Antwerp: The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) held an Executive Committee Meeting in Idar-Oberstein yesterday, discussing a wide variety of subjects including the World Diamond Council’s proposed changes to its System of Warranties (SoW), nomenclature issues, Know Your Client, the proposed inclusion of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association into the WFDB, finance and the situation in India in the wake of the alleged fraud involving jeweler Nirav Modi.

“We held very frank discussions on a wide range of internal WFDB issues, as well as many pertaining to topics of critical importance to diamantaries in their daily work,” said WFDB President Ernie Blom. “We have set up a small team which will review the proposed changes to the SoW and will have comments ready before the end April.”

WFDB Treasurer-General Mehul Shah, Vice-President of the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), briefed Executive Committee members on the mood in the Indian diamond industry in light of the financing scandal.

“As usual, we had a very full agenda of industry issues to address,” said Blom. “These are challenging times for the wider global diamond industry, and it was extremely useful to hear the views of colleagues from across the diamond world ahead of the World Diamond Congress in Tel Aviv in June.

“Finally, on behalf of the ExCo, I want to thank the Idar-Oberstein bourse for its generosity in hosting the Executive Committee meeting.”