Ninety-eight potential bank crimes involving an aggregated amount of 488.66 million yuan (US$59.08 million) have been prevented by China's four largest commercial banks this year, an official report said in Beijing Saturday. 

The report from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC),China's banking watchdog, called this "a substantial achievement" for the country's tightened control against bank crimes.

Starting in January, the self-investigation drive was launched by the China Construction Bank (CCB), the Bank of China (BOC), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Agricultural Bank of China (ABOC), according to a requirement of CBRC.

By April, 93 cases of fraud, robbery and theft involving a total of 461.869 million yuan (US$55.85 million) had been prevented. The remaining five cases are economic crimes involving an aggregated amount of 26.79 million yuan (US$3.24 million).

ICBC avoided the most losses by preventing 14 cases worth 313.92 million yuan (US$37.96 million). BOC ranked second with 34 cases whose aggregated amount was 124.17 million yuan (US$15.01 million).

The losses avoided by ABOC and CCB totaled 14.18 million yuan (US$1.71 million) and 36.389 million yuan (US$4.4 million) separately.

China's banking watchdog instructed in its latest notice all financial institutions to implement CBRC regulations, enhance their risk-control capabilities, intensify interior auditing and establish an emergency control mechanism.

Chairman Liu Mingkang of CBRC also said more attention must be paid to banking reforms in BOC, CCB and the Bank of Communications. Besides, the ongoing reform of rural credit cooperatives will also be tracked.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)