Paz Calls for Bank Credit Reform
May 18, 11Speaking at a Union Bank event last week, Paz said the diamond industry handled the recent global financial crisis exceptionally well, and recovered from it without government or banking assistance. “We were disappointed by the defensive stance the banks took during the crisis,” Paz told Union’s CEO Eli Yunas. “Instead of assisting us during that difficult time, they were sometimes another problem we had to tackle,” he said about the banks.
Paz emphasized that the banks play an important role in the diamond industry’s development, saying that if the banks want to benefit from the growth of the Israeli diamond industry, they’ll need to “come to their senses” and make changes to their credit policies.
In addition to recognizing rough diamonds as collateral, Paz asked that the banks to ease their demands, saying that while the banks offer credit, they at the same time place unreasonable demands for collateral.