HONG KONG, June 12 (AP) -- Bank of Communications Co., China's fifth largest bank by assets, has reported a fraud case it said involved 200 million yuan (US$24.9 million, €19.7 million) at a branch in the northeastern city of Shenyang.

The Hong Kong-listed bank said in a statement on its Web site over the weekend that it was working with security authorities to investigate the case.

The case was exposed as the bank was carrying out internal audits and upgrading its customer information management system, said the statement, which provided few other details.

"We have found a case in our Shenyang branch where a customer was defrauded of funds, and a preliminary investigation shows that the amount is about CNY200 million," said the bank, 19.9 percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc.

The case was the third admission of fraud at Chinese banks in the past week.

On Friday, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. said it uncovered problems late last year with 126 million yuan (US$15.7 million, €12.4 million) worth of mortgage loans with fake collateral in Shanghai.

The Bank of China Ltd. confirmed last Monday that its branch in central Henan province discovered a case of loan fraud as well.

Banking analysts have said that risk management and corporate governance at Chinese banks are still just being put in place and that the banks face a significant risk of more bad loans building up.