Mr Ng, 44, is the chief executive of Et-China, a leading travel services group. He is being questioned over the alleged misappropriation of company assets.
The company is based in the tax haven of Jersey and listed on the AIM stock exchange in London and has a joint venture with China's biggest airline, the state-owned China Southern.
A statement by Mr Ng's company and posted on the internet said he had been detained by Guangzhou police as part of their investigations.
"At present, Et-China has no further information about the cause of his detention. As far as Et-China is aware . . . Matthew Ng has not been charged with any offence," the statement said.
Mr Ng's detention follows the arrest and conviction of Rio Tinto's chief iron ore salesman in China, Stern Hu.
Along with three colleagues, Hu was found guilty of taking bribes. Nine months ago he was sentenced to 11 years in a Shanghai prison. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson last night confirmed "the detention of a 44-year-old Australian man, a long-term resident of China, on Tuesday, November 16, on suspicion of embezzling".
"Consular officers in Guangzhou visited the man in detention on November 18 and will continue to monitor his welfare," the spokesperson said.
At Et-China's annual meeting in April, Mr Ng said that in March the company had identified a fraud that had been committed by an employee in GZL during the course of last year.
Before he co-founded Et-China in 2000, Mr Ng, a father of two young children, worked as an investment banker in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, including roles at the Commonwealth Bank and First KL Capital.
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