ECB Publishes First Annual Whistleblowing Report

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published its first annual overview of whistleblowing activity across the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), covering cases assessed by the ECB and national competent authorities in 2025.

Approximately 40% of SSM-related reports concerned significant institutions under the ECB’s direct supervision, while around 59% concerned less significant institutions. Fewer than 1% involved alleged breaches by supervisory authorities themselves. Among reports for which an area of infringement could be established, 63% involved internal governance. The most commonly cited governance issues involved risk management and internal controls, as well as management body functions, including fit-and-proper concerns.

Whistleblowing reports are forwarded within the SSM to the appropriate supervisory authority and followed up, although not all contain sufficient evidence to justify supervisory action. Of the follow-up measures taken in 2025, 82% consisted of supervisory investigations, including on-site inspections and requests for information. Supervisory measures accounted for a further 16%, while 2% involved enforcement or sanctioning proceedings.

“Whistleblowing has become an important and integral part of European banking supervision,” the ECB concluded. “While many whistleblowing reports received by the relevant authorities pertain to tasks that are not related to banking supervision, SSM-related reports do have the potential to uncover breaches that the supervisor might otherwise not know about or only detect at a later stage.”