Chinese banks told to report overseas cash withdrawals plus transactions over US$147
Regulator says it needs more detailed information on spending habits of Chinese abroad
In a sign of Beijing’s growing wariness about capital outflows, China’s foreign exchange administration issued a notice on Friday requiring banks to report every cash withdrawal made outside its borders, and every overseas card transaction valued over 1,000 yuan (US$147).
Under the new regulation put out by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, banks must submit a report of overseas transaction information on a daily basis from September 2 – even on holidays and weekends.
China has already tightened controls over the use of bank cards in Hong Kong and abroad.
That came after Beijing in December 2016 halved the amount of cash China UnionPay cardholders could withdraw from ATMs in Macau to 5,000 patacas (US$610).
China’s foreign exchange regulator is trying to put together a detailed picture of how Chinese are spending abroad. Most Chinese use bank cards to make payments overseas and such transactions surpassed US$120 billion in 2016, the regulator said in a statement.