In response to billionaire investor Mark Mobius’ claims about remittance curbs, HSBC said it received no such request from regulators.
HSBC’s China unit as well as the local foreign exchange regulator issued statements responding to emerging markets specialist Mark Mobius’ claims that he could not take money out of his Shanghai account with the British lender.
«We did not receive any requirements from the Chinese regulators to restrict outbound remittances, nor are we aware of any policy changes recently by the Chinese authorities with regards to cross-border capital outflows,» said a «Reuters» report citing an HSBC China spokesperson.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China’s forex watchdog, added in a separate statement that there was no policy change on cross-border remittance of funds and that the mainland would continue to promote opening up to the world.
Opposite Claims
In contrast, the founder of Mobius Capital Partners claims that China was actually «moving in a completely different direction than what Deng Xiaoping instituted», referring to the late leader’s drive to reform the nation and open up its economy.
«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 said, warning others to be «very, very careful» about investing in the country.
