China's Biggest Lender Rattled by Electronic Bills Scam

(Beijing) – Police are probing China's largest lender by assets, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), for allowing ex-employees of another small bank to use fake documents to open an account to issue, and later sell, 2 billion yuan worth of fake bank bills, ICBC said on August 11.

Smaller banks need to open an account with a larger lender to access the central bank's system to issue banker's acceptances, or certificates showing a bank has promised to make a payment on behalf of a client in future. They are widely used in China as short-term financing instruments, often for small businesses, and can be traded among banks.