Trade finance transactions involving sea shipments can provide financial institutions with unique visibility into the movement of goods, offering valuable opportunities to detect sanctions evasion, trade-based money laundering, fraud and other forms of financial crime. Developed by a working group of ICC’s Financial Crime Policy Taskforce, this guide explores challenges and best practices for financial institutions in identifying financial crime risks in trade finance transactions involving ocean shipment. It reviews regulatory considerations, outlines common deceptive shipping practices and sets out practical recommendations for implementing effective vessel screening controls.
As sanctions regimes expand and deceptive shipping practices become more sophisticated, financial institutions face growing challenges in identifying financial crime risks linked to ocean-borne trade. Yet despite increasing regulatory scrutiny and technological advances, detecting illicit activity within global shipping networks remains a complex and resource-intensive task. (....)