Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates airline, has signed an agreement to work with Accuity to help automate and streamline its regulatory compliance screening operations, thereby increasing efficiency and improving the speed of service to its customers.

Accuity is a leading global provider of financial crime compliance, payments and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions.

Emirates Sky Cargo has implemented Firco Trade Compliance, an Accuity solution that screens shipment documentation such as airway bills against sanctions, dual-use goods and regulatory watch lists within a single interface.

The new solution enhances Emirates SkyCargo’s current process, enabling the business to automate approximately six million compliance checks each month. This will significantly improve efficiency, while enabling Emirates to uphold the extremely high compliance standards that sit at the heart of its ethos.

“Our top priority is to continue to adhere to regulatory requirements and manage our screening obligations accurately. Working with Accuity has enabled us to screen our very high volumes of shipments more efficiently ensuring that we comply with all international regulations,” noted Emirates’ senior VP of cargo operations worldwide, Henrik Ambak.

Firco Trade Compliance is an award-winning solution that was originally developed to enable banks to detect sanctions risks in trade finance transactions. Through collaborative innovation with clients, Accuity has adapted the offering to cater to the freight industry’s large-scale and highly complex operational requirements.

Cargo operators are responsible for conducting due diligence on the parties and items involved in every shipment they facilitate. This includes verifying the legitimacy of the sender and recipient, checking for dual-use or controlled goods (for example, those that could have a military purpose), and ensuring the shipment is not going to or coming from a prohibited location.

Commenting on the deal, VP of financial crime screening at Accuity Sophie Lagouanelle said that the project “marks a significant milestone for Accuity in our strategy to expand our screening offering to the cargo industry. By working in close partnership with Emirates SkyCargo, we are redefining best practice and setting a new standard of compliance for other cargo operators to follow.”

Emirates will now be able to screen shipment documentation against a variety of regulatory lists, such as the OFAC sanctions list and the EU dual and controlled goods list.

Firco Trade Compliance also allows the analysis of bespoke datasets so, for example, Emirates will be able to screen goods against an endangered wildlife list, all within the same system.

“Emirates SkyCargo is firmly committed to the prevention of illegal wildlife trafficking and with the functionality of the Firco Trade Compliance system, we will now also be able to more effectively identify any wilful misdeclaration of wildlife goods that are shipped illegally,” added Ambak.