The eyes of the entire European compliance community were on Munich this week. The first virtual European Compliance & Ethics Conference (ECEC) took place at the EQS Group's Munich headquarters where more than 25 experts from all over Europe joined to present and discuss exciting compliance and ethics topics in keynote speeches, presentations, national breakout sessions and a closing panel discussion. Of the 5,000 compliance professionals from across the globe who registered for the online conference, 2,700 attended live; all other registrants can view the ECEC at a later date using the replay function.

Achim Weick, CEO and founder of EQS Group, was overwhelmed by the huge response: "We knew that in this industry, which is still young in Europe, there was a desire to exchange ideas internationally - but we never in our wildest dreams expected such huge interest."

The ECEC, which right from its debut has established itself as one of the largest conferences in the industry, received a high accolade from none other than Professor Christian Strenger, also known in Germany as THE corporate governance expert. In his keynote speech, he compared the event in terms of size and professionalism with the annual general meeting of a Dax corporation.

One focus of the ECEC was the topic of whistleblowing. In an interview with Dan McCrum, the investigative journalist at the Financial Times, who in his series of articles entitled "House of Wirecard" uncovered the accounting fraud of the Dax group of the same name, it became clear what reprisals whistleblowers can face if they are not protected. "Therefore companies should not see regulations like the EU Whistleblower Directive as a burden. In the end, companies benefit if they accept anonymous reports, because in doing so they meet the high ethical standards of their business partners and also their employees", explained Marcus Sultzer, Board Member at EQS Group.

On one important point speakers such as Dr. Klaus Moosmayer, one of the world's most renowned ethics experts and responsible for risk and compliance management at Novartis, James H. Freis Jr., who initiated the global restructuring at Wirecard as interim CEO after the scandal was uncovered, and Christian Hunt, founder of Human Risk in the UK, were in agreement: a holistic approach to ethics and compliance includes making people aware of these issues. "Human risk is the largest single risk facing organizations. The best way to minimise this risk is by increasing our understanding of how and why decisions are made," said Hunt.

A final conference highlight came at the end when Le Groupe La Poste was awarded the ECEC Award 2020 for its MyEthics app and Ethics Barometer. The international jury recognised the major commitment of the French Post Office to communicate the company's ethical principles and values to each and every employee - from the mail carrier to the manager. EQS Group created this award to increase awareness of outstanding and innovative compliance projects.

ECEC 2021 will take place on 6th October 2021. Preregister here to reserve your place: www.ecec-conference.com

Contact:

Marcus Sultzer
Member of the Management Board
[email protected]