Approximately 85% of the businesses in the diamond industry are Family Businesses. As the founding fathers start to consider to either retire or move into the role of advisor, the careful planning of a succession has become of vital importance for the future well-being of a diamond company. The planning of the succession is in fact the careful preparation of the transfer of ownership, of Know-how and of managerial skills.
To support the diamond & jewellery sector in their succession planning, the Diamond and Jewellery Management Institute (DJMI) launches an important initiative:
THE DIAMOND SUCCESSION SCORECARD
This scorecard is a tool, specially designed for the diamond and jewellery business in close co-operation with many of Antwerp’s reputed diamantaires, to help diamond companies to prepare and monitor the succession process.
To develop this tool, DJMI worked with Belgium’s leading expert in this area, Professor Jozef LIEVENS.
On Thursday 23rd November, we were proud to present the launching of this website.
The launching event took place at the Zoo in Antwerp followed by an informative introduction regarding E-Banking, Banker Of Choice and the possible impact of the Basel II-Regulation.
Download the powerpoint version of the presentation of the 23th of November.
International Payments
As from May 19th 2008 onwards, you can make international payments through ADB’s E banking software, not only in USD but in every currency
(USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, …).
For more details about other changes and functionalities, we refer to the text that you find under the documentation chapter when you are logged on to our E banking software.
IBAN account number
As from 01/01/07 on, we strongly advise you to use the IBAN Account number of the beneficiary for cross border Euro payments in the Eurozone.
From this date on, the beneficiary bank has the right to refuse incoming transfers in EUR if the beneficiary account number is not according to the IBAN structure.
If the beneficiary bank refuses to process the incoming amounts, they even can charge additional handling costs which will have to be paid by yourselves.
If you have further questions, please contact the commercial desk or the payments department.
Administative processing of direct shipments
As from 03/01/2007 onwards, a minor change has been introduced concerning the
administrative processing of direct shipments.
In the past an acknowledgment and a letter of collection were sent to the consignee.
As the information on the acknowledgment and the letter of collection overlap to a great extent, it was decided that for DIRECT shipments,
only a textually adjusted acknowledgment is being sent to the consignee. The letter of collection has been abolished.
Another change in procedure is that the acknowledgement which the consignee must send back, is sent together with the diamonds and not separately via mail as before.
Kind greetings,
Antwerp Diamond Bank
The ADB MarketScan© and Marketing Monitor©: two instruments to assist you in the new marketing initiatives for your business
To develop new successful marketing initiatives for your business’ products is a challenge. ADB feels that the vast majority of its clients will welcome professional help in this field. Diamond and diamond jewelry companies require and deserve efficient instruments that are easy to access, with a necessary theoretical background as well as some practical checklists for each phase of the implementation of new products.
Two state-of-the-art tools were designed for this purpose. They prove to be fascinating instruments that help you focus on what is essential for any marketing initiative to work: researching the idea and the market, planning the project in all its details and monitoring the whole process timely.
The ADB MarketingScanner© allows you to thoroughly research and plan any new marketing idea for your business. The scanning is worked out in two sections: a research section that helps you to examine all different aspects of your new marketing idea into detail and a planning section that assists you to develop a comprehensive and interlinked marketing plan.
The ADB MarketingMonitor© then builds on the findings of the scanner and enables you to follow up and control the implementation of your marketing plan and the financial implications at each of the stages. This sophisticated instrument enables you to calculate and monitor exactly the sales, turnover and profit/loss situation of an individual product at each point of sale and at each point in time. Distribution performances and marketing expenditures are closely followed up. A number of easy-to-use tables, designed both for the short and the long term, allow you to monitor the actual performance of a new product compared to the pre-defined objectives. Forecasts can easily be revised and adjusted to any change in price, production and distribution of the product depending on the positive or negative evolution of this performance.
These tools are available on a Cd-rom. The cost involved is €3.750 ( excl. VAT). In case you are interested in the MarketingScanner©&Monitor© and you would like to have a demonstration and further explanation of these tools, then kindly let us know via an e-mail to: .
