ABN AMRO Greece -fighting fit in shipping

By Kevin Oates

The ABN AMRO Group is headquartered in Amsterdam and is one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Though the rankings are continuously changing in this day and age of consolidation, it is probably accurate to say that it is in the top 10 banks in Europe and the top 20 worldwide. Employees number over 100,000 worldwide working from over 3,000 locations in over 60 countries. The bank has

a 175 year history in financing international trade.

It was rather sad then that right at the end of 2001 ABN AMRO were reported in the press as pulling out of shipping. The shipping portfolio was reported to be about $ 4 billion but enthusiasm for shipping finance as a business division of the bank was rather muted. Even Fred Weenig, head of shipping at the time at ABN AMRO, was reported as stating that shipping was “too straightforward” for many financiers. To make it more attractive for banks there has to be a lot of fee based business to reach required returns. He went on to say that ” if you look at the range of products that can be sold to shipowners, it is small,” So the hefty borrowing requirements of shipowners just did not match the returns which the bank could hope to make.

Of course the bank did not just walk from shipping. The shipping portfolio remained intact and the management of it was devolved to the local offices. This included New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Piraeus.

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