The Chinese newswire Caixin reports that the British Financial Conduct Authority is looking into anti-money-laundering compliance at the London branches of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank.

The news agency was quoting from sources at the banks themselves, according to the report. The FCA allegedly wants to investigate inadequate compliance checks on 'source of funds,' customers' businesses and the purposes behind their transactions. Interestingly, it does not mention sources of wealth. The report hints that this forthcoming inspection will concentrate on financial crime controls at the bank in general.

It was only in December 2014 that the ICBC's London branch opened, with CCB's branch following on in February 2015. No previous Chinese banks have opened branches in the UK since the beginning of the Cold War.

ICBC, China's largest listed bank, was in the news last month as well, when Spanish authorities raided its branch in Madrid and detained five of its executives. They suspected that the bank had been helping a Chinese criminal network launder the money it was making by importing goods without going through customs - an alleged €40 million. The Diplomat reports that, last June, the Italian authorities indicted four managers of the bank’s Milan branch on money laundering charges (their initial hearing is set for this March), complaining all the while that their inquiries were hampered at every turn by “inconsistent co-operation, incompatible legal systems and China’s secrecy laws.”

The FCA declined to comment.