Past ECS Events 2022
General ECS Events
Annual General Meeting
On 24 March 2022, ECS successfully held its 9th Annual General Meeting of Members online followed by an open forum on key compliance topics and trends and a virtual apèro. Click here for a few pictures of the event.
ECS Year-End Reception
ECS members enjoyed a virtual evening together on 24 November 2022.
In addition to interacting around virtual drinks and discussing current compliance topics, there was a round of “Speed Networking”, where the members were able to meet in smaller groups in virtual rooms.
ECS International Conference – Third party risk management
ECS organized a conference on October 27/28, 2022 around “third party” risks. This conference was aimed at practitioners working with suppliers and other third parties.
The conference covered topics such as controls, risk management processes, and expectations fromm regulators. The perspectives given were those from compliance monitors, (ex) prosecutors in Switzerland and compliance practitioners how to handle corruption, sanctions, data privacy, IT security and sustainability /ESG third party risks. There were over 20 panel sessions with high level speakers and discussion breakout sessions. The conference attracted 128 participants and ECS received very good feedback from sponsors and event participants.
Working Group (WG) Events
Webinar: ISO’s new GRC Standards
On 17 February 2022, Dominique Casutt and Daniel Bühr moderated the discussion on the ISO’s new GRC Standards and the key takeaways followed by an update by Austrian Standards, Peter Jonas and Eva-Maria Steininger, on Certification of CMS.
Success factors of a speak-up culture
On 28 February 2022 the ECS working groups “Whistle-blowing” and “Life Sciences” organized a joint event to talk about success factors of a Speak-up culture. Patrick Trepanier, director of Compliance from FIFA, gave an overview of the unique FIFA governance structure and Speak-up channels.
Juliette Noto, as Head Analysis and Compliance of Swiss Federal Intelligence Services, provided insights into the challenges of a Speak-up campaign at a Federal Intelligence department where employees deal with sensitive information and are more inclined to work secretly rather than act openly and speak-up.
Legal and Compliance Challenges when Collaborating to Develop and Offer Digital Medical Application
On 20 May 2022,. Jan Wesiack, Collaboration Lead, Roche, and Anne-Catherine Hahnran a workshop to discuss legal and compliance challenges when collaborating with partners to develop digital medical applications.
Relying on their own and the participants’ practical experience, the group looked at issues related to data governance, regulatory compliance, and HCP and HCO interactions, all of which are crucial for the success or failure of collaboration projects in the digital space.
Challenges and benefits of new compliance business models
On both September 30 and October 17, the members of the working group Life Sciences came together at Bayer Consumer Care in Basel to exchange thoughts and discuss the benefits and challenges of these new compliance business models. Patrick Wellens, co-chair of the Working Group, gave insights on the new compliance business models at Bayer after which the working group had a lively and interactive discussion.
Transparency and lobbying registers
Members of the WG met at Bayer Consumer care AG in Basel on 16 November 2022. Under the moderation of WG co-chairs Claudia Seitz and Patrick Wellens, the event featured Alexander Meier who had earlier worked at Novartis in various functions amongst others as Head of Legal, Global and Pharma Drug Development. He touched on the various laws/ regulations and Codes focus requiring increased transparency, including on clinical trial data, pricing and reimbursement of pharma products, and lobbying activities.
Federal whistleblowing hotline at the Swiss Federal Audit Office
On 13 April 2022 the WG on whistleblowing held an event on Federal whistleblowing hotline at the Swiss Federal Audit Office and Mr Eric-Serge Jeannet, Vice Director EFK was the speaker. At the event Mr. Jeannet presented the whistleblowing unit of the Confederation at the EFK.
Furthermore, the WG whistleblowing jointly organized with the WG life science the following online event: “success factors of a speak-up culture”.
Whistleblower investigations in the age of Big Data and artificial intelligence
On 20 June 2022 the WG on Whistleblowing held a discussion on Whistleblower investigations in the age of Big Data and artificial intelligence. The community of compliance professionals and investigation experts led the discussion and shared their insights and experiences with digital technologies. It also invited its members to events organized by third parties.
