Dear colleagues,
EDITORIAL
These are exciting times for Rabobank International. Our
strategies for Rural and Retail and for Wholesale Banking
have been approved by both the Executive Board and the
Supervisory Board.These are important steps in our aim
to become the leading F&A bank internationally and
the leading Wholesale bank in the Netherlands. Within
Wholesale Banking we have taken many steps to increase
our client-led activities. We've created sector plans and
sector teams, identified clients and set up a Loan Products
Group (LPG) in order to provide our clients best-in-class
loan products. Furthermore, we are on target in fully
aligning our FAR activities with this client-centric approach.
Client communities led by our Global Sector Heads and
consisting of product and FAR specialists have been formed
around the globe and are already generating initial ideas to
best serve our clients. This development in particular is one in
which Gilles Boumeester, our newly appointed Global Plead
of F&A coverage, will play an important role. In this edition's
sector special on the global pork and beef industry, Gilles
explains the primary goals he has formulated for his new role.
Our Rural and Retail Banking strategy was successfully
presented during the Central Delegates Assembly on 26
May 2010. The business model puts an emphasis on rural
clients. We chose the 'kitchen table' as a metaphor for our
cliënt intimacy with these clients, as experience shows
that especially within rural communities the kitchen table
is the best place to come into contact with our core rural
clients, the farmers. This is best described in this issue's in the
Limelight' featuring Graham Yeo, state manager Northern
New-South Wales for Rural Banking. His quote about the
kitchen table perfectly explains the essence of what cliënt
intimacy means for Rural and Retail banking: "By talking
business at the kitchen table we get better access to new
opportunities and new customers, but we can also asses risks
early-on. Being part of the grapevine has a positive impact
on ourresults."
Our thorough knowledge of agricultural commodities
gives us a competitive advantage.This was recognised by
the Trade and Forfaiting Review (TFR), who awarded us 'Best
Trade Bank in Soft Commodities 2010'. We have the unique
ability to connect cliënt information from the farm gate,
through the processing chain, via the traders, to the retailers.
In order to sustain this advantage, across all parts of the F&A
value chain, we need to know what our clients need from
their bank now, and in the future. What are their strategies
and how can we help them achieve their goals? If you really
know a cliënt and have gained the client's trust to the extent
that you can talk to them about their business and their
ambitions, you will know what they need now and will
be able to anticipate their future needs. As mentioned
above for Rural and Retail Banking, we can deepen this
type of relationship when we sit down with clients in their
own surroundings, achieving a deep level of intimacy and
engagement with their businesses and families.
For Wholesale, we foster cliënt intimacy at boardroom level
with the CEOs and CFOs of the companies we do business
with. The best way to become the strategie partner for our
wholesale clients is to understand the client's business and
develop a relationship in which we can call the CEO to
discuss a value adding idea informally. The Act Together story
shows that we have these capabilities available: the lllycaffè
deal is a good example of how GFM in New York, Rabobank
London and Rabobank Milan capitalised on the boardroom
level relationship with llly.
Another example of this level of cliënt intimacy is shown in
this edition's cover story on the transatlantic cross-business
M&A deal in which we helped Dutch company CSM (the
world's largest supplier of bakery products) to purchase US
bakery group Best Brands. We think these are great success
stories and good examples of the cliënt leadership we want
to strengthen even further across Rl, across the world.
We hope you will enjoy this edition of Rl World.
Sipko Schat Berry Marttin
issue 24 Rl WORLD
