Counterparty Risk — An Underestimated Threat
Every company that works with other businesses faces counterparty risk. An unreliable supplier who fails to deliver on a contract. A buyer who does not pay. A partner who turns out to be on a sanctions list. A company about to declare bankruptcy. An entity associated with individuals convicted of economic crimes.
Traditionally, mitigating these risks required commissioning due diligence from a lawyer or a business intelligence agency — a costly and time-consuming process that is impractical for everyday transactions. AI and integration with public registries change this equation entirely.
Public Business Registry Infrastructure
Many countries maintain rich public business registry infrastructure. National court registries contain full company data, board histories, and information on insolvency proceedings. Sole proprietorship registries, waste management registries, and VAT whitelists provide additional verification layers. Tax identification verification tools help confirm active taxpayer status and registered bank account numbers.
ESKOM.AI integrates all such sources into a single interface — you query a company, and the system queries all registries in parallel, returning a consolidated report in a fraction of a second.
Automatic Verification in Seconds
Integration with public registries through APIs enables automatic counterparty verification at the moment of onboarding or before every transaction above a threshold. The system checks:
- Legal status — whether the company exists, its legal form, whether it is in liquidation or insolvency
- Management and representation — who is authorized to represent the company, whether registry data matches the persons signing the contract
- Tax status — whether the counterparty is an active taxpayer, which bank account number is registered
- Ownership structure — who is the ultimate beneficial owner
- Sanctions screening — whether the company or its owners appear on EU, OFAC, or UN sanctions lists
Continuous Monitoring of the Counterparty Portfolio
One-time verification is not enough — a counterparty's situation can change between onboarding and the next transaction. A continuous monitoring system automatically tracks registry changes across the entire counterparty portfolio and issues immediate alerts on events such as:
- Initiation of insolvency or restructuring proceedings
- Changes in board composition or ownership
- Appearance on sanctions lists
- Loss of active taxpayer status
- Initiation of enforcement proceedings
Integration with ERP and Procurement Systems
Automated due diligence delivers the greatest value when built into business processes, not as a separate tool. Integration with the ERP, CRM, or procurement platform means that counterparty verification is invisible to the user — it happens automatically when creating a new supplier or customer. A transaction with an unverified counterparty or one flagged with system warnings simply cannot proceed without deliberate approval from an authorized person.
Benefits for the Compliance Department and the Board
Automating due diligence radically changes the workload of the compliance department. Instead of manually checking every counterparty, the compliance officer focuses on cases flagged by the system — those requiring human judgment. A full audit trail of every verification documents the company's due diligence. In the event of a dispute or regulatory proceeding, you have proof that verification processes were functioning correctly.