NatWest Revamps European Sales; David Reason Gets Bigger Job

National Westminster Bank has reorganized its European treasury sales and marketing effort, dividing the responsibility for the area between three "partners", say bank officials in London.

According to Martin Jaskell, director of global marketing for NatWest treasury, David Reason now has responsibility for U.K. and European sales. Reason, who was recruited last year from Chemical Bank to boost the bank's institutional customer base, is working "in partnership" with Ken Grindley, head of U.K. marketing, and Martin Edwards, head of European marketing, says Jaskell.

As Jaskell explains it, NatWest sees "sales" as the high-volume, customer service part of the business, and "marketing" as the advisory, hedging and structured finance end. He and Stephan Harris, NatWest's global treasury director, say the bank's customer volume has grown by more than 500 percent since August 1990, and has been particularly strong this year.

The customer volume growth has been across the board, not only in corporate trading, but in financial institutions, non-bank financials, and central banks, says Harris. Reason's mission to grow NatWest's institutional business has clearly met with some success, since he has been given a bigger job, bank sources say.

Harris says the bank has been steadily expanding staff over the past six months, particularly overseas. The New York office has added some 20 people, including four senior appointments in recent weeks. According to New York FX trading manager Stephen Dakin, they include David Godwin, hired from Paribas to be chief trader; Robert Mograbi, from Banque Nationale de Paris in New York, as head of forwards and off-balance-sheet trading; Alex Ignarra, from BHF-Bank in New York as a senior dollar/mark trader, and David Morrisroe, from Ulster Bank in Dublin, as chief sterling/mark trader.

"We want to become one of the top five foreign banks in New York," says Harris, who admits that NatWest is currently ranked closer to the bottom of the top 10. He explains that Dakin, who joined NatWest in January from Chemical Bank in New York, and Mograbi have split up responsibilities previously held by Robert Trentino, who left the bank last year. Forwards trading is now grouped with FRAs and other derivatives, instead of with spot trading, as previously, says Harris. "That's the trend in many banks these days," he adds.

Dakin also says that NatWest is aiming "to become more of a force in FX. NatWest was once known as something of a sleeping giant in New York, but not any more."

In Asia, Harris says he hopes to see the bank ranked in the top 10--it is currently in the top 15, he says. "We're trying to expand in Tokyo," says Harris. Yen/sterling and other sterling crosses are strong areas for the bank in Tokyo, he says. Hong Kong, Singapore, and business in China are other areas targeted for expansion, says Harris.

In London and in New York, NatWest has placed a particular emphasis on trading in European Monetary System currencies, a field where it has increased its trading staff. "I don't think European Monetary Union is a threat to our business," says Harris, echoing the sentiment now prevailing among most market observers. "Most European corporates which previously saw the relationships among European currencies as fairly stable now see that the relationships are no longer there," he says. These companies have had to gear up their treasury operations, adding both staff and trading systems, says Harris. They have also needed more risk management advice from their banks, he says.

The change has meant a big spurt in turnover since September, which has benefited most of the major trading banks. "The markets have really changed," says Harris.