At least 11 Chinese financial institutions have incurred fines for failure to properly undertake money laundering work during the period from 1 – 10 August.
Securities Daily reports that the 11 financial institutions include seven banks, two insurers, one securities company and one trust company, with fines meted out to both organisations and key personnel totalling 10.65 million yuan (approx. USD$1.55 million).
The Bijie city branch of a Shanghai bank incurred a fine of 200,000 yuan for failure to conduct identification of clients or submit reports on suspicious transactions in accordance with requirements, while personnel involved received total fines of 10,000 yuan.
The Guiyang branch of a Sichuan-based bank incurred a fine of 400,000 yuan for failure to properly identify clients, properly retain client identity information and transaction records, maintain confidentiality, or submit reports in relation to large or suspicious transactions.
Relevant personnel at the bank also incurred fines worth 60,000 yuan.
Other banks fined include the Xi’an branch of a Tianjin lender and the Xi’an branch of a national joint-stock commercial bank, which incurred fines of 800,000 yuan and 1.05 million yuan respectively for failure to report suspicious transactions.
The Chinese central bank also announced on 1 August that it uncovered and punished regulatory breaches by three other banks, one securities company and one life insurer during anti-money laundering enforcement inspections of organisation headquarters, resulting in total fines of 6.62 million yuan.
