Anti-corruption teams to be installed at China’s state banks and insurance companies, acting like ‘human surveillance cameras’
- Surveillance operatives will be based in company offices to spot malpractice
- Observers predict an immediate and profound effect
Anti-corruption teams will be stationed in China’s state-owned financial conglomerates by the ruling Communist Party in the latest bid to curb rampant graft in the sector.
Targets include China’s four biggest banks and insurers, such as People’s Insurance Group and China Life Insurance, according to Zhao Leji, chief of party watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
Zhao described the move as “just like installing surveillance cameras” in the institutions, keeping the companies and their top management team under constant watch.
Speaking at a recent internal meeting, Zhao said the new discipline inspection and supervision teams were part of a stepped-up effort by the CCDI to curb corruption and malpractice in the financial sector’s mega state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The central party watchdog had previously relied on the SOEs’ internal disciplinary systems, which were then checked by CCDI inspection teams. In 2015 these inspection teams checked each of the state-owned financial institutions but none were stationed permanently with them.