Need to formalise processes to fight fraud

COMPANIES expanding into regional markets will need to develop formal processes to identify and assess potential fraud risks in their target markets, say industry watchers.

These include having to carry out due diligence to better understand the foreign business partners and parties that will conduct business on their behalf.

"As long as people have material needs and wants, there will be fraud. The challenge for companies is mitigating the risks fraud presents to an acceptable level but they can never banish it altogether," said Owen Hawkes, partner at KPMG in Singapore.