The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) will launch its Know-Your-Customer (KYC) initiative in May, aimed at increasing transparency in the industry to banks and regulators.
The announcement was made at the WFDB’s Asia Summit held in Seoul, where presidents of exchanges were hosted by the Korea Diamond Bourse.
The WFDB is also working closely with the 'KYC Bank' initiative set up by India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Ernie Blom, the WFDB’s president, wrote in an email to Rapaport News on March 7.
"There are no clear industry-wide KYC standards so this will ensure the diamond trade is better prepared to deal with all eventualities," Blom wrote in the email.
"KYC will enable diamond businesses to receive important information about their customers or suppliers to confirm their genuineness and that of their transactions. This is critical because all banks follow a KYC process. We are working very closely with other leading industry colleagues on the KYC platform and anticipate it will be ready to share with our members by May."
At the meeting, the federation’s executive committee also agreed on “internal changes” and acknowledged the need to work more closely with the Diamond Producers Association and the World Diamond Mark on the generic marketing of the gems, according to a separate statement March 4.
“As we approach the World Diamond Congress in Dubai in May, we are finding that the themes for the meeting that we set – transparency, responsibility, sustainability – cover the many issues on our agenda and we further strengthened our commitment to those principles,” Blom added.
