Whistleblowing: how to turn compliance with upcoming laws into a business advantage

Intra-company training

Who is the training for?

  • Representatives of all sectors (financial, private and public)
  • Members of the Board or management, incl. mayors and representatives from municipalities
  • Internal auditors, compliance officers or risk managers
  • Legal and HR department

Level reached

Advanced

Duration

2,00 hours(s)

Language(s) of service

EN

Goals

In October 2019, the European Parliament passed the “Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law” which should have been transposed into Luxembourgish law at the latest in December 2021. On 2 May 2023, the Bill 7945 transposing the EU Directive 2019/1937 into Luxembourg national law was adopted by Parliament in a first vote.

With the transposition of the Directive, all entities in the financial sector, private sector entities with at least 50 employees and all public entities including communes with at least 10,000 inhabitants will have to implement an internal whistleblowing system.

Even without this legal requirement, the introduction of a whistleblowing system can have numerous advantages. While many might associate it with defamation or black mouthing, it is actually an efficient instrument to detect fraud and improve processes if properly set up. According to a report of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a “tip” was the most common source to detect cases of fraud within a company.

A proper implementation can therefore be a business advantage allowing organisations to deal with internal weaknesses as soon and as efficiently as possible and to avoid any reputational or financial damages.

However, a successful whistleblowing system is not just the introduction of a hotline or mailbox for submitting reports and needs to be accompanied by the appropriate communication, procedures and trainings.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • understand the different requirements set out by the new law
  • explain the organisation of a standard whistleblowing case
  • discuss the need for whistleblower protection
  • identify the starting points within his/her organisation for the implementation of a whistleblowing system

Contents

  • Overview of the new EU Directive
  • Internal and external reporting channels
  • Already existing whistleblowing systems in other countries
  • Discussion of the different stages of a whistleblowing case
  • Criteria for the selection of a tool
  • Definition of processes and elaboration of procedures
  • Internal investigations and cooperation with authorities
  • Dos and Don’ts for the successful implementation of a whistleblowing system
  • Real life examples

Points covered

Together with the Forensics team, PwC's Academy offers a training highlighting the key requirements of the new Whistleblowing law in Luxembourg. They will also explain necessary accompanying processes to ensure a proper use of the whistleblowing system. The training will provide the participants with practical tips for the set up and operation of the whistleblowing system and for handling and investigating allegations.

Being part of the forensics team, our trainers will have first-hand experience with actual investigations and whistleblowing cases.

Additional information

This training is coordinated by Roxane Haas and Michael Weis, partners at PwC Luxembourg and will be given by directors and managers who benefit from a strong professional experience in this area.

Roxane Haas is a “réviseur d’entreprise agréé” and accountant in Luxembourg. Roxane is an audit partner at PwC Luxembourg. She has over 14 years of professional experience at PwC in particular in the context of audits of banks, PSF and investment funds. She is also in charge of the taskforce AML PwC Luxembourg and is active in local working groups (Luxembourg Association of Compliance Officers, Institute of Company Auditors and Institute of Chartered Accountants). Her skills have brought her to supervise many AML/KYC missions for major banking players of Luxembourg.
Over the past 10 years, Roxane has conducted numerous AML trainings for both national and international professional organisations.?

Michael Weis is a partner in the forensic services. Through his previous positions and projects, Michael gained extensive knowledge in the investment management and banking industries.
As a key member of the internal controls practice of PwC Michael specialises in the review of internal controls in the context of SAS 70 reviews and controls reports. He is the manager of various high-profile client assignments on internal controls reports and on Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) in the investment management industry.
Within PwC, Michael takes a key role in the AML taskforce and on internal controls work for the prevention of financial crime. He is coordinating the PwC’s Academy's “Fight against financial crime” leading training programme that regularly involves international subject matter experts (e.g. transparency international, UN Security Council, FATF, SCPC, FSA, CSSF etc.).
Through his professional qualifications he specialised in compliance related topics such as internal controls frameworks, fraud prevention/investigation and AML.

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