Tencent Stock Sinks on Report of Record Money-Laundering Fine

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Tencent Holdings

dropped almost 10% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese technology giant faces a record fine for violating Chinese anti-money-laundering regulations.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, found that Tencent’s WeChat Pay mobile network had allowed the transfer and laundering of funds with illicit transactions such as gambling, the Journal report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

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(Ticker: 0700.HK) closed down 9.79% on Monday.

WeChat Pay also failed to comply with “know your customer” and “know your business” regulations, among other breaches, the Journal said. These rules require lenders to make full checks on parties they do business with. 

The breaches were uncovered by the People’s Bank of China during a routine inspection of WeChat Pay that concluded in late 2021, the people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

The size of the fine is still under deliberation and it could be at least hundreds of millions of yuan, some of the people were reported as saying. 

The new fines are likely to be higher than those that have been levied against nonbank payment companies in the past as China seeks to bring its anti-money-laundering enforcement up to international standards, the people familiar with the matter added.

Tencent could not immediately be reached for comment.

Write to Lina Saigol at [email protected]