Photo by Zhang Yun
In a word, it is for anti-money laundering.
From March, new rules will be ushered in for cash deposits and withdrawals.
From 1 March 2022, the Administrative Measures for Customer Due Diligence and Customer Identity Information and Transaction Record Preservation of Financial Institutions issued by the Central Bank of China and other three departments will be formally implemented.
The Measures stipulate that commercial banks, rural cooperative banks, rural credit cooperatives, village and township banks and other financial institutions that handle cash deposits and withdrawals of more than RMB 50,000 yuan or the equivalent of more than 10,000 U.S. dollars in foreign currency for natural person customers shall identify and verify the identity of the customers, understand and register the source or use of funds.
Subsequently, "personal deposits and withdrawals of more than 50,000 yuan in cash need to register the source of funds" appeared on Weibo's hot search, causing concern.
Why is such an approach introduced?
The person in charge of the relevant department pointed out in response to a reporter's question that in recent years, with the changes in financial products and business models, some new challenges have emerged in the anti-money laundering work in the financial industry, and in order to enhance the mainland's ability to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing risks, it is necessary to further improve the anti-money laundering supervision system and strengthen anti-money laundering supervision through the formulation of the "Measures".
The reporter noted that on the same day that the "Measures" were issued, 11 departments such as the Chinese Bank and the Ministry of Public Security announced that from January 2022 to December 2024, a three-year action to combat money laundering and crimes would be carried out nationwide, resolutely curbing the spread of money laundering and related crimes.
Previously, the central bank piloted large-scale cash management in Hebei Province and In Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen City from July 1, 2020. Hebei personal deposits and withdrawals of more than 100,000 yuan, Shenzhen personal deposits and withdrawals of more than 200,000 yuan, Zhejiang personal deposits and withdrawals of more than 300,000 yuan to register. The pilot period is 2 years.
There is no doubt that anti-money laundering efforts are escalating.
Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Zhonglian Finance, told Zhongxin Finance that cash has the characteristics of anonymity and untraceability, and large amounts of cash are often used to carry out illegal acts such as money laundering and tax evasion, endangering the national economic and financial order. Especially in today's environment where non-cash payment methods are very convenient, the proportion of cash use is declining, and the use of large amounts of cash by ordinary savers has become relatively rare.
Dong Ximiao said that therefore, the three departments have issued new regulations to further supplement and improve the relevant requirements for customer due diligence with reference to international standards, which will help improve the anti-money laundering supervision system, combat illegal cash use needs, improve the level of anti-money laundering work, reduce money laundering and other criminal acts, and maintain financial security.
Infographic: Bank money counters at work. Photo by Ai Qinglong
Will this bring inconvenience to ordinary savers?
Dong Ximiao believes that the new measures have little impact on ordinary customers, first of all, there are really not many cases of personal access to 50,000 yuan in cash, and diversified non-cash payment methods such as mobile payment and digital yuan in the pilot can already meet people's daily living needs, and there is no need to use cash. Secondly, even if it is necessary to deposit and withdraw more than 50,000 yuan of cash, at present, it is only necessary to fill out a large cash business form, the withdrawal should be checked for purpose, the deposit should be checked, and no certification materials are required, which has little impact on the convenience of deposit and withdrawal.
"Be bright and upright, if you walk straight and straight, you are not afraid of the regulations, as long as you fill it out clearly." "Don't do bad things and have nothing to worry about, understand the good intentions of the bank." "Prevent money laundering by criminals and support this decision." Many netizens also expressed support for the new regulations.
In addition, there is another news about cash access that has attracted attention, and two private banks have announced that they will stop cash business.
Among them, Liaoning Zhenxing Bank issued an announcement on the suspension of counter and ATM cash business, and with the approval of the Competent People's Bank of China, from March 1, 2022, it will suspend cash business such as cash deposits and withdrawals, change exchange, damaged coin exchange, and ATM deposits and withdrawals. Beijing Zhongguancun Bank issued an announcement on the suspension of cash receipt and payment business, and after reporting to the relevant regulatory authorities, it will suspend cash receipt and payment business from April 1, 2022.
The reporter noted that Beijing Zhongguancun Bank and Liaoning Zhenxing Bank are both private banks, both of which were established in 2017. The reason for the suspension of cash business, both banks mentioned a reason: to continuously increase the development of online business, focusing on resources to improve the service capabilities of electronic banking.
In Dong Ximiao's view, there are currently 19 private banks in the mainland, private banks "one line a little", fewer offline outlets, the proportion of cash business is very small, but the cost of cash business input is relatively high, these banks stop cash business, basically do not affect the service to customers, more importantly, can reduce operating costs.
"For the entire banking industry, there is no large-scale cessation of cash use, so there is no need to over-interpret." Dong Ximiao said.
Source: China News Network
Editor: Lin Weimin