Forty-two percent of corporate fraud is detected by tips.  Insiders know better than anyone what is going on at Volkswagen, for instance.  Since the 2007-8 financial crisis, whistleblowing is on the increase.  How it is treated by the governments of countries varies enormously worldwide.

Some countries like Canada have weak laws protecting whistleblowers. Turkey has strong ones.  Yet whistleblowers have more protection in Canada.  The laws do not always indicate the degree to which it’s safe to suggest corruption.

After a whistleblower in Britain revealed corruption at HBOS, he suffered severe emotional consequences.  As a result, British regulatory authorities have insisted that companies they oversee have provisions for employees to safely report transgressions directly to the regulators and that companies have a post for a “whistleblower’s champion.”

Germany and Switzerland are particularly tough on whistleblowers.  Germany is now covered by the best practice guidelines from the Council of Europe, a group of 47 countries in Western and Eastern Europe.

The US, with strong protections, has a very uneven record.  The strength of the banking lobby in the US makes whistleblowing risky if you want to keep your job.