The General Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CBIRC") has recently distributed the Circular on Further Working Effectively on Anti-money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing in Banking and Insurance Sectors (the "Circular").
The Circular requires that the CBIRC and its local offices shall implement the regulatory requirements for anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing during their on-spot inspections, and focus their on-spot inspections on checking efforts of banks and insurance institutions in establishing and implementing their internal control rules. In addition, the Circular expressly states that banks and insurance institutions shall submit interim reports to the CBIRC or to the local banking and insurance regulatory bureau with jurisdiction, when the major internal control rules concerning anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing are revised or any of the other five circumstances occurs. Moreover, the Circular stresses that all banks and insurance institutions shall, within 20 working days after the end of each year, prepare the annual reports on anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing for the preceding year according to the given template and fill out the relevant schedules and submit the same to the CBIRC or to the local banking and insurance regulatory bureau with jurisdiction, adding that all banks and insurance institutions shall submit their annual reports on anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing for the year 2019, by February 15, 2020.