Industry Financing Tops Agenda at World Diamond Congress

(IDEX Online News) – Industry financing was top of the agenda on the second day of the World Diamond Congress, and was linked to the main themes of transparency, sustainability and responsibility.

In his presentation, Geert van Reisen of ABN Amro Bank said that there was a need for the diamond industry to improve working capital, attempt to reduce manufacturing cycle time, while improving inventory management and payment terms. He added that the industry would benefit from more banks being involved, especially in Antwerp, other than those in India. “The industry needs to change its operating model, shorten payment terms for rough and credit terms for polished and put a bigger focus on inventory management and lowering inventories,” van Reisen said.

De Beers’ head of commercial development Howard Davies said that the number of bankruptcies due to bad debts had affected the industry. He added that transparency was critical, particularly as banks have received massive fines for non-compliance issues.

Panama Diamond Exchange president and Panama’s former deputy finance minister Mahesh Khemlani spoke about his country’s anti-money laundering legislation, highlighting that most of the companies listed in the “Panama Papers” were not Panamanian.

Signet Jewelers vice president of corporate affairs David Bouffard discussed his company’s sourcing protocol. He said that Signet buys $1 billion of polished diamonds, annually. “We want to know where the diamonds are coming from and who touches them along the way.”

A panel discussion featuring Bouffard, Davies, Khemlani, van Reisen and De Beers head of government and industry relations Feriel Zerouki, who emphasized that De Beers’ best practice principles were aimed at increasing consumer confidence.