In a letter reportedly circulated to clients, the ICICI Bank UK Plc has intimated that it will be shutting down its branch in Antwerp effective March 29, 2019. The last working day of the branch will be March 28, 2019, and clients were requested to close their accounts by that date.

The move  received confirmation of sorts in a report put out by Business Standard today, when it mentioned the impending retreat of the bank from Antwerp. It also quoted an ICICI Bank source as saying that the decision was taken following    “a strategic review of its business operations in Belgium” and confirming the date of the closure as   March 29, 2019.

The shutting down of yet another bank operating in the diamond hub of Antwerp will put further pressure on the already constrained diamond financing in the major diamond trading centre of the world. In the past more than a year  the diamond industry worldwide has been time and again raising the issue of shrinking financing, which, it believes, is impacting the development and growth of the industry.