One of China’s big five lenders has just incurred further censure from banking authorities for regulatory infractions, bringing the total number of penalties it’s received this year to eight in total.
The Qinghai banking regulatory department announced on 13 April that the Bank of Communications branch bank for the central Chinese province had been penalised for regulatory infractions in relation to the misappropriation of working capital loans.
Authorities determined that the misappropriation of funds had taken place due to inadequate post-loan handling, and issued BOC’s Qinghai branch with an administrative fine of 200,000 yuan (approx. USD$29,500).
The latest misstep by BOC brings the number of regulatory penalties incurred by its branches this year to eight in total, for multiple infractions including improper loan management.
Just last month authorities hit BOC’s branch for the coastal city of Ningbo with a 1.43 million yuan (approximately USD$210,000) for improper conduct.
The meting out of this latest penalty to BOC’s Qinghai branch arrives just as the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) steps up efforts to supervise the lending sector and curb risk amongst financial institutions, issuing a whole slew of heavy-duty mandates and circular in under a week.
The investigatory spotlight may even have shifted to CBRC itself, with senior official Yang Jiacai reportedly missing without consistent explanation for the past week.
