Diamond industry setback as ABN AMRO closes

The Dutch bank, which opened its Gaborone branch in 2009 amid much enthusiasm and anticipation that it will greatly contribute to the growth of Botswana’s diamond cutting and polishing industry, has two licences - one for providing local banking services and another for international business transactions.

In a statement released Tuesday, the bank said the scale of the bank’s operations in the country in the context of its global platform is too limited to be sustainable.