Israel Bourse Slices $3M off Expenses

Ramat Gan: The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has reduced membership fees for 200 companies after a cost-cutting program resulted in $2.8 million (ILS 10 million) in annual savings.

The bourse has extended its bursary scheme – which entails a 50% subsidy for companies that cannot afford the full membership sum – so that a total of 400 firms will now receive the discount, IDE president Yoram Dvash said in a letter to diamantaires last week. That represents about 14 percent of the 2,800-strong membership.

The bourse’s current leadership has worked to drive down central bourse expenses without compromising on security and quality, according to Dvash who took over the presidency in December 2015. The downturn in the diamond industry requires a “modest” management style that is both effective and careful with expenses while easing the burden for bourse members, he explained.

Measures include technological security alternatives such as automated entrances to the exchange and its parking lots, and biometric face recognition. Maintenance costs have fallen 10%, Dvash said, while overall expense reductions have beaten expectations, enabling the expansion of the bursary program.

“We’ve increased security and dramatically reduced costs in one go,” he wrote. “We’ve slashed wage expenses, the number of consultants, maintenance costs and general expenses, and in total we’ve saved about ILS 10 million per year.”

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