The Man from Amsterdam

Rijkman Groenink is the 55-year old chairman of the managing board of ABN AMRO, a position he has held since May 2000. In his time at the top he has been pushing through a bold new strategy to make the bank more client focused while drastically increasing its returns to shareholders. In Asia, the bank's recent decision to sell its stake in Bank of Asia has raised some eyebrows, given that ABN has stated the region to be key to its future. In this exclusive interview, Groenink addresses the Bank of Asia question as well as giving details of what ABN plans to to with the money it gets from the sale. He also expounds on his vision of the strategies needed to keep together a universal banking model of retail, commerical, investment and private banking.