The central bank is likely to expand the scope of its drive
against money laundering by including sectors such as securities,
insurance, real estate, legal services and lottery.
A People's Bank of China (PBOC) statement said on Friday: "(We)
will strengthen anti-money laundering checks targeted at securities
and insurance institutions."
The central bank will study the possibility of including some
non-financial sectors such as legal services, real estate and
lottery, too, into its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism
financing framework, PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan told a 23-member
inter-departmental meeting on anti-money laundering.
The country still needs to improve its anti-money laundering law
that took effect from January 1 this year, he said.
In the next stage of the drive, the country will focus on
revising articles on money laundering and terrorism financing in
its Criminal Law to make them more practical and feasible, Zhou
said.
Efforts will be made to improve efficiency in investigation,
prosecution and ruling in cases involving money laundering and
terrorism financing.
The possibility of setting up a bearer securities declaration
system with the Customs will be studied, too, the central bank's
statement said.
The central bank and the customs offices will set up a network
to ensure relevant information are reported to each other.
It will coordinate and cooperate with financial information
centers of other countries, too, and work jointly with them to set
up a mechanism for preventing illegal cross-border capital flow,
the statement said.
China has achieved "breakthroughs" in recent years in its
anti-money laundering drive, Zhou said.
Apart from passing the anti-money laundering law, China has also
issued rules on controlling terrorism financing by telling banks to
report suspicious transactions to the authorities.
(China Daily November 10, 2007)
