COVER STORY RABOBANK'S WHOLESALE AMBITION Achieving Rabobank's ambition to be market leader in the Dutch wholesale banking sector will take unparalleled levels of cooperation right across the bank, from member banks through to the teams that serve Rabobank's large corporate clients. Looking at the mid corporate market (companies with an annual turnover between EUR 10-250 million) we already are the number one, with ABN AMRO as a runner up and ING in third place. And the other players in the market - for example RBS, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank - have a smaller presence and are more product oriented. Rabobank's advantage is that it is known as a very customer-focused cooperative bank, a reputation it has managed to strengthen during the crisis. There's a real sense of urgency to Rabobank's drive to be market leader in the Dutch wholesale market, a sense that if the bank is to achieve this ambition it has to act - and act right now. The Netherlands has always been - and remains - key to Rabobank's international ambitions. Fred Weenig, Head of Wholesale Clients Netherlands for Rabobank International: "Over the past 30 years, Rabobank has built up a mature international network, which we can now offer to the Dutch market. This is also the perfect time to focus on the wholesale market in the Netherlands. We already have over 80 percent of the Food and Agribusiness (F&A) market, around 41 percent of the SME market and almost 30 percent of the mid corporates in the Netherlands. The real growth for us is in the more complex part of the mid corporates segment, which was historically the home base of ABN AMRO with a market share of more than 60 percent in the year 2000. Paul Dirken (1955) has worked for Rabobank since 1987. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Rabobank Tilburg and leasing subsidiary De Lage Landen. He has also headed the Corporate Clients business of Rabobank Netherlands and was Chairman of Rabobank The Hague. Paul has been Head Business Banking Rabobank Netherlands since 2009. "For Large Corporates we don't measure our position in market share, as each dient usually has three or more banks in the syndicate. We have the ambition to become the leading wholesale bank for our Dutch large corporate clients and fundamental to that strategy will be our focus on lead positions. We want to be part of every major transaction, but we also want to lead every deal that we do." Paul Dirken, Head of Business Banking Rabobank Netherlands: "Achieving overall leadership in the Dutch wholesale market will mean acquiring around 750 new clients in the next three years, so it's a very ambitious target. But the timing is right and the drive within the organisation to achieve market leadership is tremendous. ING is puiling back internationally and ABN AMRO isjust starting to rebuild its international network, yet both have also set their sights fïrmly on the Dutch corporate market, so it's a matter of now or never." RI WORLD

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

blad 'RI World' (EN) | 2011 | | pagina 14