Dear colleagues
A few weeks ago, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Lex
Kloosterman (Head of Wholesale Clients International),
Soh Hang Kwang (CEO of Rabobank Singapore and
Wholesale Clients International South East Asia) and
John Baker (Asia Head of FAR) spent 4 hours strategising
with the Chairman and CEO of the COFCO management
team. COFCO is an important cliënt for Rabobank. They
are China's largest food processor, manufacturer and
trader and have been a key cliënt for over 16 years.
Lex, Hang Kwang and John did not only address many
of the issues that currently concern the company, but
they fully connected with their strategie and financial
development. This is what we call cliënt engagement;
truly knowing the issues that keep our clients awake at
night and being able to present them with value adding
advice. Reaching such a level of understanding requires
in-depth knowledge of our clients and their businesses.
And that is something we can only attain by interacting
with them regularly and in a personal way, around 'the
kitchen table' or in the boardrooms around the world.
However, this type of cliënt leadership also calls for some
thing else, which is being able to work together across
the bank. Because, in order to provide value adding
advice to our clients, our specialists across the different
businesses and countries should work in synchronicity.
Our unique strength is a combination of our in-depth
knowledge - about specifïc F&A sectors - coupled with
our professional product suite and our desire to maintain
sustainable relationships with our clients - in good and
bad times.
Working together pays off. Take for example our International
Direct Banking (IDB) operation.The goals of this online
savings bank are very much aligned with the funding
needs of the local Rl businesses. It makes perfect sense
for them to collaborate wherever they can with the well
established rural and retail franchises. This way they
can share local services like HR, Finance and local IT and
simultaneously leverage the strength of the Rabobank
brand in the marketplace. IDB's operations also show
the importance of working across the boundaries of
our rural and retail and wholesale businesses, as Global
Head of IDB Gert Bouwman explains in an interview
on the new IDB initiatives: "...we work very closely with
Group and outsource matters like Treasury to the local
and central experts at GFM and Corporate Treasury."
Another good example of working together and sharing
best practices is the appointment of Neil Dobbin (Group
Executive Country Banking Australia New Zealand) to
the Supervisory Board of Rabobank Agri Finance (RAF). It
is Neil himself who further on in this magazine explains
best the value of active collaboration: "One of the real
benefits to Rabobank is that it will quicken the pace of
change - it is the transfer of success from one area to
another, and that's priceless."
'Working together' is the Group's theme for 2011, as
the Executive Board believes this behaviour is essential
for meeting our strategie objectives: to become the
leading all-finance bank in the Netherlands and leading
Food and Agribusiness bank globally. We're all part of a
single team trying to create a value proposition for all
of our clients' franchises. Let's keep that in mind for the
reminder of the year. Enjoy reading the magazine.
Kind regards,
Sipko Schat Berry Marttin
ISSUE 27 Rl WORLD
