Famed emerging markets investor Mark Mobius warned about the Chinese government’s tightening grip on the economy, noting that he currently cannot take his money out of an HSBC account in the country.
Mark Mobius – billionaire investor and Franklin Templeton’s former 30-year emerging markets fund manager – said he cannot take his money out of an HSBC bank account in mainland China.
«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,» according to a report by US media outlet «Fox Business» citing the founder of Mobius Capital Partners.
«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.»
Post-Deng Era?
According to Mobius, China is tightening its grip on the economy, in contrast with decades of market reform away from a planned economy. The emerging markets specialist is increasing exposure to alternative markets, such as India and Brazil, warning others to be «very, very careful» about investing in China.
«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,» Mobius explained.
«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.»
