Signet Jewelers Limited, the world's largest diamond jewelry retailer, has launched the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds (D-SRSP), a policy designed to promote greater transparency and commitment to improving the integrity of the global diamond supply chain.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Signet Jewelers Limited, the world's largest diamond jewelry retailer, on Tuesday announced it had launched the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds (D-SRSP), designed to promote greater transparency and commitment to improving the integrity of the global diamond supply chain.
Signet created the protocol with input from the diamond industry, including the De Beers Group, Rio Tinto, Dominican Diamond Corp., the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the United States Jewelry Council, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, Partnership Africa Canada, the Diamond Development Initiative, Jewelers of America, officials from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), governments and Signet diamond suppliers around the world.
"The D-SRSP builds on existing diamond industry standards, the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains to ensure transparency through a collaborative process that is practical and workable," Signet Chief Executive Mark Light said in a written statement.
"We have been active in the development of harmonized industry guidance and standards for many years, and with the new Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds, we are asking our suppliers to carefully map their supply chains more rigorously than ever before," he said.
The protocol requires suppliers to perform greater due diligence on the diamonds they deliver to Signet and builds on years of effort by industry and governments to track where diamonds come from.
Signet said it "envisions that the collaborative, workable and practical manner in which the Protocol was designed will lead the D-SRSP to become an accepted industry reference for responsibly sourced diamonds."
Signet said it encourages all the companies involved in the diamond industry to adopt and use the protocol in their own supply chains, to promote greater transparency in the worldwide supply.
"Today's consumers increasingly expect that companies act as responsible corporate citizens, held accountable for ensuring the integrity of our supply chain," Light said.
Signet Jewelers, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, but with its U.S. retail operations headquartered in Akron, operates 3,600 stores worldwide under the brands Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, H.Samuel, Ernest Jones, Peoples, Piercing Pagoda, and regional brands like J.B. Robinson Jewelers.
In 2013, Signet bought a diamond-polishing factory in Gaborone, Botswana, for an undisclosed sum as part of its efforts to ensure a more reliable long-term source of diamonds for its jewelry stores.
Barnes said at the time that its goal was "to secure additional, reliable and consistent supplies of diamonds for our customers and achieve further efficiencies in the supply chain."
The U.S. is the world's largest market for diamond jewelry, and sales of diamonds or diamond jewelry at that point accounted for more than 75 percent of Signet's U.S. sales.
"By owning this state-of-the-art facility, its first, Signet can ensure more consistent, cost-effective access to diamonds in the sizes and qualities it needs with less vulnerability to the fluctuations of the overall diamond market," Signet spokesman David Bouffard said at the time.
In a separate announcement also released Tuesday, Signet said it has filed a voluntary application with the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority to delist its common shares from the London Stock Exchange.
Its shares will still be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol "SIG."
Signet said that because less than 1 percent of its annual trading volume takes place on the LSE, "the benefit of LSE listing is outweighed by the monetary expense, regulatory burdens, and time spent on LSE-driven activity."
Its shares will be traded on the London Stock Exchange until Friday, March 11, 2016, and be canceled from trading at 8 a.m. GMT on Monday March 14, 2016.
Signet's shares closed at $104.15 on Tuesday, up $5.52 or 5.6 percent from the previous close of $98.63.