During the World Federation of Diamond Bourses’ (WFDB) annual Asia Summit, which was recently held in Korea, participants agreed on the need to collaborate with the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) on effective generic diamond marketing.
Specifically, the WFDB intended to improve the relationship between the DPA and the WFDB’s World Diamond Mark diamond and diamond jewellery marketing initiative.
The WFDB executive committee also announced several changes to its internal structure during the summit, including plans to launch a WFDB-supported ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) initiative in May this year.
KYC is a process by which a business verifies the identity of its clients and the validity of their transactions. The WFDB’s KYC initiative aims to increase the diamond industry’s trading transparency to banks and regulators.
“There are no clear industry-wide KYC standards so this will ensure the diamond trade is better prepared to deal with all eventualities,” WFDB president Ernie Blom told Rapaport News.
In a WFDB statement, Blom commented, “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 [at the summit].”
In related news, the DPA announced that its marketing head, Sally Morrison, would leave the association in May.
As previously reported by Jeweller, Morrison was appointed DPA managing director of marketing in October 2015. Morrison was formerly the World Gold Council’s (WGC) managing director of jewellery and marketing and also previously worked on behalf of De Beers Group at marketing communications company J Walter Thompson.
A statement issued by De Beers, one of the DPA’s founding members, said Morrison was leaving “to pursue another professional opportunity”. The statement added that former WGC staff member Michael Pace would join the DPA at the end of March as interim managing director of marketing until a permanent replacement for Morrison had been identified.
It was said that Pace would work alongside former WGC managing director David Lamb, who was providing strategic marketing support to the DPA.
The DPA was formed in May 2015 to act as the representative organisation for international diamond suppliers. The association’s founding members include Alrosa, De Beers, Rio Tinto, Dominion Diamond Corporation, Lucara Diamond Corporation, Petra Diamonds and Gem Diamonds.
According to its website, the WFDB represents 30 affiliated diamond bourses worldwide.
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