Compliance communications in Switzerland

When law and reputation collide, we communicate strategically.

Reputation Affairs is your partner for crisis communications in compliance cases. We coordinate communications and legal strategy, protect your reputation during ongoing proceedings, and support you in investigations by FINMA, Comco, the FDPIC or the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. Discreet, legally aligned and with a clear focus on public perception.

Cartel proceedings, allegations of corruption, data breaches, regulatory investigations: compliance cases are particularly sensitive from a communications perspective. They combine legal sensitivity with public interest, institutional pressure with reputational risk. Every poorly chosen word can have legal consequences. Every silence can be perceived as an admission of guilt.

Reputation Affairs specialises in litigation PR and compliance communications. We coordinate communications and legal strategy so that they align and your reputation remains protected even during ongoing proceedings.

In the Swiss context, the arenas are clearly defined. FINMA conducts supervisory and enforcement proceedings against banks, insurers and other financial intermediaries. The Competition Commission (Comco) investigates cartel and market abuse cases. The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) pursues breaches of the revised Data Protection Act (revDPA, in force since 1 September 2023), which provides for personal fines of up to CHF 250,000 against the CEO, CFO and CIO. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland can prosecute companies directly under Art. 102 SCC. In addition, there are civil proceedings relating to personality rights under Art. 28 SCC.

Our services in compliance communications

Six coordinated building blocks form our compliance communications: litigation PR, reputation protection during proceedings, internal communications, external stakeholder communications, media monitoring and post-case repositioning. They interlock, but can also be activated individually, depending on the phase and severity of the proceedings.

Litigation PR

Litigation PR is the close alignment of the communications line with the legal team, with the aim of developing messages that are legally watertight and publicly credible. Good litigation PR does not mean saying everything. It means saying the right thing at the right time and setting the frame before others do.

Reputation protection during ongoing proceedings

Reputation protection during ongoing proceedings means safeguarding the reputation of companies and executives through targeted media work, strategic restraint and proactive positioning. We continuously assess which developments in the proceedings are relevant from a communications perspective and how they should be contextualised, so you never appear reactive when you do not have to.

Internal communications in compliance cases

When a compliance case becomes known, rumours often spread internally faster than official information. We support communications with employees so that uncertainty and misinformation are contained internally. We help you communicate transparently enough to maintain trust without jeopardising the proceedings.

External stakeholder communications

External stakeholder communications in compliance cases coordinates messages to investors, customers, suppliers, associations and other relevant groups. Each group has different information needs and different consequences if they are informed incorrectly or too late. We develop coordinated messages and formats that meet these differing expectations.

Media monitoring and response management

In compliance cases, the media often work with incomplete information. We closely track coverage and respond in a targeted manner to incorrect or incomplete portrayals. We assess when a correction is necessary, how it should be worded and through which channel it can be placed most effectively.

Post-case repositioning

A concluded compliance case is an opportunity to position yourself as a learning, responsible organisation. After the proceedings are concluded, we support you in rebuilding trust and reshaping the narrative. We develop a communications strategy that actively supports this restart.

How we proceed in compliance cases: five steps

Our approach follows five steps: initial assessment with the legal team, message architecture, media and stakeholder strategy, ongoing support and conclusion with a restart. This sequence ensures that communications measures always keep pace with the legal situation.

Initial assessment in coordination with the legal team

The initial assessment clarifies the legal starting point before a communications recommendation is made. What can be said? What must not be said? Where are the greatest reputational risks? We clarify these questions together with your lawyers and develop a communications baseline on that basis.

Message architecture

A message architecture defines what is said, what is not said and who speaks. It prevents different people in your organisation from making different statements, which would be fatal in a compliance case. The architecture is documented internally so that all spokespersons speak with one voice.

Media and stakeholder strategy

The media and stakeholder strategy combines proactive and reactive measures. When do we take an active position? When do we wait? Whom do we inform in advance and how? This plan provides your team with guidance for every phase of the proceedings.

Ongoing support

In ongoing support, we adapt communications to the current legal situation. Proceedings can last for months or years. We support you through every phase, respond to new developments and ensure that your communications remain consistent and credible.

