A deputy governor of China's central bank said at the weekend that the country would "soon" release a five-year plan on financial reform for 2011-15. The paper would lay out plans for areas including marketisation of interest rates, liberalisation of exchange rates and internationalisation of the yuan, said Pan Gongsheng, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China. The reform plan also would touch on areas such as reforms of direct and indirect financing in the country's financial structure and the development of micro financial organisations, Pan said at an academic symposium in Beijing. Xinhua

JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are among several US banks under investigation for breaches that may have let money flow to terrorists or drug dealers. Officials told they had launched one of the most aggressive crackdowns on money laundering in decades. Federal and state authorities were looking into the banks for their failure to monitor cash transactions through their branches that could have allowed the criminals to engage in money laundering, the paper reported, citing several anonymous sources. AFP