Executives in China are more afraid of risks of fraud than anywhere else in the world, finds a survey conducted by commercial investigative firm Kroll.
Some 73 per cent of China-based executives in the Kroll annual survey said they were affected by fraud, marking a 6 per cent increase from last year. The annually held global survey interviewed 768 senior executives worldwide.
China ranks the most vulnerable in 9 out of 11 fraud types, with 87 per cent of Chinese executives saying they are vulnerable to theft of physical assets or stocks, much higher than the global average of 62 per cent.
Eighty-one per cent of Chinese executives worry about theft of their corporate information, compared with the global average of 51 per cent. Some 81 per cent of Chinese executives also worry their companies face the risk of corruption and bribery, compared with the global average of 40 per cent.
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The other risks that haunt Chinese executives are: cheating by their suppliers (74 per cent); having their intellectual property stolen (71 per cent); internal financial fraud (69 per cent); misappropriation of company funds (69 per cent), conflict of interest (65 per cent) regulatory compliance (65 per cent); market collusion (64 per cent); and money laundering (63 per cent). Comparable global average on these counts range between 26 and 49 per cent.
Derek Lai, a managing partner at Deloitte, said China is still an emerging market where the corporate governance culture is yet to mature.