Counterparty onboarding
Onboard once. Trade repeatedly.
Every NJORD trade sits on a completed counterparty file. We do the screening before we quote — so the first cargo takes days of paperwork, and every cargo after it takes none.
The process
Five steps from first contact to first cargo.
Onboarding runs in parallel with the commercial conversation, not ahead of it — you do not wait for a file to open before you get an indication.
Enquiry & indication
Tell us the product, quantity, delivery basis and timing. A trader reverts with availability and an indicative level, subject to onboarding.
KYC pack exchange
We send you the NJORD corporate pack and ask for yours — the document list is below, and it is the same list a bank would ask you for.
Screening & approval
Sanctions, ownership and adverse-media screening on the entity, its UBOs and — for regulated products — the end use. Where something cannot be cleared, we say so plainly.
Terms & instruments
Contract terms, quality determination point, tolerance and the payment instrument agreed in writing. Our banking syndicate confirms the structure.
First cargo
Fixture, inspection, documents, delivery. From here on, repeat business runs on the file already built — enquiry to firm offer in hours, not weeks.
How long it takes
Driven almost entirely by how complete the document pack is on arrival. A clean pack clears screening in a few business days; regulated products add end-use verification.
What we ask for
The counterparty pack.
Standard corporate KYC — nothing exotic. Certified copies or clear scans are accepted at onboarding; originals only where a bank instrument later requires them.
- Corporate identity
- Certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles, trade licence(s), registered address evidence, and LEI where held.
- Ownership & control
- Shareholder register, group structure chart, and an ultimate-beneficial-owner declaration with identity documents for UBOs above the disclosure threshold.
- Authority
- Authorised signatory list with specimen signatures, and the board resolution or power of attorney under which they act.
- Financial standing
- Recent audited financial statements where available, or a bank reference letter for privately held counterparties.
- Regulated products only
- End-use declaration, import licences, and site handling evidence — per the controlled-lines table on the Compliance page.
Why it is strict
The file is what lets us move fast later.
A completed counterparty file is not bureaucracy — it is the asset that turns a two-week first trade into a two-hour repeat trade.
Banks issue instruments faster against counterparties already on file. Vessels fix faster when the charterer's compliance questions are pre-answered. And when a market moves, the counterparty who can lift a cargo today is the one whose paperwork was finished last month.
Screening also protects you: a house that screens its counterparties carefully is one whose other counterparties have been screened just as carefully.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by a trader.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.