0 What does this mean for the employees?
0 How are we going to change Europe into
a true F&A-focused market?
A 'This is something we started back in 2007, when we clearly
defined the pan-European sub-sectors, together with Region
NL, that we want to focus on within F&A. These are Dairy,
Sugar Food Ingredients, Processed Food, Grains Oil Seeds,
Animal Protein Feed, Beverages and Renewable Energy. These
sectors will prove to be very important in the coming period,
as we believe the next major moves in the F&A sector - such as
consolidation - will take place on a pan-European level, rather
than a local level. We came up with a definition of the target
customer profile and a cliënt list in the summer of 2008, and
General Managers (GMs) of the different countries play an active
role in the different sub-sector teams so that they are able to
develop a pan-European vision on F&A. We have fïnalised the
business plan for each sub-sector in March 2009, so we're already
well on the way to becoming fully F&A focused. At the same time
we are aggressively bringing down the capital usage on non-
F&A clients across Europe. This means shutting down businesses
like TMI, as well as other clients outside F&A."
0 What impact will this have on the various
country operations?
A 'This will differ. For instance, the Antwerp-based business was 75
percent non-F&A, so they'll see a major change in their portfolio.
But other countries will see very little change. For instance, Paris
is already 100 percent F&A. Rabobank Polska in Poland is a little
different, as Bank BGZ, our fully-fledged retail bank, is there.
However, they will also need to focus more on F&A clients than
they do today. Next to the re-focus on F&A, the different countries
are also working on the implementation of Flexcube, which is
a standardised version of our backoffice system in Europe. This
isn't so much linked to the F&A strategy, but is much more an
efficiency programme, which includes a clear handover point to
the European shared service centre in Dublin, where Flexcube
is managed. This centralisation of back-office activities makes it
easier for the GMs to spend more time on front-office activities,
which is in turn positive in the light of our re-focus to F&A."
What changes will they see?
A'The implementation of the initiatives already mentioned are
in full swing, so there is indeed quite some uncertainty at the
moment. I recently visited all of our European offices and the
first question everybody asks is whether this is the first step of
many. Will we be downsizing offices and moving towards a more
centralised organisation? All I can say, again, is that in the F&A
business you need a local approach to your customers based
on regional and global knowledge. Focusing on the F&A sector
creates room for growth in the future. However, the focus in the
countries will be on cliënt relationship activities because, as I said
earlier, we will centralisea large part of the back office work in
Ireland."
0 The F&A sub-sector strategy will require stronger
collaboration between divisions. What can we expect
in this respect over the coming period?
A "Actually, this is already happening. It is mainly due to
the set-up of the sub-sector teams, whereby the members,
who represent key clients and product lines, look at a certain
market, whether it is dairy or beverages, from a pan-European
perspective. They have to collaborate across their country
borders to make this strategy work. Next to that we decided,
together with GFM, that we needed more dedication to GFM's
coverage in the region, as the main product group for cross-sell
for our corporate banking offices in Europe. We agreed that GFM
would have specifïc people responsible for a country, to support
relationship managers' marketing efforts. And it's working. We've
seen GFM's cross-sell success increase steadily and we expect
that to continue this year. Make no mistake, there's still plenty
of room for upside, but we're getting a lot better. We're also
teaming up in the Business Committee Europe, with cliënt group
and product group people, to discuss things like our sector
strategy, cross-selling opportunities and how to get the most
out of our cliënt relationships. We're also working closely with
M&A to pull in more combined deals. In this sense Rabobank's
partnership with Rothschild provides an incredible opportunity to
become Europe's, and also the world's, leading financial institute
when it comes to M&A capabilities in the F&A arena. It is a great
opportunity to create relationships with new customers that are
high on our target list."
0 Will the country structure change?
A "No. We have a reporting structure in the region that works. The
management committee focuses on structure governance and
control, while the business committee can focus on commercial
opportunities. The reporting lines to the General Managers
are working well, and now that Frans van Bijsterveld is clearly
positioned to run the F&A strategy in Europe, there is a lot more
focus. As a result of the changes made - such as the creation of
F&A sub-sector teams and back-office centralisation - the role
of the General Managers is more and more that of the 'senior
banker'. And ifyou look into the hearts of the GMs, that's where
they get the most satisfaction from anyway."
0 What do you think typifies the Rl Europe culture?
A 'That's difficult to say, as we're in so many countries with such
strong cultures. The ones that I feel are very strongly embedded
are entrepreneurship, knowledge of the F&A sector and the
intimacy with our customers. I think we are moving towards a
pan-European approach from what has so far been a multi-local
approach. On the other hand, we don't want to go too far. We
still need that local angle. Of course, we need to make business
decisions and have the same business drivers at a regional level,
but we need the local relationships to translate that into business
with customers."
For more information on the region Europe, please view Rutger Schellens' interview on Ris
intranet site Meeting Point: http://meetingpoint.rabonet.com/region/europe/news/2009/
RutgerSchellensManagementInterviewFebruary2009.asp
issue 19 i THE WORD 29
