China’s central bank photo:cnsphoto

 
The People's Bank of China, China’s central bank, and its branch offices fined 417 organs 628 million yuan ($96.98 million) in 2020, for failing to effectively carry out anti-money laundering measures. The fines were three times the level of the previous year.

A total of 733 organs and relevant responsible personnel were fined, up 25 percent year-on-year, with 20 of the fines surpassing 5 million yuan and 10 being over 10 million yuan. The main culprits were banks and payment institutions. 

Payment institutions were fined 263 million yuan, eight times the figure in 2019.

The reason for banks’ failure to effectively carry out anti-money laundering measures included disclosure of customer information. Problems in client identification were also noted with payment institutions, the central bank said. 

China is speeding up the revision of anti-money laundering regulations and stepping up its supervision mechanism, as well as shifting from a “rule-based” to a “risk-based” approach, the central bank said. 

Global Times