Hafnia guards against sanctions risks with optimized customer screening

Hafnia is a shipping company specializing in the transportation of energy commodities such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. It combines a wealth of industry expertise with a modern fleet of approximately 200 vessels designed for efficient and safe transportation, making it one of the world’s largest operators of product and chemical tankers. 

With operations spanning key global routes, Hafnia serves a diverse customer base, including leading oil companies, trading houses, and energy sector participants.

The challenges of historical customer screening

Before working with ComplyAdvantage, Hafnia carried out customer screenings with lesser automated systems, which presented challenges for the business. This included delays in obtaining ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) information from clients unaccustomed to providing it, and with obtaining real-time data on its customers.

We previously had trouble in getting people across the shipping industry to comply and ensure transparency, especially when it came to obtaining UBO data.

Sinclair Coghill, Manager – Compliance and Executive Projects, Hafnia

Given that Hafnia trades in over 100 countries, including high-risk jurisdictions, the company moved forward with implementing an improved adverse media and sanctions screening solution to deepen its understanding of its risk exposure and protect the business from reputational damage. 

In its search for a customer screening partner, Hafnia prioritized ease of use, security, and the ability to access real-time data – factors that led the firm to partner with ComplyAdvantage. Consolidated screenings on a single platform, access to ongoing support, and the potential to develop a customized solution over time were also key in the decision-making process.

A significant improvement in results

ComplyAdvantage’s screening capabilities built upon Hafnia’s risk detection, giving customer risk profiles a granular level of detail and uncovering new business insights.  

Since working with ComplyAdvantage, Hafnia has seen a major boost in productivity. A range of stakeholders can easily use a dedicated customer screening tool, which has reduced onboarding times, false positives, and time spent responding to alerts. 

With ComplyAdvantage, an initial screening search can be completed in as little as five minutes, which is a significant improvement. 

Sinclair Coghill, Manager – Compliance and Executive Projects, Hafnia 

The importance of ongoing support 

Hafnia benefitted from a close working relationship with the ComplyAdvantage team, allowing the company to refine its screening solution based on results. Feedback across the company on ComplyAdvantage’s customer screening setup, functionality, and capability was positive. Stakeholders specifically praised the simplicity of the search functionality, the clear API documentation and supporting materials, and the responsiveness of the ComplyAdvantage team. 

Setup has been very easy, involving only a few 30-minute onboarding calls. The simplicity of the search functionality made it easy to onboard people and explain the necessity of client references and ongoing monitoring. 

Sinclair Coghill, Manager – Compliance and Executive Projects, Hafnia

Hafnia now looks forward to expanding its use of Mesh further, making full use of the available data, and turning compliance into a business advantage.