BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Eight Chinese banks have been fined up to 17.7 million yuan (about 2.5 million U.S. dollars) by the country's top banking regulator as authorities moved to tighten supervision over financial data reporting.
This is a rare occasion for the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) to levy fines on banks regarding data reporting issues, according to Wednesday's Shanghai Securities News.
The eight banks, including the country's leading commercial lenders like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China and Bank of Communications, were found to have submitted incomplete information including that on transaction and credit asset transfer and underreported the number of wealth management products.
Dong Ximiao, a researcher with the National Institution for Finance and Development, said financial data governance is highly important and basic for financial supervision or governance capacity.
But currently, there is still room for improvement pertaining to institutional data reporting in the banking sector in terms of accuracy and timeliness, the newspaper reported, citing sources with the CBIRC.
According to the CBIRC's data governance system, the banking regulator may require the financial institutions falling short of standards to formulate rectification plans and order corrections within a time limit.
Dong suggested that banks resort to technical tools when dealing with data on their systems, noting that enhancing data governance sets a foundation for business development and risk management.
China has intensified financial regulation in recent years with effective crackdowns on illegal financial activities to ensure economic and financial stability. Enditem