A spokesman for the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said Tuesday that the CBRC and other banking institutions will take action to stop pornographic websites from using banks' settlement platforms and payment tools.

Wen Haixing, director of the CBRC Department of Supervisory Rules and Regulations, said the CBRC has urged all banks to check whether there are loopholes in their internal control mechanisms, so as to prevent capital transfers by online porno businesses via banking networks.

He said that the banks have adopted a series of measures, including online payment alarm systems, to cut off the capital flow of porn websites.

He acknowledged that due to the special features of online sales of illegal porno products and services, commercial banks find it difficult to monitor all the contents of their clients' websites.

Banks have been urged to improve their information monitoring of abnormal deals, track bank accounts and cards with abnormal deals, and cooperate with investigations into suspicious domain names, IP address and banking cards.

On April 12, the Ministry of Public Security, along with nine other government departments, announced they will launch a campaign to restrict the spread of pornography on the internet in China.

Over the next six months, the ministries will crack down on illegal online activities such as distributing pornographic materials and organizing online strip shows, and purge the web of sexually explicit images, stories, and audio and video clips.

The campaign will also target illegal online lotteries and contraband trade, fraud, rumor-mongering and slander.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2007)