Financial statistics, account management, payment settlement, data security... Ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the central bank disclosed four penalty notices, naming one major state-owned bank, two joint-stock banks, one city commercial bank and their responsible personnel, with combined fines and confiscations exceeding 50 million yuan. In one case involving a major bank, the illegal gains corresponding to the violations amounted to less than 300 yuan, yet the fine exceeded 17.43 million yuan. Overall, these penalty notices focus on anti-money laundering, data security, account management and other dimensions, with accountability pursued against responsible individuals growing increasingly stringent.
An analysis found that a total of 32 responsible individuals across the four banks were penalized, covering relevant business departments at headquarters and branch institutions, spanning front-end lines such as wealth management and private banking, credit card centers, and corporate finance departments, as well as middle and back-office departments including internal control and compliance. In the view of industry insiders, the rapid development and application of new technologies and new business formats are changing the regulatory difficulty of financial violations, and against the backdrop of the upgraded Anti-Money Laundering Law and related supporting systems, strengthened regulation of banks and other financial institutions by relevant authorities will be further reinforced.
Four Banks and 32 Responsible Individuals Penalized in Concentrated Action
Administrative penalty decisions recently disclosed by the central bank show that Postal Savings Bank of China, China Guangfa Bank, China Bohai Bank, and Bank of Jiangsu were all subject to administrative penalties earlier this month. Among them, Postal Savings Bank of China was warned and publicly criticized for a total of 10 violations including violating financial statistics management regulations, violating account management regulations, and violating bank card acquiring business management regulations, with illegal gains of 290.2 yuan confiscated and a fine of 17.433 million yuan. China Guangfa Bank was also warned for "ten counts" of violations, with illegal gains of 16,217.47 yuan confiscated and a fine of 17.124 million yuan. China Bohai Bank was warned for 11 violations, with illegal gains of 85,107.25 yuan confiscated and a fine of 5.3437 million yuan. Bank of Jiangsu was warned and publicly criticized for 13 violations, with illegal gains of 1,782.2 yuan confiscated and a fine of 9.371 million yuan.
In terms of violation types, first is anti-money laundering and customer identity verification, where multiple banks failed to perform customer identity verification, failed to submit large transaction reports as required, or engaged in transactions with unidentified customers or opened anonymous accounts. Second is data statistics and fund occupation, where violations of financial statistics management regulations and occupation of fiscal deposits or funds were relatively common across the four institutions. Third, account management and bank card acquiring business management were also high-incidence areas for violations, with violations of anti-counterfeit currency business management regulations and credit information management regulations also appearing among the charges against all four banks. Finally, regarding data and network/clearing security, the four banks were penalized for violating data security management regulations, and Bank of Jiangsu and China Bohai Bank were additionally penalized for violating network security management regulations.
The characteristics of these penalty notices are, on one hand, the diverse types of violations and relatively large penalty amounts, with combined fines and confiscations against the institutions approaching 49.38 million yuan; on the other hand, the broad coverage of "dual penalties," with accountability generally reaching specific positions and individuals. Taking Postal Savings Bank of China as an example, Ji Mougang from the network finance department (now the agriculture, rural and farmer finance department), Wang Mouxi from the operations data center, Kou Mou from the credit card center, Cao Mouwang from the personal finance department, Shen Mousheng from the internal control and compliance department, Wu Mouxiong from the corporate finance department, Zhou Mou from the investment banking department, and Liu Mou from the Beijing Tongzhou District Songzhuang branch office were held responsible for certain violations and collectively fined 220,000 yuan. In the penalty notice for China Guangfa Bank, 12 responsible individuals including Jiang Mou from the asset custody department, Chen Mouxiang from the credit card center, Xie Mousheng from the retail credit department and retail business management department, Zhou Mou from the inclusive finance department, Wang Mou from the credit card center, Yang Mouming from the operations and process management department, Cui Mouhui from the credit card center, Sun Moutao from the corporate finance department, Song Mouwei from the inclusive finance department, Li Mouyi from the wealth management and private banking department, Zhang Mouguang from the retail finance department, and Qin Mou from the legal and compliance department were collectively fined 555,000 yuan. Adding the 350,000 yuan in fines against six responsible individuals at Bank of Jiangsu and 130,000 yuan against six responsible individuals at China Bohai Bank, a total of 32 responsible individuals across the four banks were fined 1.255 million yuan combined, with some also receiving warnings. Calculated on this basis, the combined fines and confiscations from the penalty notices received by the four banks and their responsible individuals amounted to approximately 50.63 million yuan.
