Chinese authorities have uncovered the country's biggest underground banking case involving transactions totalling more than 410 billion yuan ($A88.94 billion), official media reports.
The investigation, which started in September and focused on the costal province of Zhejiang, found that dozens of Hong Kong-registered shell companies forged more than 1.3 million fake transactions to transfer money offshore, the official People's Daily reported on Friday.
China started cracking down on underground banks in April and has so far uncovered more than 170 cases of money laundering and illegal fund transfers, involving more than 800 billion yuan. The cases come as capital outflows reach hundreds of billions of dollars, triggering alarm in some circles.
A hundred suspects from eight gangs were detained in the latest case, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The principal suspect used non-resident accounts to facilitate more than 14,000 counter-parties for the transfer of billions of yuan offshore, the newspaper said.
The People's Daily said one of the offshore banks used to receive foreign currency was HSBC Holdings. HSBC told Reuters it could not comment on individual cases but it has "zero tolerance" for money laundering.
China's economic slowdown and market volatility have sparked a wave of capital outflows this year.
