A New Sound of Music: Indian Winter Blues
November 20, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharOne of the first victims in any crisis situation is ‘hard information’ – potentially impacted people are reacting to rumors, to uncertainties, and too often panic becomes the driver of ‘rational’ decision making. Just ask any banker about runs on the bank. Read More...
The Diamantaire’s Prisoner’s Dilemma
November 13, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharIn a letter to clients, Alrosa’s VP Oulin wrote, “Your company is one of Alrosa’s principal partners and has a record of long-term and successful cooperation with us. We look forward to a fruitful continuation of our business relationship and invite you to take an active part in the October trading session.” Read More...
Crisis Mitigation at De Beers
November 06, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharAt the same time that governments and central banks were pouring trillions of dollars into the world’s financial markets to save them, De Beers pooled all of its resources in preparation for launching the single-greatest consumer advertising blitz in the history of the company. It isn’t just throwing good money away. Though De Beers has no illusions, it recognizes a real opportunity to increase the share spent on diamonds out of the total consumer expenditure. Read More...
Rough Prices Must Be Allowed To Reach True Market Levels
October 30, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharThe current global financial and economic turbulence has apparently triggered an acute loss of memory to some of our industry’s players, generating melancholic calls for a return to the “remedies of the past” – ignoring that certain historical market-management practices are patently illegal today and are not in anyone’s best interest. Read More...
De Beers Leads in Funding CIBJO’s Synthetics and Grading Rules Lobbying in European Parliament
October 23, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharPlease meet Sarah Winterton, the Secretary of CIBJO Europe. She is in charge of implementing CIBJO’s strategy to achieve an EU-wide diamond terminology legislation, followed by the eventual adoption of a worldwide standard for synthetics nomenclature and diamond grading. Read More...
In Gloomy Days: A Silver Cloud in Dubai
October 16, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharGovernments have committed hundreds of billions of dollars to stabilize the world’s financial systems. A back of the envelope exercise shows that the commitments have passed the trillion dollar level and that is still an insignificant figure compared to the trillions that have been vaporized by falling stock prices and bank write-offs. Read More...
Diamond Debts Last Forever
October 10, 08 by Chaim Even-Zohar“Liquidity risk management is of paramount importance, because a liquidity shortfall at a single institution can have system-wide repercussions,” the governor of the Dutch central bank, Dr. Nout Wellink said. Forget about the underlying causes of the current economic crisis, what actually brought down giant banks in a matter of hours was that they had no cash. Read More...
From Unwanted Stepchild to Happy Orphan
October 02, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharWhile the financing problems within the diamond industry pale in comparison to the credit crunch in the international markets, the remarkable events of the past week also saw a drama around Fortis Bank and its ABN AMRO ‘stepchild’ for which new parents are now being sought. Read More...
Politically Incorrect Part II – The Case of Venezuela
September 25, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharLast week’s column on the erosion of the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process, on the organization’s need to stop wasting time on trivial, technical infringements (caused by human error), and our call for the KP to start addressing the real macro-issues, generated an avalanche of responses. Read More...
Politically Incorrect
September 18, 08 by Chaim Even-ZoharSomething axiomatic in our industry: you don’t publicly talk about matters that might affect consumer confidence. It is politically incorrect to even remotely disturb what De Beers’ Gareth Penny likes to call “The Diamond Dream.” It is also politically incorrect to talk about kickbacks, bribes and corruption related to diamond trading. Read More...
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