Brussels – Yet another bank seems set to exit the jewelry industry, as KBC said Friday that the sale of the Antwerp Diamond Bank to Yinren Group has fallen through and it will, according to its agreement with the European Commission, wind down the bank’s activities.
KBC said no new loans will be given by Antwerp Diamond Bank (ADB), a leading financer for the diamond trade, and no new business will be developed as it seeks to absorb ADB’s outstanding loans into KBC Bank NV and, eventually, run down the bank’s loan portfolio and activities. The run-down is subject to approval by the competent authorities.
According to KBC, it is not doing a “collective dismissal” of ADB staff in Belgium but instead will tap a group of ADB staff to handle the wind-down of the bank while deploying other ADB employees elsewhere in the KBC Group. The bank’s offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will be closed by small teams there, and those employees eventually will be laid off. The bank’s office in New York closed earlier this year.
ADB will contact its clients personally with more details on the wind-down in the months ahead, KBC said.
