New “Russia” sanctions compliance solution enables confident trading

Heavy economic sanctions were imposed on Russia days prior to its invasion of Ukraine and have escalated rapidly. Prominent organizations that have been affected include: 

• Sverbank and VTB, two of the largest Russian financial institutions
• State-owned Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest maritime and freight shipping company
• The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping

Both the U.S. and UK have announced new bans on imports of Russian oil, gas, and energy. The sanctions affect not only the vessels, companies, and individuals listed, but also every other entity that is connected through complex ownership links and potentially the cargo itself.

How can key players in the maritime ecosystem minimize their risk exposure? 

Understand the Full Scope of Russian-Related Trade

To assist customers by providing a fuller understanding and minimizing their risk exposure, Windward is launching a new “Russia” sanctions solution, enabling stakeholders to understand the full scope of Russian-related trade, including cargo destinations and sources.  Traders and other key players will be empowered to conduct business with confidence, and in accordance with new, rapidly evolving restrictions. Companies and vessels flagged by the Windward database as connected to Russia will be flagged in the platform as “Moderate Risk” (Amber). 

The platform’s analytics tools will support organizations in analyzing and flagging crude oil and other potentially banned or sanctioned cargo as it is exported out of Russian and into destination countries. 

As the conflict evolves, every organization will be building their own risk approach and policy. Since the start of the invasion, organizations are increasingly making decisions not just for legal reasons, but also ESG considerations. These considerations have significant implications on a company’s reputation, and customer and employee retention. Windward’s Maritime AI platform allows every company to configure, monitor and adjust their practices based on their business preferences and the evolving trade restrictions.

“Windward is committed to providing our customers with the utmost visibility during these turbulent times,” said Ami Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Windward. “As the fog of the conflict and increased sanctions make conducting trade even more complex, we will continuously update our platform so our customers can continue to conduct business with confidence.”

Windward’s Maritime AI solution is powered by advanced machine learning and behavioral analytics models, empowering clients across the government, finance, shipping, energy sectors, and beyond to optimize business practices and efficiently navigate all aspects of maritime risk in real-time.

Windward offers a much-needed level of certainty and confidence to entities’ that have been impacted by the conflict. As such, Windward is offering its Maritime AI platform to new users for a two-week period, at no cost and without any required commitment.