China's economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, has issued stiff fines to some banks for their arbitrary charges.

This is part of the price authority's effort to enforce price regulations and fight monopolies.

The NDRC says that by the end of January, penalties totalling 825 million yuan, or 135 million U.S. dollars, were handed down to 64 commercial banks for levelling arbitrary charges.

Nearly half of the fines were imposed on lenders for misconduct and the rest was returned to relevant businesses as compensation.