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A Three-fold Rise in AML Penalties in China in 2020

Richard Marley
January 15, 2021
2 minutes read
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China’s banks and financial institutions have faced an increase in penalties in the year 2020 due to the lack of customer identity verification and suspicious transactions.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has disclosed a report that states a total of USD 97 million have been fined for AML non-compliance. This fine is three times more than the fines that were given in the year 2019. A PWC report states that CNY 608 million have been fined to the institutions and the remaining CNY 20 million of the penalties were fined to the individuals.

Fines total to the number of 733 which is 25% more than the prior year. The penalties include 417 firms with their staff across the 30 provinces. The total number of fines banks faced is 598, which worth to the amount of CNY 330 million and accounts for 52% of the total fines.

In 2020, financial institutions faced a rise in penalties. CNY 263 million of penalties have been issued to the payment institutions which include two large fines of CNY 100 million and CNY 60 million.

Most reasons for the penalties were the failure of customer identity verification and due diligence. This accounts to the 203 fines worth CNY 96.4 million. Another failure including the large-value transactions was followed by these penalties which accounts to the total fine of 79 worth CNY 69.

In 2020, a total of 20 large penalties were fined exceeding the amount of CNY 50 million. A criminal law amendment will be implemented from March 2021 which will further enforce the AML regulations on these financial institutions. Draft rules have been issued by PBOC which enhanced the obligations for financial institutions to strengthen the AML and CFT systems.

Disclaimer: No warranty is herein provided that the information contained in this document is accurate, up-to-date, and/or complete. In no circumstance(s), does such information constitute legal or any other advice. Any person who intends to use, rely, pass-on, or re-publish the information contained herein in any way is solely responsible for the same. We suggest to verify the information and/or obtain expert advice independently if required.

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A Trust Company Penalised for Opening a Doorway to Money Laundering
A team of accountants and economists have been fined by a court in Channel Island for neglecting obvious risks related to corruption and embezzlement. They were involved in providing services to a company working with the government of Angola. The company is an investment management firm.

Jersey’s Royal Court took a decision this week to penalise the LGL Trustees Ltd. A sum of $835,000 has been fined to the firm for violating two of the island’s anti-money laundering compliances. The company has already pleaded guilty in December 2020.

The judgement analysed that, from 2010 to 2016, LGL firm took more than $1 million for providing their services to Angola’s management sovereign wealth fund. These investments were reviewed by Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais. According to the prosecutors, a questionable and huge amount of fees was paid to Bastos. The banks were reluctant to work with Bastos but the trust company accepted the work and opened a doorway for the possibility of money laundering.

Bastos is known to have close relations with José Filomeno Zénu dos Santos, who was appointed by the President of Angola to manage the sovereign wealth funds of the Country. Both Bastos and dos Santos were previously charged with embezzlement in 2018. Bastos denied the charges and settled the case with the authorities. Zénu was, however, sentenced to some time in prison for a fraud case.

A BBC journalist revealed the Bastos’ personal windfall being part of the Paradise Paper investigation. The leaked financial records also revealed that Bastos was given a total amount of $41 million in 20 months. Experts called this very unusual arrangement for the sovereign wealth fund of Angola.

Bastos’ lawyers said that the “Jersey case involved no findings that any crime had been committed, by anyone including Bastos and his company, Quantum Global.”

The lawyers also pointed out the previous allegations made by Angola’s sovereign wealth fund against Bastos and his firm Quantum Global were dismissed by the court. The company was subjected to due diligence.

Jersey’s Royal Court said that “While Angola’s wealth fund and investments were not in themselves suspicious, LGL’s “ineffective” approach missed red flags.”

The prosecutors said, “The firm took the risk of being involved in the diversion of tens of millions of dollars of public funds of one of the poorest countries in the world to its corrupt rulers, and their relatives and associates.”

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Shufti Pro’s Insights on Enhancing Customer Onboarding Experience
The digital world nowadays requires a lot of effort from businesses to ensure customer satisfaction. Various surveys and reports have revealed that one of the best ways to satisfy your customers is investing in customer onboarding initiatives. According to HubSpot, 63% of the customers consider the company’s onboarding process while making a purchase decision. Given the rapid boom in digitisation, the onboarding process has digitised as well. Yet again, the question remains unanswered as to how can businesses enhance user experience during customer onboarding. To answer this question, Shufti Pro has gathered some vital elements that can help businesses in enhancing the client onboarding experience.

Let’s take a look at Shufti Pro’s findings.

Why is Customer Onboarding Important?

According to a study, 74% of the customers switch brands if they find the customer onboarding process complex. A brand’s onboarding process sets the tone for your future relationship with the customers. The client onboarding process is also responsible for an increase/decrease in customer lifetime value.

Delivering state of the art customer services is the biggest goal of businesses now and it begins with a top-notch customer onboarding process that can encourage customers to build a long-term relationship with the business. The idea is not restricted to B2C companies but every B2B company has to ensure the efficiency of the process.

A study reveals that 75% of the new-users leave the business within the first week and 40 – 60% of the free trial customers never return. In easier words, it is the customer onboarding process that can change these numbers for your business.

A Message from Shahid Hanif, Cofounder and CTO of Shufti Pro

Co-founder and CTO of Shufti Pro, Shahid Hanif, has shared his views on the customer onboarding process and how it affects the entire business:

“Being an expert in the FinTech industry, I strongly emphasize businesses to improve their client onboarding process regularly. Acquiring customers is becoming a tough challenge in the competitive world we live in. After so many years of experience, I have realised that your high-quality services can become meaningless in seconds if you cannot provide a classical experience to the customers during the onboarding process.”

