opportunity for our people Mirelle Pennings, Global He ad Human Resources BANKING SPECIAL CLIENT LEADERSHIP 36 issue 19 THE WORD cross-sell business on the basis of its financing deals. This was certainly true when Rabobank Antwerp was asked to participate in Belgian brewing giant InBev's acquisition of US peer Anheuser-Busch. Walter Debacq, Rabobank's relationship manager for AB InBev, used the invitation from AB InBevto take on USD 1.25 billion oftheir financing facility to introducé a wide range of product departments before taking this further internally. "We then made it very clear to AB InBev that if we were to participate, we expected to strike some deals in these product areas. AB InBev was very keen to get us on board, partly because of our F&A knowledge, especially in commodities. However, I believe the key to the deal was that the product people were able to show where Rabobank could provide added value," Rottjers says. This made AB InBev comfortable working towards a level of cross-sell with Rabobank that fits the credit ticket. "We're still in the middle of this, but we've already scored substantial interest hedging business, the co-manager position in a US and Eurobond issue and, very recently, sole bookrunner in the Netherlands for a EUR 150 million retail bond issue." The final piece of the puzzle, Treffers- Herrera says, is reviewing your performance with your clients, warts and all, each year. "You have to sit down with them and look at where we hit targets and where we missed, and why. This is also a perfect opportunity to look at what the client's strategy will be for the next 12 months - v both what their goals are and what they anticipate their financial needs to be in that period. Then it is vital to "Human Resources has an integral role to play in the success of our revised strategy. To make our Rl focus work, we have to have the right people in the right place and to do this, we have to develop their knowledge, competency and leadership skills through our talent programmes to prepare our people for new roles. Importantly, we are launching initiatives to encourage mobility and help people expand their horizons and develop a broader set of skills. We want our staff to actively broaden their horizons and learn about different parts of the organisation and the specific competenties those businesses require. This knowledge can be shared with our people in other parts of the organisation. We'll always need specialists, but one of the keys to increasing cross-sell is having employees who have worked in different parts of the bank. Thinking across business or product lines is how we break down the barriers - the sort of silo thinking that has, in the past, limited cross-sell." "Achieving this with a lower budget is a challenge, but at the same time it does mean you focus much more on the development of your own people, rather than looking for external candidates. This creates more opportunity for our staff and l've found that ifyou're prepared to challenge people and offer them opportunities you might not have in better days, you can uncover some unexpected potential. We have a lot of untapped talent in this organisation and I think we'll now see much more of that potential unleashed."

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'RI The Word / The Word' (EN) | 2009 | | pagina 36