Hong Kong’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has updated its whistleblowing policy to reflect the growing attention of the public.
The policy is designed to ensure protection of the personal identities of Whistleblowers so as to increase their confidence in the security and secrecy of handling of their reports. The FRC has a dedicated Whistleblowing webpage with an online form for submission of Whistleblower reports about potential wrongdoing or misconduct in financial reporting or audits of listed entities.
FRC CEO Marek Grabowski said: “Whistleblowers are typically individuals with an insider’s view of listed entities or their auditors. They are therefore an important and highly valued source of intelligence to the FRC. Through our new policy, we aim to ensure an efficient flow of intelligence from this important channel.”
FRC chair Kelvin Wong said: “As an independent and effective financial regulator, we encourage the public to come forward to report financial misconduct without fear or intervention. Confidence from whistleblowers is pivotal to the FRC’s ability to take proactive regulatory action to protect the public interest.”
