Q&A
Playing a leading
role in this kina
of deals cements
a relationship
foryears to comes
ivith Cees Hamming
The Netherlands
RI IN THE NEWS
Head ofLarge Corporates at Rabobank International
Q The credit crisis and the take-over
of ABN AMRO changed the Dutch wholesale
market. What are the opportunities
for Rabobank in this segment
Q How are we going to fulfil
the needs of these clients
Q What can we expect in this regard
in the foreseeable juture?
As part of the Dutch corporate clients network, Large
Corporates deals with companies in the Dutch market
that have annual sales of EUR 300 million and above.
Cees Hamming talks about the division's role and its
future strategy.
A "Although Rabobank is a relative new corner in the whole
sale market in the Netherlands, which was traditionally
dominated by ABN AMRO, we have very quickly built a strong
position. And the recent changes in the market have thrown
up many opportunities - for example, as clients reassess their
banking relationships, they are increasingly looking for a new,
long-term partnership that can provide them with secure
access to liquidity and capital markets."
A "Most of our clients' main priority is to have the right level
of finance and commitment in place. So for example, in
4 issue 21 THE WORD
addition to helping them secure the right form of financing,
we are giving them access to capital markets and the
equity markets and we are helping them with their own
risk management - currency exchange risk. Rabobank is
nowadays often seen as a leader in the syndicate of banks
that our clients deal with and, because of our solid image,
we are more in a position to convince other banks within
these syndicates to take a certain position and see our
clients through the good and bad times of the economie
cycle."
"Although we haven't changed our product offering, there's
now more room in the market to highlight our broad port
folio. For example, Rabobank teams have taken a leading
role in recent deals for construction materials manufacturer
Wavin, portable navigation devices leader TomTom and
Dutch leading construction company Heijmans, by raising
new equity and restructuring the debt positions. These are
tremendous team efforts, combining our cliënt intimacy
with our strong product capabilities in equities, lending
and risk management. Playing a leading role in this kind
of deals cements a relationship for years to come."
A 'The recently approved Strategie Framework states that
Rabobank aims to take market leadership within all cliënt
areas in the Netherlands. Within the wholesale segment
we want to have a sustainable, solid performance. Simply
chasing market share within the top of the wholesale market
is not the way to look at it - these are long-term relationships
we are building. We put a great deal of time and money
into our clients, but simply being the largest is not enough
as it doesn't necessarily maximise returns. We want to have
a deeper, longer and more fulfilling relationship with our
clients, while at the same time keeping a close eye on risk
management issues."
