Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or member of an organization who reports misconduct to people or entities that have the power to take corrective action. Generally the misconduct is a violation of law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest: fraud, health, safety violations, and corruption are just a few examples.

Whistleblowing is based on internal information that is communicated and therefore is clearly a breach of the loyalty.

The use of official and public information to raise risks is not whistleblowing as everyone with public-spiriteness may have legally access and state comments on such information that is the visible part of the iceberg. This is the reason why inaction is not acceptable and decision-makers that do not take corrective action should be dismissed.

The procedure, that is not in the European culture, is required for companies that must comply with the Section 301 (4) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate governance i.e. companies that require their financial records and statements to be certified by the US stock exchange.

See the Opinion 1/2006 on the application of EU data protection rules to internal whistleblowing schemes in the fields of accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters, fight against bribery, banking and financial crime (European source)