Conclusion and restart

After the case is concluded, we support the restoration of trust. We develop communications measures that show what your company has learned from the case and which structural changes have been initiated.

Our team for compliance communications in Switzerland

Reputation Affairs brings together experienced communications consultants with years of practical crisis communications experience, with backgrounds in journalism, corporate communications, litigation PR and public affairs. We know the Swiss media landscape, the relevant stakeholders and how crises escalate in practice. Reputation Affairs is part of Brand Affairs AG, a leading Swiss communications consultancy based in Zurich (founded in 2006).

Reto Zangerl

Reto Zangerl

Managing Partner
Reto Zangerl

Markus Kramer

Managing Partner
Reto Zangerl

Felix Müller

Senior Counselor
Reto Zangerl

Cédric Jacot-Guillarmod

Account Director French-speaking Switzerland

Compliance case in preparation or already public?
Get in touch now

Whether you are preparing for a possible proceeding or are already in the middle of an investigation, we will analyse your situation in an initial confidential discussion, without obligation and discreetly. If desired, in direct coordination with your legal team.

Contact Managing Partner Reto Zangerl at
+41 44 254 80 00 or contact@reputationaffairs.com

Frequently asked questions about compliance communications

Compliance communications is strategic communications in situations where a company is confronted with supervisory, competition law, criminal law or data protection proceedings. It includes litigation PR (alignment with the legal team), reputation protection during the proceedings, internal and external stakeholder communications, media monitoring and repositioning after the proceedings are concluded. The aim is to protect the reputation of the company and its executives without narrowing the legal room for manoeuvre in the defence.

They align when both are led from the same table, with a shared assessment of the situation and a clear division of responsibilities. The legal department defines what may be said legally. Communications defines what must be understood publicly. Both require the same factual basis and the same message architecture. In practice, this means joint briefings before every public step, a coordinated Q&A document, uniform language guidelines for all spokespersons, and continuous coordination with every new development in the proceedings.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The answer depends on the proceedings, media pressure and the phase. In early phases with little public attention, restraint is often sensible. As soon as the media report actively or stakeholders ask specific questions, silence is no longer a neutral state, but is interpreted. We recommend three tests. First: Would our statement impair the proceedings? Second: Would silence be understandable to stakeholders, or would it look like hiding? Third: Is there a substantive misrepresentation that would cause damage if left unchallenged?

Swiss hourly rates for strategic compliance communications and litigation PR are generally between CHF 225 and CHF 450. Total costs depend on the type of proceedings, duration and complexity of the stakeholder landscape. A single FDPIC proceeding with a clearly defined set of facts can be budgeted in a manageable way. A FINMA enforcement proceeding or a Comco cartel case involving multiple markets and lasting several years will run into six figures. We calculate transparently and define mandates so that effort and impact remain in a robust proportion.

Three principles underpin internal communications in compliance cases: inform first, provide an honest assessment, give clear guidance on what to do. Inform first means reaching employees before or at the same time as the public—no one should hear it from the media first. Provide an honest assessment means naming the proceedings without downplaying or dramatising them, and openly addressing legal constraints (“At this point we cannot comment because…”). Give clear guidance on what to do means making it visible to everyone what changes for them specifically (language guidance for external parties, behaviour in response to media enquiries, points of contact for questions).

Offices & Locations

Zurich

Reputation Affairs

Mühlebachstr. 8
CH – 8008 Zurich

T: +41 44 254 80 00
E: contact@reputationaffairs.com

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Bern

Reputation Affairs

c/o Krauthammer & Partner
Hotelgasse 10, CH-3011 Bern

T: +41 44 254 80 00
E: contact@reputationaffairs.com

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Lausanne

Reputation Affairs

Route de la Corniche 4
CH – 1066 Epalinges

T: +41 21 652 50 50
E: contact@reputationaffairs.com

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Lugano

Reputation Affairs

Via Ciseri 3
CH – 6900 Lugano

T: +41 44 254 80 00
E: contact@reputationaffairs.com

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