In case you would intend to use these tools to evaluate your marketing initiatives, ADB can also offer to you a tailor-made, professional advice provided by an independent marketing specialist.
He will express his opinion on the completeness, sense of reality, consistency, financial implications, market predictions of the contents of your marketing plan and will assure you whether all elements of a sound marketing plan are there. His help can in particular be very valuable to eventually assess the financial side of your marketing initiative: he will be able to judge, e.g., whether the forecasts that you are making for turnover, profits, etc for your collection(s) are realistic ones.
His advice is a separate cost and comes down to a one-time fee of €3.500 (excl. VAT).
Unfortunately,
Because of regulatory restrictions the MarketingScanner©&Monitor© and professional advice can, for the time being, only be provided to ADB’s Antwerp based customers.
The ADB Bankable Business Plan: your tool for success in business!
The world never stops evolving and we are all faced with the need to continuously reassess our position and our role within the diamond industry.
Along with this development, business and financial risks will change and so will the requirements for finance, whether expressed in volume or in the exact format of financing. As such, “Planning“ has become the word of the day and that is why a business plan, which is simply a written outline of where a company is going, how it will get there and what it will look like once it gets there, is the preferred mode of communication between entrepreneurs and investors.
The objective of this ‘Bankable Business Plan’ guidebook is to take the mystery out of the business plan process and to provide you with a practical guideline to make you think strategically about your business and your future. We would like you to share with us the product of that intellectual exercise so that we, your Banker of Choice, can support you in that future.
Additionally, after reading this booklet, we hope you will have some more insight in ADB’s view on the diamond business and what we are looking for in a business plan.
We emphasize that this guidebook is for informative purposes only.
Antwerp Diamond Bank N.V.
Download the pdf version of the ADB Bankable Business Plan.
Until further notice, ADB’s E-banking service will unfortunately, because of technical and regulatory limitations, not be available to ADB customers based in New York, Hong Kong and Mumbai.
However, ADB customers based in said locations can get acquainted with the E-consulting service offered to Antwerp based customers.
Antwerp based ADB customers, interested in the E-consulting service, are requested to download the ‘Request Form’ in order to organise access to said service. A Request Form has to be filled in for every intended user of the E-consulting service within a company and should indicate to which individual E-consulting menu’s access is granted to these users.
The Registration Form must also be filled out in order to organise access to the payments module of the E-banking software. Apart from the data you have to complete for the E-consulting module, you must also fill out the signature matrix in this document (annex of the registration form), in which you define, both for the EUR account and for the USD (and other currencies) account, who can input transfers and who can sign these payments.
The Digipass Manual contains instructions on how to use this security device and what to do in case of a problem.
The “E-banking regulations” menu lays down the rules for using ADB’s E-banking service.
To use the E-banking service, the following technical characteristics are required:
- Internet access via cable, ISDN-, Lan or ADSL-connection
- Screen resolution: 800x600 or higher
- Acrobat Reader version 4 and up
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, 6.0
- Cookies acceptance
- Excell 2000
Two original copies of the request form must be filled in completely, duly signed
and then be presented at the counters of the commercial desk of ADB.
User Manual Domestic Payments
3. Sending a payment and follow up
User Manual Foreign Payments
Forbidden characters in a payment order
The following characters are unacceptable for the e banking security software and
if you enter one of these your payment will not be transferred to the Bank
@, “ , ( ) ! , §, [,], \, °, *, |, ^, { , }, µ
Guido Segers, Chairman
Paul C. Goris, CEO
Pierre De Bosscher, Managing Director
Theo Strous, Managing Director
Guy Snoeks, Managing Director
Pieter Vandendriessche, Director
Peter Hannes, Director
Luc Gijsens, Director
Paul C. Goris, Chairman
Pierre De Bosscher, Member
Theo Strous, Member
Guy Snoeks, Member
Ernst & Young Bedrijfsrevisoren BCV, represented by Pierre Vanderbeek
1934: ADB was established as Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois S.A. by the Société Belge de Banque.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the diamond industry in Belgium was flourishing and very much alive. The establishment of the Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois was considered a real première in the world of finance, since for the first time a bank decided to devote its activities solely and entirely to the interest of the diamond industry. Its founding members were Société Belge de Banque, Banque Transatlantique, Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo and the De Beers Group. The Bank started its activities with a capital of BEF 30 million (equalling 745 000 euros). The Bank’s registered office was set up in the very heart of the Antwerp Diamond Centre at 54, Pelikaanstraat.
