India’s Union Bank Leaves Antwerp

RAPAPORT… Union Bank of India will
close its branch in Antwerp, citing the weak performance of its diamond
division, Bloomberg reported.




The office will shut
within a year, the news service last week cited Rajkiran Rai Gundyadka, the
bank’s CEO, as saying. The Belgian city failed to produce “the expected amount
of business, particularly from the diamond sector,” Gundyadka said, according
to the report.




“The viability of the
branch isn’t established,” the executive added.




Union Bank’s move
follows Dutch lender ABN Amro’s closure of its diamond and jewelry lending
operations in the US and the United Arab Emirates, which it announced earlier
this year. Belgium’s KBC wound down its Antwerp Diamond Bank in 2014, while London-based
Standard Chartered decided to cease offering credit to the midstream two years
ago.




Image: The Port House, Antwerp. Credit: Max Pixel