IBS Journal January 2016


Rabobank to slash 9,000 jobs and 20% of assets in new profit drive


Rabobank is set to axe 9,000 jobs by 2018, according to its latest announcement, ef- fectively eliminating a fifth of its workforce. It is also planning to slice €150 billion


worth of assets (around 20% of its total holding) from its balance sheet by 2020 to comply with Basel IV regulations. The move comes amid a drive from the


Dutch bank to improve profits and align with tightening European regulations. The job cuts are set to be phased


and put into place on top of an ongoing cut of around 3,000 jobs already in pro- gress. According to the bank, client-facing employees will be ‘spared where possible’. The Dutch cooperative, which oper-


ates 547 branches in its home country, is looking to gear itself back towards its agri- cultural roots, reducing its mortgage and commercial lending.


‘Not easy’ The switch in tactic is believed to have been in motion since the appointment of chief executive Wiebe Draijer in 2014.


‘We are asking a great deal from our


staff to achieve our goals,’ says Draijer. ‘We are fully aware that this is not easy.’ Rabobank believes that the cost- cutting scheme, coupled with target- ing loans at profitable sectors, will see its annual profits increase by €2.1 billion in


five years’ time. The member councils of the bank


agreed earlier this month to merge 106 local Rabobanks and Rabobank Neder- land into one cooperative entity, with one licence and one set of statements.


Alex Hamilton


Rabobank HQ, Utrecht © Rabobank


Tandem receives banking licence; steps closer to selecting new core system


A digital banking start-up, Tandem, has received a banking licence from the UK regulator and plans to launch next year. It is also understood to be a step closer to selecting a new core banking system. Set up by the co-founder of


transfer service Azimo, Ricky Knox, and Matt Cooper, a former director at Capital One, the new bank aims to challenge the traditional high-street heavyweights. Tandem’s focus will be on helping people manage their money rather than focus on direct product sales, according to its founders. It will offer


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current accounts, credit cards, savings and loans. In addition to the digital delivery


channels, Tandem will have a ‘brick and mortar’ call centre to deal with customer queries and more complex transactions. It has also recently made a string of


new high-profile appointments. On the core banking software front,


it is understood that Temenos’ T24, FIS’s Profile and Fiserv’s outsourced platform, Agiliti, are in the running for the deal. It is very likely that the latter will get the contract.


Tanya Andreasyan © IBS Intelligence 2016 www.ibsintelligence.com


In brief


Sudanese bank Omdurman National Bank (ONB) has gone live with ICS Financial Systems’ ICS Banks. ICS Banks will underpin ONB’s


Shari’ah-compliant corporate and retail banking operations. ONB, one of the first Islamic banks


to be established in the Sudanese mar- ket, selected ICS Banks after evaluating ‘many Islamic banking systems’, accord- ing to general manager Najm Eldding. The contract signing between ICSFS and ONB dates back to June 2013, so it has taken some time to get the system up and running. After two years of implementation, ICSFS hopes that ICS Banks will improve performance and lower operating costs at ONB, says Robert Hazboun, managing director at the vendor. —Alex Hamilton


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