Why we further develop
retail banking
s D K Si1 t RETAIL BANKING
Best people and products
As if this was not enough, Rabobank's Food and Agribusiness
Research (FAR) team also works incredibly hard with clients,
providing research reports covering all the major F&A markets,
from China to the US and Europe to South America. "And here
in Australia, they organise one or two-week courses for our
clients given by leading international experts on F&A trends,
leadership and a whole host of other subjects," Neil Dobbin says.
Rabobank has made its strategy very clear: to be the leading
bank in the F&A sector in all the countries in which it operates.
"We have all the expertise, and we have the best people and
the best products. But bringing all that together and going that
extra mile for our customers is how we'll achieve that ambition,"
Broekhuyse concludes.
Investment
International
Direct
Banking
F&A
Rural
Full Retail
Service
Poland
California is also changing, adds Blok, and the bank is adapting
to the changing needs of its customers. "Sustainability is
definitely on the agenda and we are considering selling
green products. We are also discussing solar panel leasing in
cooperation with De Lage Landen. And I believe we're just
beginning to scratch the surface in California," Blok says.
And if getting close to clients is one of the keys to the success
of RI's retail banking operations around the world, nowhere is
this more true than in Australia, where going that extra mile can
involve going an extra thousand miles, quite literally. "Visiting a
cliënt can involve a five-hour flight to a local airfïeld followed by
a four-hour drive to the farm. We can cover the whole of New
Zealand pretty easily from 29 offices, but even with 50 offices in
both major cities and regional areas with the greatest potential
growth, Australia's simply too big to cover easily," Dobbin says.
Rabobank is strengthening and leveraging the
international retail franchise to contribute to a larger
share of RI's income and profit and to reduce capital
dependency. It's a logical choice. Rabobank is historically
good at retail business in its home country The
Netherlands and continued that success in Australia and
New Zealand during the past ten years. There is also the
close alignment to our Food and Agribusiness markets.
Within our retail strategy we focus on 1) markets with
a significant agricultural economy, 2) community
commitment, 3) long term investment, with the
opportunity for local market expansion, and 4) those
markets and businesses we know well or that provide us
with an interesting F&A market.
ISSUE 17
THE WORD
