like to think of myself as
the last farmer on Wall Street
B
How did you launch rural
banking in Australia and what
is the secret of its success?
B
the US business?
What have your biggest
challenges and achievements
been?
B
forward to in retirement?
How do you see the future
for Rabobank?
A "I liketo thinkof myselfasthe last farmer on
Wall Street. I may be based in New York, but
my heart is in the farming industry. Let's face
it, there are not many real Food Agribusiness
banks out there. And there's certainly no
other bank that tries to focus as much on this
industry as we do. That's very much to do
with Rabobank's roots in Dutch agriculture,
a business l've been involved in pretty much
from the start of my career. Soon after I joined
the bank, I became an account manager for
agricultural cooperatives and medium-sized
agribusinesses. I still think that is the best
job in the bank. I really enjoyed the close
relationships I had with my customers. I was
also very lucky that I joined the bank when
we were just starting to develop a banking
business outside the individual member
banks, as we followed our Dutch customers
cross-border. Looking back, that was the seed
of what is now Rabobank International."
A "When we opened our first branch office
in Sydney in 1994,1 attended the launch
festivities as the Deputy General Manager
of the International Division. During those
festivities, executive board member Henk
Visser and I had a number of meetings with
potential clients. One of them said that
we should buy the Primary Industry Bank
of Australia (PIBA). That was something
of a first for us, but Mr. Visser was a pretty
determined man. He made an appointment
with the bank's management the very next
day, and we discovered the bank was for sale
and that it was an excellent cultural fit with
Rabobank. Once l'd convinced the Executive
Board and got approval to buy the bank,
the question was, who was going to run it?
I was so convinced we could make it work,
I said l'd do it myself. As a farmer's son, l've
been involved in agriculture personally and
professionally my whole life and I saw very
quickly that PIBA had a lot in common with
Rabobank in terms of culture, closeness to
its customers, and industry knowledge. That
and the quality of the people are still the
main reasons for the success of the business
in Australia, and later in New Zealand. It also
helped that the staff welcomed us with open
arms. Unlike the previous owners, we were
willing to invest in the bank's future."
A 'The US was very different from Australia. We
had a reasonably well-developed corporate
banking business in the US, but no retail
operation at all. The greatest challenge in
launching our retail operations in the US was
convincing the local communities where
we invested that Rabobank was here to
stay. This wasn't a problem we had faced in
Australia, as PIBA already had a strong brand
and solid reputation. But I was convinced
that the Rabobank community-banking
model would also work in the US. So we
made a string of investments, starting in
2002, to build the retail business. Now we
have a fully-fledged, profitable retail banking
business for local entrepreneurs, farmers and
communities in California, and a successful
farmer financing business throughout the
rest of the US. And local businesses, farmers,
and communities in the US now know that
Rabobank is here to stay, because we've kept
our promise to serve them in good times
and bad."
A "What l've tried to achieve is to help make
Rabobank a global F&A bank. And that has
also been my biggest challenge. There's
always been a fair amount of skepticism
about whether we could do that, partly
because we're the only bank trying to do it.
So I suppose my proudest achievement
would be that, step-by-step, l've managed
to convince more and more people within
the bank that we can become the leading
F&A bank. The revised strategy we unveiled
last year is proof that people really believe
that now."
A "Well, l'm still pretty young at heart,
and I have a young family, so I don't
expect to be slowing down too much.
l'm certainly looking forward to spending
more time with my wife and my son at our
Connecticut home, and l'll be staying in
the US. But l'm an entrepreneur at heart,
so I fully expect to continue on that front.
After all, that has given me enormous
joy over the years. l'm truly grateful to
Rabobank for giving me the opportunity
to be an entrepreneurial banker and to
build something I really believe in."
A 'The current crisis has shown that the
cooperative banking model is very strong.
Of course we've made mistakes, but not
nearly as many as other banks. As Rabobank
Group Chairman Bert Heemskerk said
recently, the difference between success
and failure might simply be making fewer
mistakes than others. One of Rabobank's
greatest strengths lies in the fact that it's
a customer cooperative, here to serve its
customers through thick and thin. We really
do work together as colleagues to come up
with the best solutions for our clients, and
when our clients get the right solution, they
reward us and help us grow our business. Of
course, our cooperative values, like integrity,
are also a very big advantage. Our clients
know that when they come to Rabobank,
they will always get a fair deal. And our
knowledge is a tremendous asset too: we
know more about the F&A industry than
any other bank. Knowing our clients and their
business will continue to be a vital factor in
Rabobank's future success."
ISSUE 20
THE WORD
