Martijn van den Berg joins Zuyderzee Capital

Zuyderzee Capital, the specialized investment and advisory services company focused on maritime and logistics, announced a new strategic initiative intended to broaden the overall consulting service offering to its client base: Operational & Administrative Advisory.

Martijn van den Berg joins the firm as Director responsible for the new business unit.

Martijn joins Zuyderzee Capital having spent more than 24 years at ABN AMRO Bank and its predecessors including many years in the international asset-based lending division where he gained valuable experience in the area of Client Acceptance and Know-Your-Customer (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD), loan administration and cash management & payment services. Prior to this, Martijn headed the Fortis Bank Securities Handling mid-office team.

“The unveiling of our enhanced suite of services comes at a point in time where the regulatory and administrative pressure on businesses has never been greater. Regulation requires financial institutions to have more stringent KYC and CDD requirements, there has been the introduction of the Ultimate-Beneficial-Owner (UBO) register across Europe, there is more diligence on so-called high-risk-country money transfers and many other regulations. We see a large opportunity to assist businesses in addressing the burden ensuing from this; failing to manage this may not only mean missed opportunities but can cause real harm to a company,” says Henk Detailleur, senior managing partner.

Thijs Slavenburg, managing partner, adds, “Our new initiative compliments our Corporate & Business Management activities to investment companies and platforms. However, with this new initiative we are aiming at businesses in any industry sector providing support e.g. to open bank accounts or structure and negotiate cash management terms with financial institutions.”

“CDD is also more and more required in many international trading and other businesses, e.g. review of a counterparty in a charter agreement. Also, loan agreements become larger, contain clauses relevant to many departments in a company and have many conditions and reporting to comply with. We are able to add a lot of value to streamline all this,” adds Michiel Steeman managing partner.

Martijn van den Berg comments, “The banking industry is constantly changing, and increasing regulation may have a negative impact on business continuity. We assist and support businesses effectively complying with these regulations in a cost-efficient manner and assist companies implementing or reviewing cash management operations or banking systems.”