The Integrity Fund may support a variety of projects, as long as they contribute to the achievement of the promoted objectives. For example:

  • Studies and expert reports
  • Research projects
  • Development of concepts, tools and instruments to promote compliance
  • Handbooks and guidelines for companies
  • Handbooks and guidelines for administrative bodies and government institutions (for example, public procurement)
  • The development of compliance courses and training courses (including online tools)
  • Financial support for meetings, conferences and congresses
  • Implementation projects for concepts / pilot projects

Project ideas

The KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund is open to all types of project ideas that are consistent with its purpose. Of particular interest are projects that address the following topics:

  • Solutions for dilemma situations (for example for sales employees)
  • Methods for due dilligence of business partners
  • Implementation of a zero tolerance strategy - without being penalised in competition
  • Digitization as an instrument for increasing efficiency in compliance management (use of AI, Robotics, Data Mining etc.)
  • Projects on preventing corruption, especially in case of offers to state institutions and companies
  • Projects to ensure a correct bidding process for tenders for contracts and procurements
  • Instruments and tools for successful implementation of compliance in companies
  • Analysis of the decisive factors for conduct with integrity of employees in companies
  • Incentive schemes to promote and reward the integrity of employees and executive managers
  • Projects promoting the integrity of business conduct of companies in the industry (for example, ethics codes, integrity pacts, integrity boards, etc.).
  • Monitoring collective actions to ensure proper market behaviour
  • Projects showing how misconduct can be detected and investigated (for example, in case of suspected corruption)
  • Projects demonstrating solutions to the free-rider problem (‘eliminating competitive disadvantages of compliance’)
  • Methods for measuring the integrity of companies (for example, integrity indexes)
  • Repercussions on the reputation of the company due to employee or company misconduct that becomes known (anticompetitive behaviour, corruption) or due to corresponding court judgements
  • Projects to raise awareness and bring expertise up to date at the highest corporate levels (supervisory boards, administrative boards)
  • Projects to teach and promote international best practice and create a level playing field based on international standards (ISO 37001, ISO 19600, ISO 31000, etc.).

Project applications can be submitted in german or english to the following email address: christoph.lengwiler@integrityfund.ch

Depending on the type of project, the project applications must contain at least the following information:

  • Title of the project - Brief description of the project (max. 500 characters, for website)
  • Applicant institution (including address details of the responsible project leader)
  • Project manager (including address details, short CV)
  • Planned start and planned duration of the project
  • Amount of the requested financial contribution
  • Other companies/institutions involved in the project
  • Other sources of funding for the project
  • References (publications, confirmations, recommendations)
  • Project description

Depending on the nature of the project, the application must also be accompanied by a project description, which should include roughly the following content:

  • Compliance topic/occasion/project
  • Project goals and any research questions
  • Contribution/benefit of the project to/for the integrity of business practices
  • Approaches and methodologies
  • Description of the individual work packages or modules of the project (including methodology, deliverables, time required, financial requirements and chronological milestones)
  • Planned number of work hours and financial budgets (including hourly rates)
  • Project organisation (project steering, project management, any supervisory groups)
  • Details of the people involved in the project (including function and approximate share of project work)
  • Project controlling and quality assurance
  • Risks in the project and measures to avoid them
  • Reporting (for example, quarterly or semi-annual interim reports)

The Management Board makes decisions on how the KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund is allocated to particular projects. In addition to other criteria, key factors also include whether the project applications demonstrate a contribution towards the purpose of the Integrity Fund, whether the projects deal with compliance-related topics and whether the people entrusted with the project have the necessary technical and methodological skills.

The Management Board may impose conditions on the granting of financial contributions from the Integrity Fund and all projects are detailed on this website. The Management Board must be informed about project progress and project results.

The decisions of the Management Board are final and cannot be disputed. All rights are reserved. There is no right to support. Appropriate internal processes ensure the independence of the Management Board.

Members

Responsible for examining the submitted project applications and for decisions on the granting of financial contributions from the Integrity Fund.

Prof. Christoph Lengwiler has been a Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the Lucerne School of Business (Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts, Hochschule Luzern)since 1987. He established the Institute for Financial Services Zug IFZ in 1997 and managed it until 2017. Its offerings include training courses in compliance management and economic crime investigation. His main areas of research and consulting are bank management and corporate governance along with corporate and real estate finance.

From 2001 to 2016, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lucerne Cantonal Bank (as Vice Chairman from 2011). He has been a member of the Bank Council of the Swiss National Bank since 2012 and a member of the Board of Directors of the Berne Cantonal Bank since 2016. He is also Vice President of swissVR, an Association of Board Members. Christoph Lengwiler studied business administration and economics at the University of Zurich and got his Ph. D. with a dissertation in banking.

