Whistleblowers have few legal protections in Switzerland but companies are increasingly paying heed to them anyway - in their own interest.
Headlines are always guaranteed when whistleblowers go public. A few may remember Christoph Meili, the night security guard who in 1997 prevented documents at the then Union Bank of Switzerland from being shredded during the height of the Holocaust asset crisis that had been enveloping Swiss finance.
A more recent whistleblower goes by the name of Frances Haugen. The Facebook project manager accused her employer of using fake algorithms in a way that enabled hate speech, contributing to extremism and violence. The most prominent whistleblower of all is probably Edward Snowden, who uncovered the worldwide espionage activities of the US intelligence community.
The DWS Case
In finance, a key whistleblower was Desiréé Fixler, the sustainability head of Deutsche Bank's asset manager DWS. She gained international recognition after being fired at the end of her six-month probation when she publicly accused the asset manager of painting an overly positive picture of the implementation of its sustainability strategy.
She now works at a non-profit that advises venture capital companies on environmental, social, governance criteria. She believes that DWS was a turning point for the industry and is convinced that the speculative bubble around it is bursting.
Hapless Government
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