The Banking Reform Act, which was introduced in 1937, offered the Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois the opportunity to acquire a bank status. The capital was raised to BEF 60 million (more or less 1.5 million euros) and both Kredietbank and BBL joined in as shareholders.
As such, the name Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois changed into Banque Diamantaire Anversoise S.A., also known as Antwerpse Diamantbank NV and Antwerp Diamond Bank NV.
The Second World War broke out and while violence was spreading throughout Europe, the Bank displayed its sense of responsibility, honouring its profession. In spite of the German occupation, the severe discrimination inflicted on a large part of the diamond community and the upheaval of the world economy, the Antwerp Diamond Bank (ADB) pursued its business and continued its activities as usual. The Bank’s commitment towards the diamond sector and its clients was profound: in 1940 the then managing director and his staff took the decision to transport the clients diamond stock, then valued at BEF 100 million (circa 2.5 million euros) and consisting of both pledged goods and goods in custody, and ship them via France to England and ultimately into the United States. The occupying forces found the safes, deposit boxes and accounts empty.
In 1941, with the very kind co-operation of the Chemical Bank, a special agency was founded in New York.
After the liberation in 1944 the ADB, whose headquarters were moved to Brussels during the war, returned to Antwerp and its clients.
With the development of the international trade, typical of the post-war period, ADB played an important role in the revival of the Belgian diamond industry and as such in the promotion of Belgian exports of which diamonds represented a considerable share. During that period of virtual ‘relocation’ of the diamond business from Amsterdam to Antwerp, the Bank also played a decisive role in the financing of rough diamonds at the sights organized by De Beers in London. In view of the increasing importance of Antwerp in the rough market and in the distribution of rough, the Bank was able to expand its activities considerably, first in Antwerp and at a later stage on an international level.
In the early 80’s, both the Bank and the entire diamond banking community worldwide were faced with serious problems when the international diamond market came under pressure from inside its own industry as well as from the world economy in general. Supported by its shareholders and its customers, the ADB has been able to maintain its position during the crisis, if not to reinforce it.
1982: a wholly-owned subsidiary of ADB was established in Geneva, the Banque Diamantaire (Suisse) S.A. which was renamed later on in Diamond Bank (Switzerland) S.A.
The activities of this subsidiary are mainly focused on financing international diamond transactions and portfolio management.
1999, July: by taking over the shares from Generale Bank and Bank Brussel Lambert, KBC Bank nv became ADB’s major shareholder.
1999, November: ADB opened a representative office in New York.
2000, July: the Bank received its license to open a representative office in Hong Kong.
2002: KBC increased its stake in ADB to 99,9%and showed its commitment to ADB by taking over the participation of Henfin Holding which was representing De Beers on the board of ADB as one of its founding shareholders.
2002, June: ADB opened of a branch in India’s prime diamond centre, Mumbai.
2005: Diamond Bank (Switzerland) opened a representative office in Dubai, UAE.
Today the ADB group employs approximately 180 people worldwide of which 125 are located at the parent Bank in Antwerp.
“We wish to be a professional and innovative “Banker of Choice” of transparent diamond companies to whom we offer financial services and solutions that will create mutually beneficial and sustainable stakeholder value.”
P.C.Goris, Chairman
ADB is a specialised bank focusing exclusively on the diamond and the diamond jewellery sector; it has a 75-year experience and a solid know-how.
It is the second largest diamond bank in the world, with a network of offices covering all the major traditional as well as emerging diamond centres such as Antwerp, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Mumbai and New York.
ADB puts forward a strong, well-outlined strategy and offers to its clients high-level tailor-made banking services with a powerful personal approach. Companies that are looking for this type of service will always find an efficient solution with ADB.
ADB is a hundred percent KBC subsidiary, providing different types of financial products and know-how at all its branches and representations.