Last year, more than 3,000 people contacted the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (FMA). This included complaints about companies and general questions about the financial market. Whistleblowers were an important source of information.
They came up with 234 tips that mainly related to investment fraud, followed by the banking and credit sector and the securities regulator. “Our web-based whistleblowing platform is an important source of information for regulators. The information often shows that there are serious grievances at supervised companies. It guarantees the whistleblower absolute anonymity, but at the same time enables anonymous communication between the authority and the whistleblower via a secure mailbox,” said Helmut Ettl and Eduard Müller of the FMA board in a press release. In this way, complaints can be identified early and damage can be limited or completely prevented.
For example, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets is responsible for the supervision of banks, insurers, securities and pension funds. Another area is bank restructuring; In the event of impending bankruptcy, the FMA takes care of the settlement. On Friday, the authority took stock of 2023 in a broadcast.
Investment fraud is on the rise
The suspicion of investment fraud, which was also reported by the whistleblowers, has been increasing for years, it says. The only positive is that only one in four people said they had been a victim of fraud last year. The largest damage amounted to 1,601,400 euros, the average damage was about 45,000 euros. To combat fraud, the financial markets regulator has, among other things, published investor warnings, reported on current scams and provided tips for prevention. In most cases, the fraudsters pretended to be employees of an authority, including the FMA.
Other questions and complaints regarding accounts and payment transactions, investments, securities, real estate and consumer loans, as well as life and property insurance. “It is striking that reports of violations in the securities sector have been increasing significantly for years,” the FMA said. Some messages turned out to be without content.
Better protection for whistleblowers
Last year, the government passed a law that should provide better protection for whistleblowers. It provides internal and external reporting points for whistleblowers in the public sector and in every company with at least 50 employees.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
