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 October 31 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, goes into effect on January 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 November 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.