Steenvoort. 'It will
not be easy to build a presence in many
more countries through acquisitions.
Nevertheless, Dutch Desks offer a differ
ent way of servicing the Dutch customer
base. Together with the SME Directorate,
we are revitalising the Dutch Desk in
Poland and developing a proactive
concept for other countries as well.'
All of these developments contribute to
RI's strategie goal to become the lead-
ing F&A business bank. Both ACC Bank
and Bank BGZ have a firm foothold in
their countries' agriculture sectors. The
ability to service Dutch clients in other
countries also strengthens Rabobank's
leading position in the Dutch market,
which is another strategie goal. Finally,
the new acquisitions contribute to the
Group's financial performance by diver-
sifying and expanding the revenue base
into new, high-growth international
retail markets. ACC bank in particular has
proved to be a very successful invest-
ment in financial terms.
As for the future, the emphasis is on
further improving the banks already
acquired, rather than securing any
more. 'We want to grow these banks
into long-term sustainable businesses
in their retail markets, with a sufficiently
strong and diversified customer and
revenue base,' says Steenvoort. Despite
this focus on consolidation, the Group
is constantly looking at opportunities
in other markets like Turkey, Ukraine,
Romania and Russia. 'It's all about
finding the right proposition,' concludes
Schellens. 'It has to fit the way we do
business so that we can get a handle on
the organisation and convert it to our
style without losing the local flavour.'
Issue 13-February 2007 The Word 27
