Rijkman Groenink

Groenink worked for the bank for 30 years. He studied law at the Utrecht University and has also a Diploma in Business Administration (DipBA) from the Manchester Business School.^[1]

In 1974 he joined the bank's predecessor AMRO Bank (Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank) and he made a quick career within the bank. In 1988 he became a member of the board of directors of the AMRO bank and when the Amro merged with the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) in 1990 Groenink became a member of the board of the new group ABN AMRO. In the group's board Groenink was responsible for the division the Netherlands. In May 2001 Groenink was appointed as chair of the board as successor of Jan Kalff.^[2][3]

Late in 2005 the bank became involved in a number of controversies in the United States: over a period of 1 month the bank was involved in a scandal where LaSalle Bank, part of the ABN Amro group, had used funds of their customer to invest in one of their own investment vehicles without the customer's knowledge. In the same month the bank had accepted a settlement of $80 million from the US regulator because they had done business with Libya and they received a fine of $40 million for irregularities with mortgage guarantees using government funds.^[4]

In 2007 the bank was sold to a consortium of three international banks after a take-over struggle. Groenink preferred a complete takeover by Barclays but the combined share-holders preferred the higher offer from the consortium. As CEO Groenink had built up a substantial portfolio of shares in the bank through various stock option bonuses and the sale of his stake generated an income of €23 million. When Groenink was accused of being an example of the extreme self-enrichment culture in the banking industry, his supporters point out that Groenink preferred a take-over by Barclays and tried to convince the (majority of the) shareholders to accept their offer, even though the cash value of that offer was some 10% lower than the offer from the consortium.^[5]

The takeover by the consortium lead to a split-up of the bank. Some international activities, such as ABN's Italian daughter Antonveneta and Brazilian Banco Real would go to the Spanish bank Banco Santander.

The retail and private banking as well as the asset management activities of the bank in the Netherlands would go to the Belgium based bank Fortis while the other international activities would go the RBS.^[6]

In the award-winning book "De Prooi" (Dutch: "The Prey") by journalist and professor Jeroen Smit the fall of ABN Amro is described.^[7] In the book Rijkman Groenink is described as a detached manager, more concerned with maximizing shareholder value and individual bonuses for the company's leaders than in serving the best interests of the bank's customers. According to the numerous sources in the book, talks with several other banks about mergers failed because of Rijkman Groenink's personal demeanor or his unreasonable demands. At several occasions these demands were related to his own position in a post-merger organisation.

Groenink had openly defended a takeover by Barclays,^[8] so when the consortium RFS won the takeover struggle and declared that they won the bid Groenink stepped down as CEO. As the sale of the bank to RFS was shortly before the Late-2000s recession where governments had to step in and nationalize several banks a big discussion started about the bonus culture in the banking industry.

Groenink received approx. €23 million when he sold his shares in the bank and he received two years' salary as compensation for losing his job. In the press however it was suggested that Groenink received the €23 million as golden handshake or quitting bonus.^[5]