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Interview ivith:
Cilian Jansen Verplanke,
Director Mid-Corporate Market
0 What are your future plans and how will
you strengthen your relationship and add
further value to the member banks?
0 How did your department come into
existence? And what sort of value does your
department add to local member banks?
A "The department in its current business
model was established in 2005, when
Rabobank decided that it wanted to become
a market leader in the Mid-Corporate market -
thosê cómpanies with a turnover between
30 million euros and 250 million euros - in
the Netherlands. Prior to 2005, the local
banks themselves served this market, but this
system didn't work effectively. Consequently,
the local member banks decided to centralise
staff administration and put them on the
payroll of Rabobank International. Today, we
take care of the whole HR process and quality
levels of 330 staff, who work on a local level
across nine regions. They are managed on a
day-to-day basis by regional managers. The
business proposition is simple: we offer the
local banks access to the professionalism
and specialist products that come from the
experts in Rl, so that they can provide their
local Mid-Corporate clients with a service that
would normaliy only be accessible to Large
Corporate clients (those cómpanies with a
turnover above 250 million euros).
"For example, if Rl invents a new product, such
as a new swap, that product is immediately
available on the market through our regional
treasury teams. Essentially, we tap the know
how from global markets and cascade the
knowledge and products down to the local
banks' Mid-Corporate clients. So the added
value comes out of sharing the expertise
within Rl."
0 How has your relationship with member
banks developed since the initiative began?
A "We had to work hard to eam the trust of the
member banks, once the model was actually in
place. They had to invest a lot of money - based
on the number of potential clients in their area -
and we had to prove that they would get returns.
However, in 2007, after two years of operation,
the local banks asked us to evaluate the business
model, and the results validated our proposition,
and the local banks lost all doubts they had. One
example: when we started in 2005, our business
case was to doublé the local member banks'
money. In 2008, after four years of operations,
we had earned it back five times."
A "Our mid-term strategy, by 2012, is to have a
profitable market share above 30 percent. In 2008,
for example, we grew from a market share of
22 percent to 27 percent. And throughout the
credit crisis we've seen a number of cómpanies
migrating from our peers to us. But we're primarily
interested in long-term cliënt relationships, as this
is where we can provide most benefit to the
member banks. This means we have to monitor
the clients closely, and ensure that they don't
suffer too much within the current market
conditions, to protect not just them but also
ourselves, as we have to protect the local banks'
investments."
issue 19 WW: THE WORD