Investigative journalist Philip Whiteley discussed the playbook of six retaliatory techniques used against whistleblowers to cover-up malpractice. Whistleblowers Alison McDermott and Peter Duffy then described their own experiences as whistleblowers and how these techniques have been used against them.
The WG on Leadership, Communications and Talent Management, organized the 7th Roundtable on 02 September 2022 and tackled the provocative subject of “Is Compliance Costing Too Much? Are Compliance Functions not Spending their Budget Wisely?”
The discussion was Moderated by ECS Chairman Gabe Shawn Varges and thereafter the participants met for after-event networking drinks.
Return on Compliance
Die noch im Herbst 2021 durchgeführten qualitativen Experteninterviews mit Unternehmensvertretern aus den Branchen «Gastgewerbe», «Banken», «Versicherungen» und «Industrie» wurden zu Beginn des Jahres ausgewertet. Die Auswertung der qualitativen Interviews hat wertvolle Erkenntnisse in Bezug auf mögliche Erfolgsfaktoren von Corporate Compliance geliefert. Ferner konnten wichtige Punkte betreffend die Definition des Unternehmenserfolgs und den Wertbeitrag von Corporate Compliance identifiziert werden. Auch wurde ersichtlich, welche besonderen Herausforderungen im Bereich Corporate Compliance vorhanden sind und wie diese möglicherweise bewältigt werden können.
Die in dieser qualitativen Interviewphase identifizierten Erfolgsfaktoren von Corporate Compliance wurden im nächsten Projektschritt mit den Erkenntnissen aus der Literatur abgeglichen. Mittels einer Gap-Analyse wurde eruiert, welche Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede die Literatur und die praktischen Erkenntnisse liefern und welche Lücken allenfalls noch vorhanden sind. Diese Lücken werden sodann mittels einer zusätzlichen Literaturrecherche geschlossen.
Anschliessend startete die Erarbeitung des Strukturgleichungsmodells für die quantitative Phase des Forschungsprojekts. Validiert wird das Strukturgleichungsmodell mittels einer schweizweiten Umfrage mit einer Stichprobe von ca. 200 Unternehmen. Das so erarbeitete und validierte Strukturgleichungsmodell und dessen Abbildung in einem Reifegradmodell wird einige der in den Interviews genannten Herausforderungen adressieren und dadurch mithelfen, diese zu bewältigen. Das Reifegradmodell soll es ermöglichen, den Ist-Zustand bzw. den Reifegrad der Corporate Compliance zu identifizieren. Darauf basierende Handlungsempfehlungen werden aufzeigen, wie die Unternehmen den Soll-Zustand erreichen und ihre Corporate Compliance effektiv und effizient ausgestalten können.
Translation by DeepL Pro
The qualitative expert interviews with company representatives from the “Hospitality”, “Banking”, “Insurance” and “Industry” sectors, which were still being conducted in the fall of 2021, were evaluated at the beginning of the year. The evaluation of the qualitative interviews provided valuable insights with regard to possible success factors of corporate compliance. Furthermore, important points concerning the definition of corporate success and the value contribution of corporate compliance were identified. It also became apparent which particular challenges exist in the area of corporate compliance and how these can possibly be overcome.
The success factors of corporate compliance identified in this qualitative interview phase were compared with the findings from the literature in the next project step. A gap analysis was used to determine which similarities and differences the literature and practical findings provide and which gaps, if any, still exist. These gaps were then closed by means of an additional literature search.
Subsequently, the development of the structural equation model for the quantitative phase of the research project started. The structural equation model will be validated by means of a nationwide survey with a sample of approximately 200 companies. The structural equation model developed and validated in this way and its mapping in a maturity model will address some of the challenges mentioned in the interviews and thereby help to overcome them. The maturity model should make it possible to identify the current state or maturity level of corporate compliance. Recommendations for action based on this will show how companies can achieve the target state and shape their corporate compliance effectively and efficiently.