The Tactics People Are Using to Get Their Money Out of China
Finding ways around the rules is something of a national pastime.
Illustration by Maxime Mouysset
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There’s barely a global asset that isn’t influenced by Chinese money, from the latest hot Hong Kong public offering to luxury apartments in Vancouver.
Technically though, most of these purchases are the result of loopholes exploited by Chinese citizens — or in some cases outright law-breaking. China’s capital control rules explicitly forbid citizens from using any of their $50,000 annual foreign exchange quota to directly purchase offshore property or securities, although indirect investment via some channels is permitted. There’s an official program for trading Hong Kong stocks, for instance, which crucially doesn’t include IPOs.