There arerit that many
specialised F&A bankers
out thereso we need to
extend FAR as much
as we can,to transfer
the knowledge we have
into the GroupJ
BANKING SPECIAL GLOBAL FOOTPRINT
John Baker (Asia):
32 ISSUE 22 JANUARY 2010 THE WORD
drives to attend the series of seminars. "Tim Hunt comes
here once or twice a year, but he writes a lot of papers that
we send to our clients. That's a feather in Rabobank's cap,
as none of our rivals have anyone of his caliber," Bott says.
Tim Hunt stresses that FAR is just one element in the total
mix that Rabobank offers. "You have to maintain a good
relationship with your clients and have a good product
suite. What FAR offers is part of that equation. It does give
us a unique edge, as we can provide something no other
bank in the region can offer."
It is also something Rabobank uses externally to build
brand awareness in the rural space, Bott explains. "We send
out regular dairy industry reports, give frequent media
interviews on industry developments and use cliënt events
to showcase what we can offer, including FAR's global
research."
FAR plays an important role internally, Hunt adds, as it keeps
front-line managers up-to-date on industry developments.
This gives them a well-informed credit chain, so they can
make informed credit decisions. "They can show that they
have high-level industry insights in discussions with their
clients. They close the deals, not us, but we can give them
a small but powerful tooi."
On a corporate level, FAR can open doors to the major
players in the F&A sector, he adds, as providing insights into
industry developments can be a very useful way to engage
with clients at executive level. FAR also provides support
on the product development front, helping Rabobank to
tailor products to meet the needs of major corporate clients,
through its knowledge of how specific F&A markets work.
"Very importantly, we have a full range of competencies,
so we understand F&A businesses right through from
farming, to trading, to processing and retail. We also have
a lot of cross-sector knowledge, so if we're talking to dairy
farmers, for example, we can also talk about competing
sectors such as beef, or related sectors such as wheat,
and how developments in those sectors can affect them.
Not to mention the fact that we have a network of clients
in every segment of a sector, so we can put them in touch
with clients in other parts of the chain, or other parts of
the world."
We caught up with Greg Bott, Regional Manager for
Tasmania, and Tim Hunt, Senior Analyst, Dairy, at Food
Agribusiness Research Advisory, at Rabobank's office
in Smithton, Tasmania, in the midst of a 2-day series
of presentations for the top farmers in Tasmania. Bott
described Hunt, who is based in Melbourne, as a 'bit of
a celebrity' in the Australian dairy industry. So much so,
in fact, that some farmers were making 10-hour round-trip
Carel van der Hamsvoort (Global) John Baker (Asia)
Greg Bott (Tasmania)
Tim Hunt (Australia)
Kaushik Modak (India)