Forensic Due Diligence
When a bank engages in the purchase of another organisation, a client or a portfolio, acquires shares, enters into a co-operation-agreement with another organisation, or even takes a minority stake in another organisation, it runs the risk of entering into an unexpected and potentially harmful situation. For this reason, forensic specialists should be involved on a thorough due-diligence process before any significant transaction is completed.
Some questions you should consider in terms of transaction risk are:
- Is the legislation respected, especially concerning money laundering regulations, corruption and/or conflicts of interest?
- What are the risks of fraud and what controls are in place?
- What about the specificities of the different markets and/ or sectors in which the bank operates?
- What is the degree of actual knowledge concerning the reputation and commercial ties of your transaction partner?
- During the talks, do you have all the information available in order to negotiate optimally?
- How to set up an effective and relevant scoreboard for due diligence?
Our involvement can be either independently or as a part of a team. We operate on the buyer’s side or, in certain cases, on the vendor’s side.
The working process comprises a thorough analysis of the operational specificities for the purpose of establishing a risk assessment and/ or discovering potential fraudulent and unethical elements, including the essential aspects of client acceptance and client monitoring. We also search for reliable information concerning the reputation of the people and organisations involved.
