Ankaa partners with identity proofing platform to offer digital verification for seafaring roles
Manchester and London, July 21, 2022: Leading European provider for identity proofing, IDnow, has announced Ankaa as its latest UK channel partner. As one of the first fully automated solution in the maritime sector, the partnership will enable Ankaa to quickly and efficiently confirm the identities of candidates applying for jobs at sea providing comfort to operators, owners and financial compliance.
The entirely automated processes offered by Ankaa, now including identity proofing, have significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to onboard a candidate by 60%. For example, onboarding a new candidate used to take 45-50 minutes per crew member, using Ankaa this has been reduced to just 11 minutes.
Working with IDnow, Ankaa can now offer a holistic, end-to-end digital onboarding solution to its maritime customers, enabling them to meet the various legislative requirements and streamline typically complex processes including job advertising, documentation collation and now identity proofing.
Ian Livingstone, Founder and Managing Director at Ankaa, comments: “Ankaa has offered significant savings in manual administration and vastly improved data flows between clients, recruitment team and the employer. In recent years, the regulatory focus has widened and all entities across the maritime sector and the related supply chains, including crew providers, have been advised by regulators across the world to significantly improve their due diligence and compliance programmes to avoid breaching global sanctions.
“The new feature ensures maritime employers can further enhance their substantive employment decision, whilst ensuring fiscal compliance with banks and fiduciary authorities is maintained. The feature incorporates compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF), as well as Anti-Bribery and Corruption legislation of the various jurisdictions in which our clients operate.
“When searching for a company to partner with, we looked across the market and found that IDnow had a superior interface. The ease of use was a high priority for us to ensure a smooth user experience, and IDnow’s AutoIdent system delivered,” he adds.
Via Ankaa’s platform, candidates are directed to a portal which streamlines the entire recruitment and onboarding processes; from there, they upload their locational documents, certificates and information about previous assignments needed to successfully apply for a role, which often involves more than 30 pieces of documentation. Using IDnow’s AutoIdent with an AML screening solution, Ankaa can then verify the candidate is who they say they are. These checks are also vital in order to confirm the identity of any beneficiaries of a seafarer’s pay, which can often be a spouse or family member. Via IDnow’s AML and KYC technology, Ankaa is now able to show who is on-board a vessel and where their payment is sent to.
James Hudson-Dale, Partnerships Manager at IDnow, adds: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Ankaa at such a pivotal time for the maritime industry as it looks to set the benchmark for digital recruitment and onboarding. Previously, recruiters would engage in complex and lengthy processes including scanning, email exchanges and paper documentation; however, Ankaa is disrupting this standard by delivering all aspects via a simple tech platform.”
