How does a large-scale bank integrate into a local neighbourhood?

Zuidoost Week

Zuidoost Week 2024 took place from 27 May to 2 June. It was organised jointly by parties including the City of Amsterdam, residents of Zuidoost and the Ministry of the Interior.

The programme was compiled on the basis of input from local residents, covenant and alliance partners, and anyone else involved with the Zuidoost Master Plan. Over 120 initiators from the neighbourhood took part in activities revolving around meeting each other and working together.

In the Zuidoost Master Plan and underlying partner covenant, the City of Amsterdam and other partners (including ABN AMRO), have agreed to join forces to work towards making Amsterdam-Zuidoost inclusive and future-proof. One of the ways the bank is doing this is by providing free training courses and workshops in the areas of financial resilience, entrepreneurship and life skills.

Probing questions and patience

On the evening of Wednesday 29 May, the Zuidoost city office on Anton de Komplein was packed with policy staff and local initiators. Zuidoost was well represented with people from various backgrounds.

ABN AMRO hopes that moving its head office from the Zuidas to Amsterdam Zuidoost will enable the bank to work more closely with the local community and respond to the needs of local residents.

Allan Kartodikromo (Equal Opportunities & D&I Enabler at ABN AMRO) was present at this evening as a panel member during the discussion between policy staff and residents. The subject was ‘community-based working’, and Allan received some probing questions about how a big bank intended to integrate into the neighbourhood.

People expressed doubts about whether the business community and ‘the government’ were capable of merging with initiatives being set up in Zuidoost. As the residents put it: “All these initiatives are built on a sense of purpose for the neighbourhood, while the bank has ingrained, intransigent working methods and tends to ‘look down from above’.”

Allan acknowledged the sentiment and replied: “Our aim is to understand the feelings in the neighbourhood, recognise the importance of these feelings and internalise them within our organisation.” He realises that this process will take time and patience. The bank is serious about wanting to meet, hear and understand the local community, but things will only structurally change if this wish is mutual. So the community must also be receptive to ABN AMRO. The refrain of the evening was: no gain without pain.

Social Point

Social Point is an ABN AMRO programme through which the bank puts its knowledge, experience and resources in the areas of financial resilience, life skills and entrepreneurship to work for people who have fewer opportunities in society. The first Social Point was launched in Amsterdam-Zuidoost in 2021. It forms a base from which ABN AMRO colleagues give training courses and workshops to local residents, and where the bank provides placement and training places, budget coaching and debt counselling.

Read more about ABN AMRO Social Point

In the following video, ABN AMRO colleagues Allan Kartodikromo (Equal Opportunities & D&I Enabler), Christa Beaufort (Sustainability Global Manager) and Egilio Bundel (Circl Movement Programme Maker) talk to each other about the Social Point programme, the challenges and the opportunities.