Anti-corruption officials have turned their sword on the financial industry, which they plan to monitor by stationing a task force in large commercial banks.

"Central government leaders issued concrete directives to persons in charge of financial institutions to cooperate with the task force," said an official, with the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, who is attending the ongoing annual session of the national legislature.

Banking industry insiders said corruption in the financial industry may be more destructive to the country's financial security than other problems.

Song Xingguo, head of the central bank's Shenyang branch, said non-performing loans, or bad loans, were of particular concern.

Statistics show that the outstanding NPL of major Chinese banks was 2.4 trillion yuan (US$290 billion) at the end of last year, with an NPL ratio of 17.8 percent.

The big four state-owned commercial banks accounted for 1.9 trillion yuan (US$230.8 billion), with an NPL of 20.4 percent.

Legislators expressed satisfaction with governmental efforts to fight corruption.

Last month, Liu Jinbao, vice president of the Bank of China, one of the Big Four, was removed from his post after being accused of committing economic crimes.

He was the highest ranking bank official thrust down by the anti-corruption sword to date.

Another banker, Wang Xuebing, former governor of China Construction Bank, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment last year on charges of accepting bribes worth 1.2 million yuan from 1993-2001.

Such punishment shows that "the government is stern and serious with corruption involving banks," said Gai Ruyin, a national legislator and mayor of Daqing City in Heilongjiang Province.

Lawmakers agreed that the establishment of the China Banking Regulatory Commission last year was a good way to begin the anti-corruption campaign.

Early this year, the government said it would inject US$45 billion into two of the Big Four - Bank of China and China Construction Bank - to support their restructuring into joint-stock commercial banks.

One of the objectives of the reform is to establish a sound corporate governance structure and strict internal control system.