In the face of various emerging money laundering methods in the financial sector, relevant authorities also need to adjust their business policies in a timely manner.
Recently, Postal Savings Bank of China announced on its official website that it will promote the governance of customer identity information for digital renminbi in accordance with the relevant policies and requirements of anti-money laundering. For personal customers with incomplete identity information, measures such as lowering transaction limits and restricting financial services will be taken against their wallets.
Today, a reporter from Cailian Press found through public channels that there are currently no other state-owned banks that have taken such measures.
On July 1st, Postal Savings Bank of China stated on its official website that in accordance with the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People’s Republic of China, Measures for the Identification of Financial Institution Customers’ Identities and the Management of Customer Identity Information and Transaction Records, and Guidelines for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing of Digital Renminbi, Postal Savings Bank of China will further strengthen the integrity and effectiveness verification of personal customer identity information for digital renminbi. The verified customer identity information includes: name, gender, nationality, occupation, residence or work unit address, contact number, type of identification document or proof of identity, number, and validity period of the document. For personal customers with incomplete identity information, failure to provide a copy of the identification document or an expired identification document without timely renewal within 90 days, measures such as lowering transaction limits and restricting financial services will be taken against their wallets.
Postal Savings Bank of China further stated that if customers still need to use their wallets normally, they can update and improve their customer identity information by uploading a copy of their identification document and updating the validity period of the document through the Digital Renminbi App or Postal Savings Bank’s mobile banking app, or by visiting any of the bank’s branches in person. After the information is supplemented and accurate, the wallet function can be restored.
An analyst from a securities bank told Cailian Press that based on his understanding, digital renminbi emphasizes controllable anonymity and security in its development, and has different levels of design. By default, users open a lower-level anonymous wallet, which generally does not require providing identity information to institutions, but has a lower usage limit and is mostly used for general consumption. If large amounts are used, real-name authentication is required. Based on comprehensive judgment, the digital renminbi identity information governance mentioned by Postal Savings Bank of China should mainly target users of low-level digital renminbi wallets. “To some extent, there are indeed money laundering risks in the anonymous use of digital renminbi.”
According to related reports, the current nationwide pilot areas for digital renminbi include Beijing, Hebei Province (the whole province), Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou City, Ningbo City, Wenzhou City, Huzhou City, Shaoxing City, Jinhua City, Fuzhou City, Xiamen, Jinan, Qingdao, Changsha, Guangdong Province, Nanning, Fangchenggang, Hainan Province, Chongqing, Sichuan Province, Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Xi’an, and other provinces and cities.
As for the usage, platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, Meituan, NetEase Strict Selection, Vipshop, Ctrip, Didi, and WeChat Mini Program have all accepted digital renminbi.
Recently, many banks have launched customer identity information governance actions.
Today, a reporter from Cailian Press found that since the beginning of this year, several banks and institutions, including Qinghai Bank, Guangdong Xingning Rural Commercial Bank, Inner Mongolia Rural Credit Cooperatives, Zhengzhou Rural Commercial Bank, Erenhot Rural Cooperative Bank, and Dengkou County Rural Credit Cooperatives, have announced the implementation of customer identity information governance actions for cardholders.
In addition, at the end of May, Postal Savings Bank of China also issued an announcement regarding the governance of personal customer identity information. At that time, Postal Savings Bank of China stated that in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People’s Republic of China, Regulations on the Real Name System for Personal Deposit Accounts, Measures for the Identification of Financial Institution Customers’ Identities and the Management of Customer Identity Information and Transaction Records, and other laws and regulations, the bank will verify the authenticity, integrity, and validity of personal customer identity information starting from April 2024. Starting from August 2024, based on the previous governance and business restrictions on personal customer information, the bank will further impose business restrictions on personal customers whose identity information is still incomplete, not true, or whose personal identification documents have expired or whose authenticity is in doubt.
Cailian Press also noted that on June 26th of this year, the Party Branch of the Anti-Money Laundering Bureau of the People’s Bank of China released an article entitled “Comprehensively Promote Anti-Money Laundering Work in the New Era to Provide Solid Guarantee for Financial Development and Stability”. In the article, the People’s Bank of China pointed out that it will coordinate the promotion of anti-money laundering legal system, work mechanisms, prevention systems, criminal crackdown, international cooperation, and other work, and promote the leap from following international standards to leading in certain areas and from being “rule-based” to being “risk-based” in China’s anti-money laundering cause.
In addition, according to Zhang Xiaojin, the director of the Fourth Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, at a press conference at the end of last year, although the number of financial crime cases has decreased, it is still at a high level, and there has been an increase in virtual currency money laundering crimes. Money laundering, illegal fund payment settlement, and illegal foreign exchange trading cases have increased, and using virtual currency transactions to transfer funds across borders has become a new method.
The aforementioned analyst believes that as a backbone force in the financial industry, banks must inevitably assume more responsibilities in anti-money laundering. However, objectively speaking, anti-money laundering actions also require the cooperation of more departments. With the endless activities of financial crimes, anti-money laundering is also a long-term task.
This article is sourced from Cailian Press.