Sandra Middel is the Head of Group Compliance at Clariant responsible for Legal and Ethical Compliance, Data Privacy and Information Security. She brings over 15 years of experience in Compliance and Risk Management in mature and emerging markets in setting up and implementing compliance programs in various companies. Before joining Clariant she has been with Syngenta developing the Compliance program and governance for the EMEA region. Her first assignment in Compliance was to build up the Compliance and Risk management System for ING in Russia. 

She is a board member of Ethics and Compliance Switzerland, the first NGO in Switzerland bringing together private and public sector ethics professionals to encourage best practice sharing and a Co-Chair of the Swissholdings Compliance Working Group fostering knowledge exchange in the industry. She is an active speaker on various conferences, panels and lecturer.

Christian Gehling is a partner of SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz Rechtsanwalt AG, Frankfurt, specializing in corporate and capital market law advice. He and his team have broad experience in advising listed corporations, M & A transactions, ECM and corporate governance. Christian Gehling has been a lawyer and partner in national and international law firms in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt since 1992.

Approved funding for the following projects to date:

The projects intends the translation of three publications in German, French and Spanish. 

Project Partner:
Guendalina Dondé, IBE Institute of Business Ethics, London

Project Duration: April 2022 to March 2023

The project intends to increase the understanding of selected LkSG regulations in the field of human rights and to put them on a solid foundation.

Project Partner:
- Prof. Dr. Marc-Philippe Weller, 
- PD Dr. Leonhard Hübner
- Dr. Markus Lieberknecht, University of Heidelberg, Germany

Project Duration: June 2022 to August 2023

Many Latin American countries have already introduced corporate criminal law and also regulate the consideration of compliance systems in a variety of ways. For the first time, the international study compares the legal systems with these uniform questions in a systematic way.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Katharina Beckemper, Universität Leipzig together with Prof. Dr. Adán Nieto Martín, Universidad Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spanien

Project Duration: January 2022 to June 2023

Practical implementation concept for an "ethics board as a service" to enable access to qualified ethics knowledge to as many companies as possible (including SMEs in particular).

Project Partner:
Cornelia Diethelm, Center for Digital Responsibility CDR, Switzerland

Project Duration: January 2022 to September 2022

Collection of practical cases for situations with moral dilemmas, swissVR Guide «Integrity und ethics on Boards of Directors», swissVR Guide «Conflicts of interest as a Board Member», swissVR Impulse «Ethical aspects of digital transformation».

Project Partner:
Cornelia Ritz Bossicard, swissVR Association, Prof. Dr. Manfred Stüttgen, Dr. Felix Buschor, Hochschule Luzern – Wirtschaft, Lucerne School of Business, Switzerland, Cornelia Diethelm, Center for Digital Responsibility CDR

Project Duration: January 2022 to December 2023

Develop a guide with recommendations, references and good practices for companies to improve the effectiveness of integrity programs from the perspective of good governance, in particular for prevention of bribery and corruption, of economic crime and to improve market behaviour.

Project Partner:
Caio Magri, Istituto ETHOS, São Paulo, Brasil

Project Duration: March 2022 to December 2023

The project provides knowledge and concrete recommendations to the following questions: Which misconduct is more likely to be tolerated in organizations ? Which ways of misconduct reporting are commonly followed? Which contexts and measures can increase the willingness to report misconduct?

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Markus Pohlmann, Max-Weber-Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University, together with DICO (Deutsches Institut für Compliance)

Project Duration: January 2022 to June 2023

Support of the African Journal of Business Ethics, the Conference Proceedings and the Business Ethics Podcasts. 

Project Partner:
Bryan Robinson, BEN-Africa – The Business Ethics Network of Africa


Project Duration: November 2021 to December 2022

Web Platform with information on whistleblowing regulations and practice in different european countries.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Bartosz Makowicz, Viadrina Compliance Center, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Project Duration: January 2022 to July 2022

Development of an international Master Program «Compliance, Ethics & Integrity» in cooperation with different Universities.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Bartosz Makowicz, Viadrina Compliance Center, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Project Duration: January 2022 to December 2022

Support of a planned conference on third party du diligence in 2022

Project Partner:
ECS Ethics and Compliance Switzerland

Project Duration: January 2022 to December 2022

Update and revamp of the IBE Say No Toolkit

Project Partner:
Guendalina Dondé, IBE Institute of Business Ethics

Project Duration: October 2021 to March 2022

Update of an investigation of 2012, computer assisted Telefone Interviews with 525 swiss companies on their exposure to corruption in foreign markets.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Christian Hauser, FH Graubünden, Dr. Martin Hilti, Transparency International Schweiz

Project Duration: September 2021 to December 2022

The main project objectives are to identify relevant issues in current compliance practices which can be targeted by nudging and to offer recommendations based on nudging and the ethical compass.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek, HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Project Duration: January 2022 to December 2023

The project intends to develop Tools and Skill Sets for Managers in order to improve ethical decision making (incl. managing in the grey): Empowerment, Enablement, Effectiveness

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Grüninger, KICG – Konstanz Institute for Corporate Governance, HTWG Hochschule Konstanz 

Project Duration: October 2021 to September 2023

The goal is to build up competencies and develop an application for a Innosuisse Project. This project intends to develop a blacklisting platform, which provides transparency and allows to minimise money laundry risks.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Hunziker, Aline Renda, Hochschule Luzern, Zug

Project Duration: May 2021 to December 2021

The project seeks to empower and provide women in business and compliance from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with education, training and networking opportunities in anti-corruption compliance.

