In Italy, bank customers can do something that many in North America would find strange — buy diamonds.
As Reuters explains, diamond brokers work through several banks throughout the country. The deals generated sales of more than $320 million last year.
But investigators are looking into the practice, Reuters reports. The investigation follows a report by state news channel Rai3 that “several banks sold diamonds as financial products in bank branches at twice the market price.”
Reuters quoted a spokesman with the The Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) saying:
“We are reassessing the whole subject again to see whether we need to act at a regulatory level or with specific recommendations, if there are gray areas or a regulatory gap we need to fill, or if there have been abuses that need to be referred to judiciary authorities