BEIJING, April 13 -- China's central bank issued a series of draft regulations yesterday aimed at beefing up efforts to rein in money laundering across its banking, securities and insurance sectors.

    The central bank said it was seeking feedback from the public on the proposed regulations that largely seek to ensure that financial institutions keep close tabs on the identity of their customers and the nature of suspicious transactions.

    Under the proposed rules, employees within supervisory and financial institutions must not divulge information related to their monitoring of money laundering activities.

    Companies will have to make rigorous checks on the identities of their customers and pay special attention to large and suspicious transactions, the People's Bank of China said on its Web site.

    Within the banking sector, cash transactions totaling 50,000 yuan () or the equivalent of US$10,000 in foreign currency terms would require special attention, it said, adding that all large dealings would have to be reported to China's anti-money-laundering office.

    China has issued a number of more basic regulations aimed at fighting money laundering in the past and is now in the process of drafting an anti-money laundering law.

    A central bank official contacted by telephone said that the new draft regulations were more comprehensive than the current basic guidelines. She did not elaborate.

    China has pledged to step up coordination with other countries to combat global money laundering.

    China's alleged involvement in international money laundering has recently taken on political dimensions.

    The Wall Street Journal reported last September that Bank of China and two banks based in Macao were under U.S. scrutiny for possible connections to North Korea's illicit fund-raising network, which Washington believes finances Pyongyong's nuclear program.

    The spokesmen for the Bank of China and China's foreign ministry both said at the time that they had no knowledge of any U.S. investigation and that China took money laundering seriously.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)