Project Partner:
Thomas Stelzer, International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA)

Project Duration: October 2021 to September 2023

Development of Guidelines on Due Diligence of Business Partners of swiss SME.

Project Partner:
Dr. Martin Hilti, Alex Biscaro, Transparency International Schweiz

Project Duration: January 2022 to October 2022. 

With this project, the FHNW wants to investigate the applicability and feasibility of blockchain-based whistleblowing. We aim to develop and test a solution that enables whistleblowing in a secure, anonymous, immutable, and non-traceable way, enabled by blockchain technology that could potentially be integrated into already existing or newly created compliance programs as an anti-corruption measure.   

Project Partner: Prof. Dr. Petra Asprion, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW

Project Duration: May 2021 to January 2022

This project will undertake research to identify the content and best method of delivery for a corporate investigator accredited qualification. The research will enable the ACi to deliver an internationally recognised accredited qualification to its members. 
 
Project Partner
Steve Young, CEO, Association of Corporate Investigators (ACi) 

Project Duration: April 2021 to December 2021

The project fosters integrity management by applying methods developed for deep learning and natural language processing to the field of integrity research. Data scientists and integrity experts develop new metrics that automatically identify corruption-related issues in organizations’ internal documents and internal digital communication. 

Project Partner
Prof. Dr. Christian Hauser and Prof. Dr. Albert Weichselbraun, Fachhochschule Graubünden, Switzerland

Project Duration: January 2021 to June 2022

The project works out on an evidence basis which anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) compliance measures demonstrably counteract corruption in and by companies. By means of expert ratings, intervention studies and risk assessment the project will investigate which common ABC compliance measures are effective and sustainable and which are not.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Markus Pohlmann, Dr. Sebastian Starystach, Max-Weber-Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University
Prof. Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer, Prof. Dr. Florian Artinger, Dr. Niklas Keller, Simply Rational GmbH, Berlin
Markus Jüttner, Vice President Group Compliance E.ON SE, Essen 

Project Duration: January 2021 to end of 2022

Realisation of a «Whistleblowing Handbook» and a «Ethics Ambassador Handbook».

Project Partner:
Professor Deon Rossouw, The Ethics Institute, Pretoria - South Africa

Project Duration: May 2020 to the end of 2021

Detailed comparison and gap analysis between the BnEI Manual and ISO 37001 standard. Recommendations for adjustments of the BnEI manual.

Project Partner:
KPMG, GoodCorporation, Banknote Ethics Initiative BnEI.

Project Duration: March 2020 to June 2020

Corporations are confronted with a variety of anti-corruption rules worldwide. This project endeavours to catalogue these different rules taking a normative and empirical approach. The goal is to assess the possibilities and limits of harmonizing these standards in the future. For the time being, corporations and law enforcement authorities will be given a guideline of how to navigate the challenges of divergent policies and regulations. 

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Alexander Baur, M.A./B.Sc. (Universität Hamburg), Dr. Philipp Maximilian Holle (Universität Bonn), Prof. Dr. Jens Koch (Universität Bonn), Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Kubiciel (Universität Augsburg)

Project Duration: April 2020 to March 2022

Production of five videos that will be used for one of the two virtual teaching blocks of the new CAS Compliance and Integrity. Those videos will cover “difficult compliance situations” and range from dealing with authorities to digitalization and leading investigations.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Guido Palazzo, HEC, University of Lausanne

Project Duration: October 2019 to May 2020

Development and dissemination of guidelines and checklists on corruption prevention and control for Swiss companies. The total of four publications are orientated to the needs of SMEs and cover the main fields of action from risk analysis and the development of appropriate actions to their implementation.

Project Partner:
Dr. Martin Hilti, Alex Biscaro, Transparency International Schweiz

Project Duration: July 2019 to September 2021

The study shows which new instruments in Swiss criminal law can be used to create incentives for companies to cooperate more proactively with law enforcement authorities in the event of corruption offences. The aim is to promote the detection of corruption offences and to mitigate the criminal consequences and damage to the reputation of co-operating companies. The study is intended to serve as a reference work for initiating the necessary legislative adjustments.

