Due diligence
SFC provides enhanced due diligence services to clients worldwide.
Enhanced due diligence
We provide enhanced due diligence services to help our clients mitigate risks and meet their regulatory obligations. Our services span all industries and jurisdictions. We regularly work on complex research assignments involving sensitive regulatory, political and industry issues.
Actionable intelligence
Our robust methodology helps up deliver in-depth information and consistently reliable facts. We produce reports designed to provide actionable intelligence by setting out clear and structured information addressing the specific questions asked by our clients.
Recent assignments
Conducting a background check on a candidate to a sensitive position
The client was a family office serving the high-profile owner of an industrial group. The family office was in the final stage of recruiting a new staff member for an administrative position. The job was not senior but sensitive by essence. Before making a final decision, the family office asked to conduct a detailed background check of the candidate after obtaining their consent.
Research involved a comprehensive review of publicly available information in two countries, as well as interviews with former employers. No detrimental information emerged from the research and the client proceeded trustfully with the hiring.
Assessing the reputation of a potential intermediary in an art deal
The client was a law firm acting on behalf of an art gallery. Before engaging in a transaction, the client wished to establish a detailed profile of a German lawyer specialized in art laws.
Research showed that the subject person became a trusted advisor of a foreign high-net worth individual, before being accused of appropriating assets that he was holding for his client. His law firm grew famous for taking on controversial and high-profile clients from Eastern Europe. The subject person eventually developed a specialization in selling artworks as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and was also known as an art collector. Based on the information obtained, the client realized that some level of caution was required before proceeding.
Assessing the reputational risks associated with the head of an African conglomerate
The client was a Swiss-based multinational company. It intended to establish a partnership with an influential businessman in an African country, in the perspective of developing their activities locally and facilitating contacts with the authorities. Before engaging in the partnership, the client asked us to conduct research into the local businessman to identify any red flags and risk factors.
Our research showed that the subject person was the head of a major conglomerate in his home country and had the ear of the presidential administration. However, he displayed a track record of business partnerships gone sour. Controversies linked to human rights abuses in industrial plants owned by him were also noted. Our research was based on a comprehensive review of publicly available materials, including some records that were accessible only through in-country field inquiries.
