team
Within Rabobank approximately 150 people are
employed to deal with Rl legal matters in Utrecht
and worldwide. They are often collectively known
as 'Rl Legal', although this is an informal name.
RI's legal personnel workacross both Wholesale
and Rural Retail sectors at RI's branches. So Rl
has in-house lawyers in Asia, North America, Latin
America, Australia New Zealand and Europe,
including the Utrecht head office. Some of these
regions are managed by a Regional Counsel, who
reports to both the Regional CEO and, depending
on the sector, the Head of Legal Wholesale Banking
Finance or the Head of Legal Rural Retail who,
in turn, report to Head of RN Legal, Jan Schuchard.
The stated vision of RI's legal team is to 'manage the
legal risks inherent in the financial and operational
activities of the bank globally as effectively and
efficiently as practicable.'
now, with more interaction and information sharing between
the legal teams. We don't want to go over the top with reporting
requirements. We just want to have a clear view of what's going
on at the branches from a legal perspective. Then those of us at
the head office can be of much better help to the branches."
Van Nierop agrees: "It is really two-way traffic between the head
office and the branches. Together we are constantly improving
our global knowledge base. We have a Share Point intranet site,
for instance, where we put lots of examples of transactional
documents and clauses that are relevant for different jurisdictions."
Being able to close the legal gaps between different jurisdictions is
always a challenge for lawyers. But doing so gives Rl a strategie
advantage when operating with big global players, such as
those in Food and Agribusiness. The free flow of knowledge and
cooperation between lawyers from all corners of RI's network
allows the legal team to bring specialist knowledge and local
knowledge together. The beneficiary: Rl and its clients. It's an
example of what happens under 'the Rabo way' of working.
ISSUE 29 C I OBER Rl WORLD
