In the first quarter, banks were fined 600 million yuan, and three of them were fined more than 10 million yuan! The proportion of credit/lending violations exceeds 60%.

Caixin March 31 News (Editor: Li Xiang) Since 2026, the high-pressure regulatory stance in the banking industry can be gleaned from a review of the first quarter’s regulatory penalties.

According to data from Enterprise Early Warning, as of March 30, a total of 1,675 regulatory penalties (including institutions and individuals) have been imposed on banking institutions (including branches) nationwide in the first quarter, with a total fine and confiscation amount of 602.5 million yuan. Among these, violations in credit business have become the most severe, with 1,011 related cases resulting in fines and confiscations of 318 million yuan; additionally, issues with inadequate internal control systems are also prominent, with 405 institutions penalized.

In terms of penalty severity, besides China Construction Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Hangzhou United Rural Commercial Bank (hereinafter referred to as “Hangzhou United Rural Bank”), which each ranked in the top three for fines exceeding 240k yuan, there are still 74 institutions fined over one million yuan, with violations showing significant diversification.

Figure: List of banking institutions fined over 4 million yuan in the first quarter

Data source: Enterprise Early Warning, Caixin整理

Construction Bank and Pudong Development Bank lead with fines over 40 million yuan; over 70 banking institutions fined over one million yuan

In the first quarter of 2026, regulatory pressure continued with relentless enforcement. Data from Enterprise Early Warning shows that China Construction Bank topped the list with a fine and confiscation total of 43.5061 million yuan, followed by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank with 42.5044 million yuan. The violations by these two national banks heavily overlapped, mainly involving payment and settlement services; Hangzhou United Rural Bank ranked third with a fine of 11.1 million yuan, focusing on violations in credit business, including personnel accountability.

Looking at the details of the violations exceeding 10 million yuan among the top three, the violations by Construction Bank and Pudong Development Bank are highly consistent, both involving breaches of account management regulations, clearing management regulations, bank card acquiring business management regulations, and other ten items.

Compared to national banks, Hangzhou United Rural Bank’s violations are more characteristic of regional banks, mainly related to “inadequate loan management” and “inaccurate data reporting.” Caixin整理 found that this issue is quite common among banks, with penalties related to loan management alone totaling up to 93.9187 million yuan.

Additionally, in the first quarter, 74 institutions were fined over one million yuan, with violations showing significant diversification. For example, China Construction Bank’s Credit Card Center was fined 5.7526 million yuan for violating prudent operation rules; China Export-Import Bank was fined 2.2124 million yuan by the Beijing branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange for violations of foreign exchange registration and account management regulations.

Credit business fines account for over 60%

Notably, compared to single high-value fines in payment and settlement services, the main battlefield of regulatory penalties in the first quarter was concentrated in the credit business sector. Data shows that the industry received a total of 1,011 credit-related penalties, accounting for 60.32% of the total penalty notices; the total fines and confiscations amounted to 318 million yuan, about 52.59% of the total.

From regional distribution, provinces with active economies saw significantly more penalty cases, with Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces each exceeding 100 cases, at 119 and 103 respectively; Henan (77 cases) and Jiangsu (75 cases) followed closely. It is worth noting that all 30 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government had bank credit business penalty cases, with Qinghai (1 case), Ningxia (2 cases), and Tianjin (2 cases) having relatively fewer.

Figure: Regions with more credit business penalties

Data source: Enterprise Early Warning, Caixin整理

From an institutional perspective, state-owned large banks had the most credit penalty cases. According to data from the head office, the Agricultural Bank of China had the highest number with 97 credit penalties, followed by Postal Savings Bank with 73, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China with 58, and Bank of China with 52.

It is also noteworthy that eight institutions received more than one penalty notice in the first quarter for credit violations, mainly city commercial banks and rural commercial banks, including Fuping County Rural Credit Cooperative, Zhaoqing Branch of Guangzhou Bank, Huanghua Rural Commercial Bank in Hebei, and Xiamen Rural Commercial Bank. Among them, Xiamen Rural Commercial Bank was fined twice for “imprudent management of credit and other businesses,” with total fines and confiscations reaching 11 million yuan, making it a “hotspot” among repeatedly penalized institutions.

Caixin整理’s analysis of credit violation data also revealed that behind regulatory penalties, there are issues with the operation of individual loan managers. Data shows that in the first quarter, a total of 663 individuals were penalized with a combination of warnings and fines, with the highest individual fine reaching 240k yuan.

Inadequate internal control systems are also a key focus of regulatory rectification

Besides credit business, issues with inadequate internal control systems in banks have also become a focus of regulatory rectification in the first quarter. Data shows that 405 institutions were penalized for problems such as “inadequate internal control systems” and “failure to implement internal controls,” involving various types of institutions including state-owned large banks, joint-stock banks, city commercial banks, and rural commercial banks.

In terms of head office types, rural commercial banks account for a relatively high proportion at 37.28%, with institutions such as Quanzhou Rural Commercial Bank and Yingtan Rural Commercial Bank having more penalty cases, with 8 and 7 cases respectively in the first quarter.