China plans to enforce widely flouted restrictions on capital transfers into insurance products in Hong Kong by wealthy Chinese, in the latest move by Beijing to halt the flow billions of renminbi out of the country.
China experienced large capital outflows in 2015 as the economy slowed, the renminbi fell and stock markets declined. Regulations introduced in the second half of last year to restrict investments in overseas stock markets and limit banks’ foreign exchange operations curbed outbound investment.
Kevin Lai, chief economist at Daiwa Capital Markets, estimated that more than $1tn may have been moved out of China last year. The number was likely to be far higher if outflows from over-invoicing of trade were included, he said.