COVER STORY COOPERATION WITH DLL AND SARASIN
HiPod Programme
Private banking
Cooperation in China
Providing effective cross-border solutions to multinational clients
can be difficult to arrange for even the largest of organisations.
Within the banking sector, however, where cliënt intimacy sits
at the heartofa successful business relationship, it is becoming
a 'must have' requirement. By tapping into the broad sector
expertise offered by Rabobank Group's subsidiairies, Rl is
managing to 'connect the chain' and bring added value to
its cliënt base.
At De Lage Landen (DLL), which offers asset-based financing in
more than 35 countries, Chief Commercial Offreer Jan Kusters
believes that working together equals winning together. "Rl and
DLL currently cooperate within the areas of retail and wholesale,
and it's a relationship that has been developing steadily for
a number of years. In each country we encounter a unique
situation, so our work together is always tailor-made rather
than off-the-shelf."
As well as differences at the regional level, the business models
of the retail and wholesale sectors are also quite distinct and
require different levels of expertise, says Wim Visser, VP Relation
ship Management and International Business at DLL. "Within the
retail sector there is more repeat business, with more clients and
a higher transaction volume, resulting in a quite different end-user
base. In wholesale, however, transaction volume is much lower,
although the transactions are larger and a higher complex than
in retail. As a result, cooperation within the wholesale environment
is on a deal-by-deal basis, while in retail it's more structured."
Cooperation within the retail environment takes place in a
number of countries, with DLL providing services to Rl within
the F&A sector in North America, Australia, Poland and the
Netherlands. In Chile, a relatively small market for both Rl and
DLL, support is offered on a consultancy basis, which Jan Kusters
says is at the lightest end of the cooperation scale. 'The most
straightforward form of cooperation is consultancy, where
we work on developing the sales- or banking process. The
next level up is a service model, where we perform services
linked to large transactions, such as portfolio management or
studying risk related to asset-based financing, which is one of
our key competencies. The most intense form of cooperation
is establishing a joint venture, where both Rl and DLL set up
separate companies and carry out business together, acting
essentially as one entity. Exemplary for such cooperation is the
joint venture BGZ Leasing in Poland. This demands a lot of both
organisations, and is time-intensive to establish. Additionally,
such a model is only practical in more mature markets, such as
Poland, where both organisations are already well established."
In a joint effort DLL and Rl have recently completed the HiPod
Project (the High Potential Development Project), which aims
to challenge and inspire Rabobank talent across Europe in the
wholesale and retail environments. Results show that the right
cooperation will unlock substantial potential. 'The cross-sell
working group focused on identifying opportunities that lie
between Rl and DLL. If DLL can add value to Rl, we create value
for the customer, and that's what we're aiming for," Jan Kusters says.
At first glance, a leading Swiss private bank may seem like an
unlikely addition to the Rabobank organisation. However, since
taking a majority shareholding in Sarasin in 2006, a rewarding
relationship has developed between the two entities. Joachim
Straehle, Chief Executive Offreer of Sarasin, explains that over
the past three years both Sarasin and Rl have benefïted from
gaining access to each other's clients.
"In 2006, when we first feit the benefits of having Rabobank
as our largest shareholder, our idea was to build up a pure,
private banking operation. Now, as we exit the economie crisis,
I think that this was absolutely the right strategy. Rabobank is
internationally diversified, has over 9 million clients, and we
see tremendous synergy opportunities. As a private bank, our
business is about safeguarding the assets of the high net worth
individuals that make up the bulk of our clientele. Many of our
clients are looking for access to the types of products that a triple
A rated bank like Rabobank can offer, so we regularly introducé
our customers to Rl to discuss their requirements. One example is
the outstanding collaboration that took place between RI's fixed
income trading division and Sarasin when we placed a EUR 500
million perpetual fund among our cliënt base."
Increasingly, Straehle says, Rl is introducing wealthy clients within
the F&A sector to Sarasin. "We are steadily building up our F&A
cliënt areas, especially within Asia. If we take China, for example, a
typical business model involves an Rl cliënt building up a business
within the F&A sector, selling it and then being faced with the
dilemma of how best to invest the proceeds of the sale. It's at this
stage that Rl introducés Sarasin, which ensures that the cliënt not
only gets first-class advice, but is offered a seamless transition as
they move from one business phase to another."
Of course, private banking customers are not the only ones
to benefit from intra-company cooperation in Asia. Rl also
collaborates intensively with DLL in the F&A sector. DLL entered
China in 2006. Since 2006, Rl has helped DLL develop its team, and
has provided a range of back-office services, such as HR support.
On the business side, cooperation began initially with DLL
using Rl as the sole funding source for its fast growing portfolio.
When Rl has a cliënt in China that requires a leasing product
or could benefit from a better financing structure, it contacts
David Mamo, DLL China's first and current General Manager.
Orlando Wang, RI's General Manager in China, explains that the
10 issue 22 THE WORD