Investor Mark Mobius says he cannot get his money out of China
- Thread starter themickey
- Start date
Yeah I have always wondered about that. If there is so strict of capital control in place that even foreigners can't get their money out once they are put in China's banking system, HOW did those wealthy Chinese get their money out? Wouldn't they be subject to the same capital control?
By Reuters Published Mon March 6, 2023
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/06/business/mark-mobius-china-capital-controls/index.html
Mark Mobius, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners, is photographed in Hong Kong in 2018. Justin Chin/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Mark Mobius has said he cannot take his money out of China due to the country’s capital controls, cautioning investors to be “very, very careful” about investing in an economy under a tight government grip.
“I have an account with HSBC in Shanghai. I can’t take my money out. The government is restricting flow of money out of the country,” Mobius, founder of Mobius Capital Partners, told FOX Business in an interview published on March 2.
“I can’t get an explanation of why they’re doing this … They’re putting all kinds of barriers. They don’t say: No, you can’t get your money out. But they say: give us all the records from 20 years of how you made this money … This is crazy.”
Mobius’ comments were circulated on Chinese social media site WeChat at the weekend.
Mobius led emerging market investment at Franklin Templeton Investments for three decades and is known for his bullish view on China. Now, though, he said, he “would be very, very careful” investing in the country.
“The bottom line is that China is moving in a completely different direction than what Deng Xiaoping instituted when they started the big reform program,” he said, referring to the former Chinese leader.
“Now you have a government which is taking golden shares in companies all over China. That means they’re going to try to control all of these companies … So I don’t think it’s a very good picture when you see the government becoming more and more control-oriented in the economy.”
Mobius, who calls himself “the Indiana Jones of Emerging Market investing,” told FOX Business he’s increasing exposure to alternative markets such as India and Brazil.
Mobius and HSBC could not be reached at the weekend.
"They don’t say: No, you can’t get your money out. But they say: give us all the records from 20 years of how you made this money … This is crazy.”
Scary stuff.
Yeah they do this to justify their capital control. They are forcing him to provide the records so they can go through them and then say "you didn't make money here", "you didn't make any money there", "that's our money" and etc. and then say since you never made this money then you can't take this money out. That's how they do it. That's all governments under dictatorial regime do it. How this guy's been making money in China is public records. You don't think the government knows about them that they need a little bank teller to ask him to provide all of the business records of 20 year? LOL
Let me tell you. 1 A long-ago method: Because everyone has a certain foreign exchange quota (such as 50,000 U.S. dollars) that can be remitted out legally, some people use the quota of relatives or friends to remit abroad and then put them together again, which is called ant moving. now not many people use this method in front of the big data. 2 The mode of the underground bank. Some people register company that helps transfer funds, and they have business both inside and outside, and most of the time the money does not need real departure. It was attacked a few years ago, and now there are very few by such methods. 2. Using trade as a cover, without settlement or less settlement of foreign exchange, the money will be left abroad. 4. Take advantage of investment opportunities abroad as a cover. The money of the bosses is basically in the latter two ways at present。
As for why this person’s money could not be remitted out of China, I guess，only guess， The biggest possibility is that his money did not enter China through fully compliant channels at the beginning. Naturally, going out is also restricted, especially for large one-time payments. Although China is a country with foreign exchange controls, it has always been one of the largest investee countries in the world. Such a situation will not be too common. But considering the increasingly tense Sino-US relations, isn't the money of the Chinese in the United States also being concerned by the House of Representatives.... a mess
Suitcases full of cash, that's the only way
not "fully compliant channels"? Well if the money entered through "improper channels", then it should get out through "improper channels" too. Why did he choose to deposit the money through the proper channel in a bank? This looks more political than anything else then.
They surely already know this and it is a calculated bet. I know China has capital controls and I barely follow the markets in China. This is a really bizarre article as if this is something new. Talking about Deng Xiaoping? What year is this?
I just doubt this guy is that clueless so for some reason he wanted publicity about this. There is just no way he tried to get his money out and then was surprised that isn't happening.
I would never invest a dime in China for many reasons and this is just one of them.
I just doubt this guy is that clueless so for some reason he wanted publicity about this. There is just no way he tried to get his money out and then was surprised that isn't happening.
I would never invest a dime in China for many reasons and this is just one of them.
China says otherwise and it might have been an issue with filling paperwork at the bank. Looks to be resolved
https://www.reuters.com/world/china...ittance-curbs-after-mobius-claims-2023-03-07/
https://www.reuters.com/world/china...ittance-curbs-after-mobius-claims-2023-03-07/
I think we can all agree on the fact that no Chinese cash buys multi million properties abroad using their and relatives' 50k quota. Very often this was facilitated in very similar ways than the hawala money transfer system that solely relies on ledgers where Chinese middle men abroad credit incoming Chinese foreign currency abroad and debit rmb in China, charging juicy profit margins. There are other ways through trade credits and invoicing that I won't go into detail because I consulted tax authorities in several countries on this in the past.
Fact is that all those methods by Chinese law and pose(d) all sorts of tax and customs issues that foreign nations abroad ironically happily overlooked in their greed to attract foreign capital. The UK, Australia and Canada are some of the biggest hyorocites in this regard. It is also ironic that China had knowledge of those practices but hardly intervened because letting the top few percent diversify and buy up foreign assets was and still is in china's interest.
As usual, leaders who sleep in the same bed with the wealthy say one thing to appease the public but do an entirely different thing, both abroad and in China. The brunt of the pain and expenses are as always shouldered by the middle class everywhere. The current foreign buyer restrictions of properties across Canada are a total joke and insult to mislead the public to believe the government has an interest in fighting further property price appreciation. The truth is that they actually want property prices to further appreciate, it's in their personal best interest. And they knew about the sharades how Chinese money entered the country for over 2 decades.
Fact is that all those methods by Chinese law and pose(d) all sorts of tax and customs issues that foreign nations abroad ironically happily overlooked in their greed to attract foreign capital. The UK, Australia and Canada are some of the biggest hyorocites in this regard. It is also ironic that China had knowledge of those practices but hardly intervened because letting the top few percent diversify and buy up foreign assets was and still is in china's interest.
As usual, leaders who sleep in the same bed with the wealthy say one thing to appease the public but do an entirely different thing, both abroad and in China. The brunt of the pain and expenses are as always shouldered by the middle class everywhere. The current foreign buyer restrictions of properties across Canada are a total joke and insult to mislead the public to believe the government has an interest in fighting further property price appreciation. The truth is that they actually want property prices to further appreciate, it's in their personal best interest. And they knew about the sharades how Chinese money entered the country for over 2 decades.
Last edited: