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COMPLIANCE BREAKFASTS HIGHLIGHTS

Compliance Breakfast with the ICA, March 10, 2021
Tim Tyler, Head of Qualifications ICA, joined us as the main guest at the Compliance Breakfast with the ICA on March 10 and presented the internationally recognized, professional qualifications awarded by ICA - the International Compliance Association, in collaboration with the Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.
 
In the second part of the event, Mr. Tyler, as an expert in the field of financial crime, presented us issues related to established approaches to compliance management, from the point of view of today's challenges and lessons from the past. 
 
The enrolment to obtain the advanced professional qualifications is still possible. More information is available here.
 
You can see the materials from the event below. 
 
Compliance Breakfast with Ivan Gale, December 16, 2020

At the last event in 2020, the Compliance Breakfast, on December 16, 2020, we virtually discussed whistle-blowing in Slovenia in the light of the current situation. Above all, we were interested in how we deal with whistle-blowing practice in companies and what is the role of compliance professionals in this. In addition, we debated about the readiness of Slovenian organizations for the EU Directive on the whistle-blower’s protection. Ivan Gale joined us as the main guest of the event. At the end, we also wrote down some compliant New Year's vows.

Compliance breakfast with ICA in Zagreb and Ljubljana, February 11 and 12, 2020:

In Zagreb and Ljubljana, we reunited a community of compliance professionals from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, who strive for higher professional achievements, with the aim of a more detailed presentation of internationally recognized, professional qualifications in the field of business compliance and financial crime prevention, presented to us by Andrew Clark, MA , from the International Compliance Association ( ICA) . Read more here.

Pre-holidays Compliance breakfast: How we do compliance:

The last event of the 2019, the Compliance breakfast, took place on Thursday, December 19, in Cafe Slamič, on Kersnikova ulica in Ljubljana. In the pre-New Year's atmosphere, professionals who presented the compliance programs in their companies, joined us: mag. Mojca Logar, Head of Law / Compliance, LIDL Slovenija, d.o.o. k.d., mag. Andrej Šercer, Director of Risk Management and Compliance, Vzajemna zdravstvena zavarovalnica, d.v.z. and Rok Praprotnik, AICA, Director of Compliance and Integrity, NLB d.d. You can read more about them here. At the end, we discussed plans for 2020 and looked at the overall state of compliance practices in Slovenia, based on a pilot survey.

See more photos in the gallery.

Compliance breakfast with ICA in Zagreb and Ljubljana, March 6 and 7, 2019

The presentations used by our guest Andrew Clarke at the event are available here: ICA Hot Topic AML Feb19.Slovenia in Slovenia March 19 ICA Briefing Event slides . See also a short video and photos from Zagreb and Ljubljana below.

Zagreb, 6 March 2019
Ljubljana, 7 March 2019
Compliance breakfast, May 2018: On criminal and misdemeanor liability of legal entities
Compliance breakfast, March 2018: With ICA and ICT on the global ICA community and education for ICA Advanced Certificate in Business Compliance

Two events took place in Zagreb and Ljubljana, which were intended for a detailed presentation of the certification programs that are available in Slovenia from 2018 onwards. Tom Perry from ICA and Jonathan Bowdler from ICT also presented the benefits of membership in the global ICA compliance community. Jonathan Bowdler, who has a 17-year career in compliance, also shared with us his views on the “culture of compliance” and what the role of compliance professionals is in it. We are proud to have connected the local community of compliance professionals with these reputable and experienced international organizations.

December Compliance breakfast: Tone from the top:

Our guest this time was Ms. Jenny Schmigale , Compliance Manager at Scandlines. In addition to compliance management, she is also responsible for risk management in the company and for coordinating the field of internal audit.

In the company of fellow risk managers and internal auditors, we discussed with the guest the importance of the tone from the top and how we can help the management to provide it both at the preventive level and at specific events. (14-12-17)

Compliance breakfast, November 2017: #compliancebreakfast with journalists:

This time we invited journalists.

• What should compliance pay attention to when building a risk protection system in relation to the general public? Do we understand the role and effects of social media well enough?
• How do journalists think about what they are most interested in and what they expect in case of detected violations?
• Are they also interested in good stories and how to communicate them?
• Can we rely on objective and credible reporting in our environment?
• What impression do familiar stories from the front pages leave us? How can the compliance profession contribute to building trust?

