A comparison of cyber risk disclosure in the banking sector between South Africa and China

Abstract

This study is focused on analysing and comparing the practices of cyber risk disclosure within the banking sector of South Africa and China. It evaluates the requirements in both countries and highlights the importance of risk disclosure, and specifically cyber risk disclosure, in the banking sector. The information for this study was obtained by means of document analysis from the 2018 annual reports published by the individual banks. A checklist was developed as a measuring instrument to evaluate the disclosure practices. The results showed a distinct difference between the levels of disclosure of each country, specifically with regards to cyber risk. Further, results also indicate that the type of reports published by South African banks are of a higher quality when compared to those of the banks in China.