Israeli predictive analytics company Windward is teaming up with Danske Bank to boost the shipping lender's compliance processes against a background of increasing regulatory pressure.
The maritime intelligence company will apply its artificial intelligence systems in a new partnership.
Danske Bank will be able to automate global trade compliance processes, including enhancing detection of financial crime and strengthening anti-money laundering (AML) practices, Windward said.
The global financial sector is under increasing pressure to step up due diligence, not least in terms of sanctions.
Windward's platform will enhance Danske Bank’s operational performance for screening, investigating and auditing transactions for the 90% of global trade that occurs on the ocean, the company added, allowing better and faster data-driven decisions.
"Financial institutions are some of the most heavily regulated in the world," said Amalie Korning Wedege, head of sanctions compliance at Danske Bank.
"In addition to our ongoing efforts against AML, new sanctions advisories by Ofac [the US Office of Foreign Assets Control] and Ofsi [the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation] have made an already complex ecosystem even more difficult to navigate."
Windward's system is based on 300 behavioural analytics models and more than 10bn data points.
"It is an honour to partner with Danske Bank, an established and respected financial institution with deep roots in the global maritime industry," said Windward chief executive Ami Daniel.
"Trade finance is becoming more complex as regulations targeting money laundering, financial crime and compliance evolve across the globe, and it's imperative that banks intimately know who they are doing business with."
Estonian scandal
In 2018, Danske Bank chief executive Thomas Borgen resigned following a probe into money-laundering in Estonia.
Suspicious transactions had taken place in the non-resident portfolio of the bank's Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015.
The bank said about $234bn passed through the unit during the period.
Last month, Windward said it would be helping a European Union clampdown on illicit maritime drug smuggling.
The Tel Aviv-based company was chosen by the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics, a law-enforcement agency involving seven EU member states, to identify ships involved in drugs smuggling.