We talked about this and other things with coffee and croissants with Anžet Voh Boštic, an investigative journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of Pod črto. (26-11-17)

Compliance breakfast, may 2017: Compliance 2.0

This time the theme of the Compliance Breakfast was “Compliance 2.0”, which is a term that is supposed to mean a new stage in the development of the profession and the profession of compliance. We have focused on the trends for the profession of compliance and the development and change of good practices of compliance and business ethics.

With us was guest Annie Wartanian Reisinger, a law graduate from Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C. For the past decade, she has been practicing law in Washington and in an international setting. She specializes in anti-corruption legislation, export control, investigations and compliance, and works in law firms as well as a lawyer for Fortune 50 companies. (19.06.2017)

Compliance breakfast, march 2017: EICE hosted #compliancebreakfast with regulators

At EICE, we strive to create opportunities for dialogue with various stakeholders, including regulators, so that we can better understand their expectations regarding the role of compliance and business ethics experts. At the same time, we have the opportunity to present our work and the challenges we face. We therefore invited regulators from various fields, such as insurance, banking, securities markets, as well as personal data protection, market and labor inspections, etc., to Compliance breakfast.

The invitation was kindly accepted by dr. Mojca Piškurić from the Insurance Supervision Agency, mag. Andrej Tomšič, Deputy Information Commissioner and Tomaž Rotovnik from the Bank of Slovenia, and representatives of the ATVP were also present.

The focus of the debate, led by Andrijana Bergant, was that banks should further emphasize their compliance and ethics efforts in their risk management reports, and that continued (diplomatic) efforts should be made to ensure the independence of the function in order to be the regulator's attention focused on "market conduct" in the field of insurance, and that the IP Office will want a lot of cooperation with the commissioners who will be responsible for the protection of personal data under the forthcoming regulations. (24/03/2017)

Compliance breakfast, December 2016: How will compliance and internal audit professionals work together to improve their environments in 2017?

Last Compliance breakfast of 2017 was moderated by Mateja Geržina, Director for Human Resources and Compliance from the holding company Triglav INT. In the company of Tatjana Habjan, an experienced auditor, and Matjaž Hafner, a compliance expert, she led a discussion on various aspects of cooperation between the two functions. We extracted the goals we pursue in this collaboration, shared different views and experiences, and debated about dividing lines and points of contact between the two functions. At the end, we drew 5 conclusions regarding the opportunity for even better cooperation between the compliance and internal audit functions in 2017, taking into account trends and current and changing challenges of the environment in which we operate.

Compliance breakfast, march 2016: Risk and compliance management points of contact:

The compliance function and the implemented system of comprehensive risk management are indispensable components of a successful corporate governance system. Therefore, this time, in co-organization with the SI.RISK Association, we talked about:

  • how the functions are placed in the organizational structure of the company,
  • where are the key points of contact between the two functions and where are the differences,
  • what is the biggest advantage of cooperation and
  • how cooperation is put into practice,
  • what should be the profile or. competencies of the compliance expert or risk manager - whether the competencies differ if it is a financial or non-financial institution.

Participants were mostly from the financial sector, energy, telecommunications and insurance; Compliance breakfast, 10.03.2016

Highlights from the Compliance breakfast, December 2015

In a pleasant morning atmosphere, we debated the current case of Volkswagen. EICE guest, Boštjan Okorn, explained the essence of the fraud committed by the named corporation. The heart of the problem is that we do not have adequate legislation in the field of car exhaust pollution in Europe and much less control. This is also why the fraud was only discovered by a US regulator.


Participants agreed that the corporation took advantage of the t.i. gray box, unfortunately not in a way to act fair (“even if no one is watching”), but by deception. The entire automotive industry has a chance to reflect on how they will act in the future in the case of gray fields, even though some big competitors are currently only dealing with mutual accusations and conspiracy theories. The VW affair is probably just the tip of the iceberg (or an era as one of the participants sympathetically mistaken)? The majority opinion was that, at least in Europe, VW would not suffer any serious consequences, as consumers would forget the scam and continue to trust this brand of vehicle. In addition, Andrijana Bergant shared with the participants what she was particularly inspired by as a specialist in compliance and ethics and her seven New Year's vows. Of the latter, we highlight the two most interesting: a greater presence in the field, among co-workers and middle management, and the need to be prepared to accept all the consequences of their actions, especially unpopular ones. (04.12.2015)

 

Highlights from the Compliance breakfast, May 2015

At morning coffee and croissants, we debated the position of the compliance function in relation to the governing bodies. How do members of management bodies understand its role in companies and what do we expect from each other?

