China will fight money laundering in the securities and insurance sectors in 2007, said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, on Monday.

The central bank will improve the anti-money laundering legal system, strengthen the monitoring of big and suspicious transactions and get tough on money laundering crimes, said Zhou.

China's first anti-money laundering law, approved on Oct. 31 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, goes into effect on Jan. 1 next year.

The central bank has said it will issue a series of regulations in 2007 to complement the law and extend it to the securities, futures and insurance sectors.

The anti-money laundering law will help China's accession to the world's money policing agency, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

China plans to join the inter-governmental organization in June 2007. An evaluation team jointly sent by the FATF and the Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing terrorism (EAG) paid a visit to the country from Nov. 13 to 24.

The FATF was established at the G-7 Summit in Paris in 1989, in response to mounting concern over money laundering. It has 33 members and China became an observer in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2006)