Project Partner:
Dr. Martin Hilti, Transparency International Schweiz

Project Duration: October 2019 to March 2021

Analysis and best-practice sharing of select existing self-assessment and certification Collective Action Initiatives (CAIs); Analysis and best-practice sharing of select existing self-assessment and certification Collective Action Initiatives (CAIs); Support for a pilot certification Collective Action initiative in an emerging-market country.

Project Partner:
Gemma Aiolfi, Mirna Adjami, Basel Institute on Governance

Project Duration: September 2019 to December 2020

Development and promotion of a dedicated online resource page on Integrity Pacts; Building up a database of sample Integrity Pacts, practical case studies on lessons learned from some Integrity Pacts that operate (or that have operated) around the world, available to anyone interested in developing an Integrity Pact;Development and publication of additional user-friendly and action-oriented tools to promote Integrity Pacts, such as one-pagers, brochures, and other materials

Project Partner:
Gemma Aiolfi, Mirna Adjami, Basel Institute on Governance

Project Duration: May 2019 to December 2019

The research project is supporting medium-sized enterprises and larger SMEs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland in their internationalisation projects by analysing the challenges of rule conformity and ethical behaviour in high-risk regions and developing practical strategies and management instruments (integrity toolkit). 

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Grüninger, KICG – Konstanz Institute for Corporate Governance, HTWG Hochschule Konstanz Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung

Project Duration: May 2019 to April 2021

Data scientists and integrity experts will design methods that automatically identify integrity-related issues in text corpora (e.g. media and corporate publications) in order to locate and analyse past gaps in integrity management and blind spots in current integrity management programs of firms.

Project Partner:

Prof. Dr. Christian Hauser, Prof. Dr. Albert Weichselbraun, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft, HTW Chur

Project duration: December 2018 to November 2020

The project aims to promote compliance awareness in business and to provide support in the implementation of Compliance Management Systems (CMS): Development of a new basic model for Compliance Management Systems (CMS); Evaluation, revision and amendment of the existing DICO guidelines; Development of working aids for compliance officers; Knowledge transfer via webinars and expert workshops.

Project Partner:

Prof. Dr. Bartosz Makowicz, Viadrina Compliance Center, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) in co-operation with Deutsches Institut für Compliance e.V. (DICO), Berlin

Project duration: January 2019 to December 2020

The project aims to develop a scientifically sound index that allows to evaluate companies with regard to their integrity. Then the possibilities and limits of the implementation of such an index will be evaluated.

Project Partner:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Lütge, TUM School of Governance, Technische Universität München

Project duration: September 2018 to August 2020

The project examines to what extent proactive and transparent action during a corporate crisis helps to prevent reputational damage from the company or even to turn it into a reputational advantage. 

Project Partner: 
Prof. Dr. Mark Eisenegger, Universität Zürich, Prof. Dr. Monika Roth, Hochschule Luzern

Project duration: Juli 2018 to December 2019

Development of a model for measuring integrity, that could be integrated as part of enterprise risk management. The project intends to provide a practice-oriented management tool.

Project Partner: 
Prof. Dr. Linard Nadig, Prof. Dr. Stefan Hunziker, Hochschule Luzern, Zug

Project duration: Mai 2018 to April 2019

Development of a new Diploma Course in Corporate Compliance at the Luzern Business School.

Project Partner: 
Prof. Dr. Linard Nadig, Dr. Philipp Henrizi, Hochschule Luzern – Wirtschaft, Zug

Project duration: April 2018 to September 2018

A report has been written for submission to the BnEI showing the possibilities and limits of investigations of suspected compliance violations of third parties in tenders, as well as premises of ‘legal privilege’ with respect to the investigation results.

Project partners:
Uwe Dolata, Prof. W. Angelika Kreitel, Prof. Josef Scherer The Safety Profiler – DSP, Würzburg

Project duration: December 2017 to March 2018

This project supports the conception and promotion of integrity pacts as a standard compliance measure to be implemented for all procurement activities within the banknote industry. An integrity pact is a contract between the customer (for example, central banks, public printing works) and the bidders in a procurement procedure, and governs the rules to be observed on either side in order to safeguard fair competition.

Project partners:
Antti Heinonen, Banknote Ethics Initiative BnEI, Brussels Gretta Fenner, Basel Institute on Governance, Basel

Project duration: end of 2016 to end of 2019

This project will develop a framework concept for an effective compliance culture in governing bodies. To this end, behavioural patterns of executives and awareness deficits among employees that could prevent the creation of such a compliance culture are to be identified. Building on this, specific recommendations for action are to be derived.

Project partners:
DIEP Deutsch Institut für Effizienzprüfung GmbH, Willich (German Institute for Efficiency Testing) Prof. Peter Ruhwedel

Project duration: April 2018 to September 2019

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