BEIJING, Sept. 6 -- China will extend a one-year crackdown on money laundering to the securities and insurance industries, as it battles to stop money flowing into the country as bets on further rises in the yuan.

    China launched the campaign in April last year, focusing on banks and other financial institutions that receive deposits, partly to tighten supervision over speculative capital inflows.

    Since April 2004, the central bank and foreign exchange regulators had reported 1,500 suspected cases to the police, covering underground banks, gambling, smuggling, money laundering and illegal foreign exchange trading, the China Securities Journal said.

    It said 51 cases had been solved, involving a total of US$843 million in both yuan and U.S. dollar-denominated transactions.

    "Financial supervisory bodies should use their experience to push the campaign into the securities and insurance sectors step by step," said governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan.

    The central bank was also working on improving regulations to help strengthen supervision and prevention of money laundering, Zhou was quoted as saying.

    Among steps taken so far, authorities have ordered banks and other financial institutions to regularly report large foreign currency transactions, defining such deals are those involving more than US$10,000 in cash by an individual or business, or US$100,000 of noncash instruments by individuals.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)