This time we therefore invited the CEOs as guests, who are those stakeholders with whom compliance officers simply need to work well and effectively. The keynote speakers, Mr. Krun Abramovich and Mrs. Katja Jelerčič, were asked questions such as: what is the understanding of the compliance function in companies, what are the differences and connections between the concepts of compliance and ethics, what do members of management expect from compliance experts, etc.
Mr. Abramović sincerely emphasized that his first and most important goal is profitable business, and that he lacks more opportunities for flexible rewarding or disciplining of employees in case of non-compliant conduct. Mrs. Jelerčič spoke openly about the efforts of our only mutual health insurance company to continue building a healthy corporate culture and to improve its reputation, which has been severely affected by the inconsistent practices of the former management of the insurance company. We also talked about how to prevent or manage the inevitable conflict of interest in situations where management is not fully committed to compliant and / or ethical conduct. It is good practice for the compliance officer to always have a direct reporting line to the supervisory board. On the other hand, participants were of the opinion that such a practice is not always the best, and that in certain cases the management should be the first and only one with which the compliance officer communicates and cooperates, even if they do not agree in certain situations. (01/06/2015)

Highlights from the Compliance breakfast, March 2015

At the meeting entitled "How does the compliance officer report on his work?" the guests, Gregor Strehovec from SKB banka d.d. Ljubljana and Rok Praprotnik from NLB d.d., presented their experience in reporting on their work. Gregor started reporting at a time when the awareness of compliance was still quite modest, so he relied mainly on the experience of colleagues from a foreign parent company. However, he soon found that the reporting system actually allowed him to design content according to his feelings, to set goals for himself and to present his work in some way through reports, so he strived and also managed to have a high level of autonomy when reporting and is also trusted by the management and supervisory bodies. However, Rok began with reporting in his organization at a time, when the level of awareness of the advantages and importance of an effective compliance policy was already at a much higher level. Nevertheless, he noted that management and control bodies are traditionally still mostly interested in the situation regarding abuses, fraud and other events that have already taken place. However, he himself began to draw attention to prevention and the future, also through his reports.

Participants agreed that through reports, compliance officers can make an important contribution to assessing the effectiveness of compliance, as well as to understand the role of this function within the company. In this way, reporting is also addressed in the guidelines for compliance management systems, ISO 19600: 2014. Without reporting, we cannot even talk about sustainable compliance and ethics. Of course, there are also challenges, e.g. “Self-censorship”, reporting on (in) sufficient resources, etc., which are completely solvable in this profession, but it is true that - unfortunately or fortunately - mostly only in the long run. (26.03.2015)

Highlights from the Compliance breakfast, December 2014

On 18 December 2014, EICE organized the first professional meeting in Ljubljana, Compliance breakfast, the theme of which was “Does managing conflicts of interest take away all personal contacts and all the fun?”

Of course, the answer to such an absolute question is NO. At the first Compliance breakfast, we debated with a 360-degree approach about what are the challenges in managing conflicts of interest regarding such a human, everyday and traditional component of business relationships - gifting and hospitality. Should the company set absolute limits on unacceptable gifts, or should it rely (only) on the judgment and self-control of employees? What are the intermediate paths and nuances, what are our experiences, views and expectations regarding the regulation of this area in the organization, as well as the business compliance function in general, and how should this function prove its effectiveness?

In a pleasant and less formal spirit, we had a one-and-a-half-hour discussion on this, which was started by four ladies with their introductory speech:
- Cvetka Selšek, President of the Board of SKB
- Ksenija Butenko Černe, Member of the Board Leka, responsible for the business compliance function
- Barbara Rudmann, member of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson SE Europe and head of business compliance for the healthcare business and
- Tjaša Kolenc Filipčič, president of the young managers section at the Manager Association.
The discussion was moderated by Andrijana Bergant.

Cvetka Selšek emphasized that, as with other things, common sense must be used in business gifts. Ksenija Butenko Černe pointed out that it is important and efficient that the purchasing and sales functions in the company are strictly separated. Barbara Rudmann presented an interesting practice, namely that the company does not gift its business partners at all, but despite this limitation, it still tries to motivate its sales staff. Tjaša Kolenc Filipčič pointed out the marketing aspect of this kind of behavior, namely that it is possible to convince the business and wider social environment even with a good story that such a way is better for everyone. (19-12-14)