China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and Ministry of Public Security report 1,500 cases in six-month crackdown on financial black and grey intermediaries

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Public Security held a joint press briefing on their coordinated campaign against financial-sector “black and grey industry” illegal activity, reporting results from a six-month operation in 17 key provinces and cities and releasing 10 representative cases. Police economic crime units launched nearly 60 clustered enforcement actions, opened more than 1,500 cases, dismantled more than 200 professional criminal groups and reported total case amounts of nearly CNY 300bn. The regulator’s inspection function transferred more than 4,500 leads to police involving over CNY 210bn and pushed financial institutions to file more than 1,700 reports involving over CNY 170bn, with activity focused on illegal loan intermediary services, illegal agency services for insurance surrender and claims, and improper “anti-collection” practices in the credit card sector. The briefing also highlighted new operating arrangements, including rules issued in March on transferring suspected criminal cases, greater use of regulatory big-data modelling to generate leads, and local “regulator plus police” cooperation models such as in Shanghai. Looking to 2026, the regulator set out plans to maintain joint enforcement pressure on illegal loan intermediaries and illegal “proxy rights protection” activity, strengthen coordination with other authorities, develop standards for evidence transfer in suspected criminal matters, and conduct joint research on financial crime-related制度 with legislative recommendations.