Recently, the State Council has released the Opinions on Further Carrying out the Prevention and Punishment against Illegal Fund-raisings (the "Opinions").
The Opinions specify that all regions and departments shall "pay close attention to the new fields where any illegal fund-raising frequently occurs, such as investment and financing, non-financial guarantees and P2P online loans, as well as the new risky areas like investment companies, specialized farmer cooperatives, non-government funded educational institutions and elderly care institutions, and enhance risk monitoring". As emphasized by the Opinions, a provincial government shall take full responsibility for prevention and punishment against illegal fund-raising within its jurisdiction, and practically fulfill the functions as the person primarily responsible. In addition, the Opinions proposes that monitoring and early warning for illegal fund-raisings shall be intensified by making full use of technical means like the internet and big data, and the parties involved in illegal fund-raising shall be included in a uniform national credit information sharing and exchange platform. As for crackdown and punishment, attention shall be paid to preventing risks in major fields and regions, and trans-provincial cases shall be handled as appropriate.