China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has pledged to further fight cross-border gambling by targeting “capital chains” within the financial sector.
The bank held a meeting last Friday 23 April at which PBOC deputy governor Fan Yifei urged all units to keep focusing on cracking down on cross-border gambling through the remainder of 2021 as per its political responsibility.
“Combating cross-border gambling is our political, long-term and systematic effort,” Fan said at the meeting.
“Although certain achievements have been made in the control of gambling-related ‘capital chains’, cross-border gambling crimes have not been fundamentally curbed and the situation is still complex and serious.
“We should prepare for this effort as a long-term and long-lasting war.”
Fan said all departments must focus on implementing the strictest management of cross-border gambling, including improving coordination between each relevant department and its work on governing “capital chains” in key areas. Meanwhile, banks should build up better technical skills in big data, cloud computing, machine learning and other financial technology tools, while exploring digital currencies and blockchain technology to combat gambling-related online platforms.
Representatives from China’s Ministry of Public Security, General Administration of Customs, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Payment & Clearing Association of China, China UnionPay and NetsUnion Clearing Corporation all participated in the meeting.
Fan’s order comes just two weeks after China’s Ministry of Public Security outlined its own plans to crack down on cross-border gambling crimes by strengthening international cooperation with nearby countries while expanding a “blacklist” of overseas tourist destinations it says are attracting Chinese tourists for gambling activities.
The existence of such a blacklist was first announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in August 2020.