These Areas Are Regulatory Priorities
Compared with penalty notices issued by the National Financial Regulatory Administration and its dispatched agencies, central bank penalty notices are less frequent and focus on different areas. In addition to the four institutions mentioned above, since the beginning of this year, China Construction Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Bank of Beijing Wealth Management have also received central bank penalty notices. For example, in February of this year, China Construction Bank was warned for a total of 10 violations including violating account management regulations, violating special merchant management regulations, violating RMB circulation management regulations, violating anti-counterfeit currency business management regulations, occupying fiscal deposits or funds, violating credit information collection, provision, inquiry and related management regulations, failing to perform customer identity verification obligations as required, failing to preserve customer identity information and transaction records as required, failing to submit large transaction reports or suspicious transaction reports as required, and engaging in transactions with unidentified customers, with illegal gains of 550,975.67 yuan confiscated and a fine of 42.9551 million yuan, amounting to combined fines and confiscations of approximately 43.5061 million yuan. A total of 21 responsible individuals from the bank's personal finance department, settlement and cash management department, and credit card center were penalized, with total amounts exceeding 1.2 million yuan. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank had illegal gains of 275,456.08 yuan confiscated and was fined 42.2289 million yuan for a total of 10 violations including account management regulation breaches, with nine responsible individuals simultaneously penalized. Bank of Beijing Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Bank of Beijing, was also warned and fined 1.9 million yuan for violating financial statistics regulations.
Vertically, the trend of strict regulation has continued to strengthen, with regulatory focus further converging on areas such as financial statistics standardization, anti-money laundering obligations, and data security. Taking China Construction Bank as an example, last year the bank was fined 2.3 million yuan for violating financial statistics regulations. Throughout 2025, in addition to China Construction Bank, institutions including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Hua Xia Bank, China CITIC Bank, China Zheshang Bank, Bank of Beijing, Bank of Shanghai, China Development Bank, and Industrial Bank's Wealth Management subsidiary received central bank penalty notices. Among them, Bank of Shanghai was penalized twice, in March and July of last year. Data from Qichacha's enterprise early warning platform shows that throughout last year, among the violation areas covered by central bank penalty notices, anti-money laundering had the highest number of penalty notices, followed by credit reporting business, payment and settlement business, account management, and data statistics and regulatory reporting. Since the beginning of this year, the violations with the highest number of penalty notices have continued this trend, while penalty notices in areas such as bank card business and data governance have increased.
It is worth noting that the comprehensively revised Anti-Money Laundering Law took effect on January 1, 2025, ushering in a comprehensive upgrade of the regulatory system and mechanisms. Requirements for financial institutions and other obligated entities were upgraded from "customer identity verification" to "customer due diligence," with added requirements for preventing and controlling new types of money laundering risks, and data security and personal information protection were also strengthened. The central bank's 2026 anti-money laundering work conference held in January this year, while summarizing the anti-money laundering work in 2025, noted that the anti-money laundering institutional system has been continuously improved and anti-money laundering regulation of financial institutions has been significantly strengthened. The conference required that this year, the newly revised Anti-Money Laundering Law and related systems be promoted in an orderly manner for implementation, and the role of the inter-ministerial joint conference mechanism on anti-money laundering be further leveraged.
"In recent years, under severe crackdowns and sustained governance by various departments, organized crime of a mafia-like nature, illegal fundraising, drug-related crimes, and tax-related crimes have been curbed, and money laundering risks have tended to converge. However, the risk structure has become more diversified and the forms more complex. New technologies and new business formats are being abused by criminals, different channels of fund transfer are intertwined, the concealment of money laundering and related crimes has increased, and the upgrading and iteration of money laundering modes and methods have also shown an accelerating trend, placing higher demands on money laundering risk monitoring, early warning, and fund transaction tracking," wrote Xuan Changneng, member of the central bank's Party Committee and deputy governor, in an article in June this year. Among six major measures for advancing high-quality development of anti-money laundering work on the new journey, he mentioned the need to "focus on the implementation of the newly revised Anti-Money Laundering Law and related supporting rules and regulations, and promote the quality and efficiency improvement of the anti-money laundering prevention system." In particular, it is necessary to persist in conducting anti-money laundering regulation based on risk, make good use of the regulatory toolbox, adopt regulatory measures matching risk for financial institutions in different industries, of different sizes, and at different stages of development, promote financial institutions to shore up shortcomings in resource guarantees, mechanisms, systems, and processes, strengthen technological empowerment, and while better playing the role of preventing and curbing money laundering activities, effectively safeguard the normal flow of funds and legitimate rights and interests of the public.