China steps up crackdown on illegal fundraising

China strengthened efforts to prevent and crack down on illegal fundraising creeping into sectors such as peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, Liu Zhangjun, an official at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said.

With the rapid development of Internet finance, illegal fundraising is moving from offline to online, Liu, director-general of a task force established to tackle the problem, told a news conference on Monday. Many illegal investment and financing advertisements are spreading quickly and widely via online channels including websites, Internet forums, micro blogs and e-mail.

A regulatory vacuum has blurred legal boundaries for Internet financing and some people are exploiting that to raise funds illegally, he said.