CleverChain, the RegTech firm behind AI agents for due diligence and anti-money laundering, has entered a commercial partnership with Cedar Rose, a Coface company, to automate due diligence across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The agreement will see the two companies pursue customer opportunities across MENA, while also leaving scope to expand the relationship into selected markets in the UK and Asia.
CleverChain brings intelligence orchestration and policy-based automation to the partnership. Its platform can pull together evidence from multiple sources, match entities across different languages and naming conventions, and evaluate findings against the risk thresholds set by individual customers.
Cedar Rose adds regional business intelligence, including corporate records, ownership and control information, credit assessments and investigative intelligence. The information is collected locally and normalised to international reporting standards. The combined assessments can be traced back to the source records and the provider that supplied the information. Customers retain control over the resulting decision.
The companies are targeting several due diligence processes through the partnership, including corporate verification and know-your-business (KYB) checks, ownership and control mapping, ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) identification, enhanced due diligence, third-party and supplier onboarding, and ongoing monitoring.
MENA due diligence can present different challenges across jurisdictions, including variations in registry access and disclosure requirements. Ownership structures may also involve free-zone entities, holding companies and nominees, while differences in transliteration can result in the same company or individual appearing under multiple names.
Cedar Rose’s regional data will be incorporated into CleverChain’s automated workflows to address these areas. The partnership will also cover organisations outside financial services that need to assess third parties such as distributors, agents, suppliers and joint-venture partners. Cedar Rose holds business records covering industries including construction, energy, transport and logistics. CleverChain has also previously applied its automation in the defence and automotive sectors.
The platform operates with multiple data providers and models, selecting them according to the jurisdiction, risk scenario and use case. Cedar Rose will join CleverChain’s existing network of specialist and global information providers, while maintaining its own contractual and commercial relationships.
CleverChain chief growth officer Ermanno Ciarrocchi said, “Cedar Rose produces evidence that holds up locally, in the original language and at source. We turn that evidence into an assessment that holds up in front of an auditor or a regulator, calibrated to the customer’s own policy rather than to a generic risk model. The customer sees one coherent outcome that informs and streamlines its decision, whether concerning a customer onboarding or a supplier risk assessment.”
Cedar Rose chief sales officer Paul Costers added, “Cedar Rose has built its reputation by producing reliable business intelligence in markets where information is difficult to obtain and to verify. As a Coface company, we combine that regional expertise with the reach and institutional strength of a global player in credit risk management. Working with CleverChain creates an additional route for clients to put our information and investigative capabilities to work, in a way that complements how they already use us.”
Read the full CleverChain announcement here
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