What Our Experts Have Suggested for Efficient Customer Onboarding

Shufti Pro has won awards for its outclass user experience and customer support. Our team is constantly working on bringing more convenience for our customers and the end-users. According to our experts, here’s what all businesses must do to improve the client onboarding process and enhance the customer experience.

Facial Biometric Authentication for Convenient Signups

Signing up is the first step in the customer onboarding process and it must be the easiest one too. However, some businesses overlook its vitality and complex registration leads to a significant increase in customer drop-off rate. With the help of facial biometric authentication, it gets a lot convenient for customers to complete the signup or registration process.

Shufti Pro’s facial biometric authentication is a simple solution for a complex problem. Users have to submit a selfie and government-issued ID document for registration. The identity record is maintained and the user can later login with a selfie.

Identity Verification Checks in the Least Possible Time

Customers of this era want to spend a minimal amount of time irrespective of the process. When it comes to customer onboarding, their expectations are higher than usual and meeting them is what businesses have to do. It is said that providing a sense of security to the customers works well and what could be better than employing identity verification solutions during the customer onboarding process. ID verification allows businesses to fight fraud and make their customers feel valued and secure. But it should be kept in mind that businesses should incorporate identity verification checks that take only a few seconds to complete.

Shufti Pro’s digital identity verification solution is robust and requires 30-60 seconds to fight frauds. Moreover, our Video KYC process is a more convenient option since it offers a higher level of convenience through remote verification.

Acquire the Right Customers at the Right Time

Timing is everything for the corporate world. Introducing a product at the wrong time or at the wrong place may not be very fruitful for the business. Similarly, identity verification during customer acquisition must have an ideal time as well. Some industries like the finance sector are obligated to perform ID verification checks. However, the stage at which you incorporate the mechanism needs consideration. Rightly incorporating the system can make a huge difference in customer experience during the onboarding process. On the contrary, wrong timing for verification can become a business’s nightmare.

A Little Friction for Gaining Customer Trust

Speedy checks and a five-second onboarding process of customers sounds great but too much ease can also be a problem. Sometimes adding too many conveniences can also leave customers in doubt about the process. Some businesses add an artificial waiting time to combat this issue. Identity verification may be an extra step in the flow but it is important. Moreover, customers find ID checks more cumbersome than any other part of the customer onboarding process. So, businesses can reduce the time of other steps to make the process effortless.

Our experts suggest that the signup or registration process must not take a lot of time. No more than 5 – 10 seconds would suffice. Then, the identity verification process can consume a minute or so. Ultimately, the client onboarding process will take the ideal time of the customers.

Identity Verification – An Add-On for Many Industries

Identity verification is mandatory for many sectors but they can employ it as an add-on in the onboarding process. This is generally related to the industries where verification of identities comes as a surprise for customers. The retail sector, sharing economies, gambling industry etc. fall under this category. These areas must add value to the process for their customers with ID checks.

Shufti Pro offers Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification solution to almost every sector across the world. With our AI-driven services, any business can enhance the user experience and add value for the customers. All it takes is a few seconds for real-time identity verification with Shufti Pro.

Don’t Forget to Follow-Up

We have experimented this measure and strongly suggest businesses to follow up with the customers regularly. Never leave customers on their own once the onboarding process is complete. As important it is to make the customer onboarding process efficient, following up with them has equal importance. Customers feel valued when companies put in efforts to enhance the onboarding processes and acknowledge their feedback.

In a Nutshell…

Enhancing user experience through efficient customer onboarding is an accepted phenomenon across the world. Different studies have revealed that customer engagement begins with the client onboarding process. While businesses are wondering about better ways to enhance their customer onboarding process, Shufti Pro’s experts have shared their tried and tested methods. According to them, adding the identity verification solution has changed the game for many of Shufti Pro’s clients. The drop-off rate has reduced and they have experienced a significant increase in profit. From registration to the last step of your onboarding procedure, convenience plays a crucial role in increasing customer lifetime value. Lastly, enterprises should never overlook the importance of follow-ups and feedback.

You can get in touch with us to know more about identity verification during the customer onboarding process.

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A Three-fold Rise in AML Penalties in China in 2020

A Message from Shahid Hanif, Cofounder and CTO of Shufti Pro

What Our Experts Have Suggested for Efficient Customer Onboarding

Facial Biometric Authentication for Convenient Signups

Identity Verification Checks in the Least Possible Time

Acquire the Right Customers at the Right Time

A Little Friction for Gaining Customer Trust

Identity Verification – An Add-On for Many Industries

Don’t Forget to Follow-Up

In a Nutshell…

Let’s prove your

customer’s identity

with Shuftipro.

Let’s prove your customer’s

identity with Shuftipro.

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Cyprus

United Kingdom

Dubai

A Three-fold Rise in AML Penalties in China in 2020

Why is Customer Onboarding Important?

A Message from Shahid Hanif, Cofounder and CTO of Shufti Pro

What Our Experts Have Suggested for Efficient Customer Onboarding

Facial Biometric Authentication for Convenient Signups

Identity Verification Checks in the Least Possible Time

Acquire the Right Customers at the Right Time

A Little Friction for Gaining Customer Trust

Identity Verification – An Add-On for Many Industries

Don’t Forget to Follow-Up

In a Nutshell…

Let’s prove your

customer’s identity

with Shuftipro.

Let’s prove your customer’s

identity with Shuftipro.