Recital 7

(7)In the area of financial services, the added value of whistleblower protection has already been acknowledged by the Union legislator. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, which exposed serious shortcomings in the enforcement of the relevant rules, measures for the protection of whistleblowers, including internal and external reporting channels, as well as an explicit prohibition of retaliation, were introduced in a significant number of legislative acts in the area of financial services as indicated by the Commission in its communication of 8 December 2010 entitled ‘Reinforcing sanctioning regimes in the financial services sector’. In particular, in the context of the prudential framework applicable to credit institutions and investment firms, Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴ provides for whistleblower protection which applies in the context of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵ .