(IDEX Online) - Credit ratings on 70,000 jewelry firms will take account of the impact of coronavirus, says the Jewelers' Board of Trade.
The non-profit organization says its reports will now include a business's rating as it stood before the Covid-19 crisis, for the sake of transparency.
"If a firm was highly rated prior to the crisis, that will be visible to the JBT member," said the board's president Erich Jacobs in a statement.
"By the same token, if the firm had a low rating prior to the crisis, that will also be visible."
He said the move came after two weeks of heated discussions over what was the fairest methodology.
"As part of that strategy, we are asking our members to continue to submit their data as they have before the crisis without modification," he said.
"We will also be asking our members to highlight if any special terms or extensions were granted so that our aggregated data isn't unintentionally skewed by unanticipated member credit modifications."...