Article 66 Where an operational foreign-funded bank, in violation of the relevant provisions of these regulations, fails to submit its financial and accounting reports, statements or other related data within the prescribed time limit, or fails to develop the operating rules or improve relevant management systems, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit, and, impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan and not more than 300,000 yuan (US$37,800) if the bank fails to do so.

Article 67 Where an operational foreign-funded bank engages in any business, in violation of the provisions of chapter IV of these regulations or in serious violation of other prudential business rules, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council shall order it to make corrections and impose a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan and not more than 500,000 yuan; where the circumstances are extremely serious or the bank fails to make corrections within the prescribed time limit, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council may order a suspension of its business for rectification, or revoke its financial services permit.

Article 68 Where an operational foreign-funded bank violates these regulations, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council shall, in addition to the penalties provided for in articles 63 to 67 of these regulations, take the following actions by taking into account the specific circumstances:

(1) ordering the replacement of the director, senior executive or any other person directly responsible for the violation;

(2) giving a warning, where the violation does not constitute a crime, to the director, senior executive or any other person directly responsible for the violation, and imposing a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 500,000 yuan; or

(3) disqualifying the director or senior executive directly responsible for the violation from holding any management position within the territory of the People's Republic of China for a specified time limit or for life; or prohibiting the director, senior executive or any other person directly responsible for the violation from engaging in banking business within the territory of the People's Republic of China for a specified time limit or for life.

Article 69 Where a representative office of a foreign bank, in violation of these regulations, engages in operational business activities, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council shall order it to make corrections, give a warning, confiscate its illegal income, and impose a fine of one to five times the amount of its illegal income where the illegal income is more than 500,000 yuan; or impose a fine of not less than 500,000 yuan and not more than 2 million yuan where there is no illegal income or the illegal income is less than 500,000 yuan; where the circumstances are extremely serious, such representative office shall be closed by the banking regulatory agency of the State Council; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated for in accordance with law.

Article 70 Where a representative office of a foreign bank commits any of the following acts, the banking regulatory agency of the State Council shall order it to make corrections and give a warning, and impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan and not more than 300,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, its chief representative shall be disqualified from holding the position within the territory of the People's Republic of China for a prescribed time limit, or the bank the office represents shall be required to replace the chief representative; where the circumstances are extremely serious, such representative office shall be closed by the banking regulatory agency of the State Council:

(1) changing the office premises without approval;

(2) failing to submit the required documents to the banking regulatory agency of the State Council; or

(3) violating these Regulations or other requirements prescribed by the banking regulatory agency of the State Council.

Article 71 Where a foreign-funded bank violates other laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, the case shall be dealt with by the relevant competent organs according to law.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 72 These regulations apply mutatis mutandis to the banking institutions established in the Chinese mainland by financial institutions from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, or Taiwan region. However, if otherwise specially provided by the State Council, those provisions shall prevail.

Article 73 These regulations shall be effective as of December 11, 2006. The Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of Foreign-funded Financial Institutions promulgated by the State Council on December 12, 2001 shall be repealed simultaneously.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)