CHINA'S central bank and foreign exchange watchdog have joined other major global monetary authorities in looking into potential data misuse by journalists at Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the central bank.

Central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, have since last week been demanding answers from Bloomberg about whether its journalists may have access to confidential client information and the kind of functions they have used.

An unidentified official of the People's Bank of China, which oversees the world's largest foreign exchange reserves of US$3.4 trillion, told the newspaper that the central bank "is aware of the situation and is looking into the matter."

The PBOC is most concerned that any possible leakage of its trading intentions may result in market chaos, the report said.

The complaints against Bloomberg began last month when a Hong Kong-based Bloomberg reporter inquired about a Goldman Sachs banker's employment status after finding that the banker had not logged into a Bloomberg terminal for some time.

Goldman flagged the matter to Bloomberg, which prompted public apologies from the financial information provider's Chief Executive Daniel Doctoroff and Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler as they tried to restore confidence among Bloomberg's 315,000 clients around the world.