Taiwanese companies reported fewer economic crimes than their global or regional peers, but more cases of bribery and procurement fraud, a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan showed on Wednesday last week.
A quarter of Taiwanese respondents said they were the target of economic crimes, far fewer than their global peers’ 50 percent and the Asia-Pacific region’s 46 percent, PwC’s annual crime and fraud survey showed.
This might be because Taiwanese firms are generally cautious when responding to fraud, but it might also indicate that they are less aware of the risks associated with fraud and economic crimes, the firm said, adding that it might also indicate that control measures are relatively ineffective.
Misappropriation of assets is still the most common type of fraud in Taiwan, accounting for 39 percent of all fraud, followed by bribery and corruption at 35 percent, the survey showed.
Bribery and corruption is higher than the global 25 percent rate and the Asia-Pacific region’s 30 percent, it found.
Of economic crime victims, 17 percent said they have suffered from procurement fraud, it showed.
Bribery, corruption and procurement fraud in Taiwan could be higher, PwC said, adding that about 31 percent of Taiwanese respondents believe they have lost business opportunities due to competitors’ bribery practices, higher than the global 22 percent and 26 percent in the region.
In addition, 26 percent of Taiwanese economic crime victims reported being the target of intellectual property theft, much higher than the world’s 7 percent and the region’s 6 percent, the survey showed.
This might be because 40 percent of the Taiwanese respondents are in the technology and manufacturing industries, compared with 17 percent in the world and 20 percent in the region, PwC said.
“Taiwanese companies, regulators and law enforcement agencies should pay attention to the issue, because the science and technology industry makes great contributions to the nation’s economy,” PwC Taiwan head Joseph Chou (周建宏) said.
Sixty-eight percent of local respondents that reported being victims of economic crimes said that the most devastating type come from within, as 79 percent were committed by middle and high-level managers.
The high ratio of ranking perpetrators poses a challenge to fraud control, because they are privy to a company’s confidential information, the company said.
The London Metal Exchange (LME) discovered bags of stones instead of the nickel that underpinned a handful of its contracts at a warehouse in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in a revelation that would deliver another blow to confidence in the embattled exchange. The amount of metal represents just 0.14 percent of live nickel inventories on the LME, worth about US$1.3 million at current prices, so the immediate effect on the metals markets is limited. However, the shock announcement has much wider implications. In an industry riddled with scandals, the LME’s contracts are viewed as unquestionably safe. The news that even a few of
Oil on Friday posted its worst weekly loss since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as banking turmoil poisoned investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery dropped 2.36 percent to US$66.74 per barrel, falling 12.96 percent for the week, the largest drop in almost three years. Brent crude for May delivery fell 2.32 percent to US$72.97, posting a weekly loss of 11.85 percent. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and troubles at Credit Suisse Group AG drove investors from risk assets, with oil-options covering accelerating the sell-off. “Crude action this week reminded many of how quickly the commodity can be decimated by
Singapore pushed New York off the top spot for the strongest growth in residential rents in the final quarter of last year, fueled by a supply crunch and strong demand. The city-state saw annual rents jump 28 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, Knight Frank said in a report. New York followed with 19 percent growth, while London and Toronto took the third and fourth spots, a survey of prime residential rents across 10 cities showed. Singapore’s soaring rents — driven partly due to a lack of supply of new housing during the COVID-19 pandemic — have been a source of
US-based mobile chip designer Qualcomm Inc yesterday opened a manufacturing engineering and testing center in Hsinchu, expanding its presence in Taiwan. Qualcomm also expects to accelerate its purchases in Taiwan, which already rose to NT$240 billion (US$7.9 billion) last year, up from NT$90 billion five years earlier, and should hit NT$300 billion next year. The center is to provide services for the supply chain in the semiconductor industry, Roawen Chen (陳若文), senior vice president and chief supply chain and operations officer of Qualcomm, said at the facility’s inauguration ceremony. It is Qualcomm’s largest and most advanced engineering testing center outside of the company’s