The denial came after a newspaper in South China reported that the People's Bank of China would invite some economic anti-crime experts from the Ministry of Public Security to head the new bureau, which will focus on financial crimes.

But a spokeswoman with the bank said that the report is groundless.

"Our bank has never released such information, and the report is unreliable," she said.

The media report was based on the fact that relevant authorities have recently tightened regulations over irregularities in the sector.

Since the start of this year, the State Council has vowed to clean up the financial industry by clamping down on irregularities, such as high non-performing loan ratios, irregular lending and financial fraud.

The task to clean up the financial sector becomes even more pressing with China's pending entry into the World Trade Organization, which will allow more foreign banks, insurers and securities houses to do business in China.

(Chian Daily 07/30/2001)