What’s new: China’s central bank handed out heavy penalties Friday to three major financial institutions, citing violations in areas including customer protection, information collection and risk management.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a 39.9 million yuan ($5.5 million) fine to Ping An Bank, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance Group, and confiscated 18.5 million yuan as illegal gains. The joint stock bank was punished for 10 counts of violations such as breaches in rules governing account management, customer protection, client verification and information collection, and failure to report suspicious transactions. Twelve individuals in the bank were also fined.
The Postal Savings Bank of China was fined 31.9 million yuan for 10 types of violations. Fifteen staffers were also punished.
PICC Property and Casualty Co. Ltd. was penalized 4.6 million yuan for three violations, according to the PBOC.
The context: China’s financial regulators have toughened punishments for financial misconduct as part of a campaign to fend off risks in the vast financial industry.
In the banking sector alone, 836 penalties were issued during the first quarter to banks and employees by the central bank, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The penalties totaled 627 billion yuan, up 11.5% from the same period a year ago.
Earlier Friday, the PBOC said financial regulators fined fintech giant Ant Group Co. Ltd. 7.1 billion yuan for legal and regulatory violations. Tencent Holdings’ payment unit Tenpay Technology Co. Ltd. was also fined 3 billion yuan for violations of payment and clearance management rules.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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