There has never been a more pressing need for financiers to ensure that they have a comprehensive sanctions compliance programme in place.
In May 2020, U.S. regulators released an advisory aimed at the wider maritime industry, making it clear that all entities across the maritime sector and related supply chains must significantly improve their compliance programmes to avoid breaching U.S. sanctions.
The nature of ship financing and the wide range of parties involved deems it to be an either high or very-high risk activity by most financial institutions. With many borrowers relying on vessel charter hire as the principal source of repayment, compliance teams on the lending side are increasingly scrutinising vessel activity to ensure that no sanctions have been breached, which could adversely impact the vessel’s ability to trade and generate revenue.
Consequently, we are seeing more and more ship financiers turning to technology to support their essential role in the transportation chain, by better streamlining their compliance processes.
Pole Star and Merchant Prospect have come together to take a look at the issues that ship financiers are facing, the associated risks, and how technology can help.