Tencent faces heavy fines for violations of money laundering law
18. März 2022Tencent faces heavy fines for violations of money laundering law
Shanghai, Mar. 18, 2022
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. is facing a record fine for alleged violations of anti-money laundering regulations.
The People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, found that Tencent’s WeChat Pay mobile payment service facilitated money transfers related to gambling and other illegal transactions.
In addition to the illegal transactions, WeChat Pay was found to be non-compliant with China’s „know your customer“ and „know your business“ regulations.
These regulations require lenders to verify the identity of merchants and users, as well as the origin of their funds. The potential fine could amount to hundreds of millions of yuan or more.
Background: About a year ago, the Chinese government launched a crackdown and further tightened regulations on the technology sector. In that context, it fined Alibaba Group Holding a record $2.8 billion (18 billion yuan) in April for antitrust violations. It was the largest antitrust fine in China’s history.
