Is there an AntiMoney Laundering Risk for Digital RMB Postal Savings Bank Takes Action to Verify Digital RMB Customer Identity No Other Major Banks Follow Suit

Facing various emerging money laundering methods in the financial field, relevant departments also need to adjust related business policies in a timely manner.
Recently, China Postal Savings Bank announced on its official website that it will promote the governance of customer identity information for the digital renminbi in accordance with the relevant policies and requirements of anti-money laundering. In cases where the personal customer’s identity information is incomplete, measures such as reducing transaction limits and restricting financial services will be taken on the customer’s wallet.
Today, a reporter from Cailian News found through public channels that there are currently no other state-owned major banks taking such measures.
On July 1st, China Postal Savings Bank announced on its official website that in accordance with the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Measures for the Identification of Financial Institution Customers’ Identities and the Management of Customers’ Identity Information and Transaction Records, and the Guidelines for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing of the Digital Renminbi, China Postal Savings Bank will further strengthen the integrity and effectiveness of personal customer identity information for the digital renminbi, including verifying the customer’s identity information such as name, gender, nationality, occupation, residence or workplace address, contact number, type of identification document or proof, number, and expiration date of the identification document. Measures such as reducing transaction limits and restricting financial services will be taken on the customer’s wallet in cases where the personal customer’s identity information is incomplete, no photocopy of the identification document is retained, or the identification document has expired and has not been updated within 90 days.
China Postal Savings Bank further stated that if the customer’s wallet still needs to be used normally, please upload a photocopy of the identification document and update the expiration date of the identification document through the digital renminbi app or the postal savings bank mobile banking app, or update and improve the customer’s identity information by bringing a valid identification document to any branch of the bank. After the information is supplemented and accurate, the wallet function can be restored.
A securities bank industry analyst told Cailian News that according to his understanding, the development of the digital renminbi has emphasized controllable anonymity and security, and has different levels of design. By default, users open a low-privilege anonymous wallet, which generally does not need to provide identity information to institutions, but has a low usage limit and is mostly used for general consumption. If used for large amounts, real-name authentication is required. Judging from the overall situation, the digital renminbi identity information governance mentioned by China Postal Savings Bank should mainly target low-privilege digital renminbi wallet users. “To some extent, there are indeed money laundering risks in the anonymous use of digital renminbi.”
According to related reports, the current national pilot areas for the digital renminbi include Beijing, Hebei Province (the entire 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.
In terms of usage, platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, Meituan, Netease Yanxuan, Vipshop, Ctrip, Didi, and WeChat mini-programs have all accepted the digital renminbi.
In recent months, many banks have carried out customer identity information governance actions.
Today, a Cailian News reporter found that this year, Qinghai Bank, Guangdong Xingning Rural Commercial Bank, Inner Mongolia Rural Credit Cooperatives, Zhengzhou Rural Commercial Bank, Erenhot Rural Cooperative Bank, Dengkou County Rural Credit Cooperatives, and other banks have announced that they will carry out customer identity information governance actions for cardholders.
In addition, at the end of May, China Postal Savings Bank also issued an announcement on the governance of personal customer identity information. At that time, China Postal Savings Bank stated that according to the Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on the Real-Name System for Personal Deposit Accounts, the Measures for the Identification of Financial Institution Customers’ Identities and the Management of Customers’ Identity Information and Transaction Records, and other laws and regulations, the bank will verify the authenticity, integrity, and effectiveness of personal customer identity information from April 2024. From August 2024, the bank will further restrict business activities for personal customers whose identity information is still incomplete, untrue, or whose personal identification documents have expired or whose authenticity is doubtful based on the previous governance and business restrictions on personal customer information.
Cailian News also noted that on June 26th this year, the Anti-Money Laundering Branch of the People’s Bank of China released an article titled “Comprehensively Doing A Good Job in Anti-Money Laundering Work in the New Era to Provide Solid Safeguards for Financial Development and Stability”. In the article, the People’s Bank of China pointed out that it will coordinate the promotion of legal systems, work mechanisms, prevention systems, crime fighting, international cooperation, and other work for anti-money laundering, and promote the transformation of China’s anti-money laundering work from following international standards to leading in some areas and from “rules-based” to “risk-based”.
In addition, according to Zhang Xiaojin, the head of the Fourth Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, at a press conference 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 money laundering crimes involving virtual currencies. Money laundering, illegal fund payment and settlement, and illegal foreign exchange trading cases have increased, and the use of virtual currency transactions for cross-border fund transfers has become a new method.
The above-mentioned analyst believes that as a backbone of the financial industry, banks must 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 work.
This article is from Cailian News.