北京嚴控民間資金外流

https://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2023/05/17/12322682.html

北京嚴控民間資金外流 地下錢莊收費翻倍
文章來源: 自由亞洲電台 於 2023-05-17 08:53:47 - 新聞取自各大新聞媒體，新聞內容並不代表本網立場！
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北京嚴控民間資金外流 路透社資料圖片

中國民間大量資金外逃，導致地下錢莊收取的傭金水漲船高。據知情人士披露，近期通過地下錢莊用人民幣轉美元至境外的傭金達7%，同比上漲一倍。另外，為打擊資金外流，兩家在線經紀公司的應用程序被迫在中國下架，消息導致富途控股和老虎證券周二在美國的股價大跌。

近期，上海、深圳等地一線城市的二手房成交量和價格大幅度下跌。深圳豪宅降價一千萬元，卻無人問津，上海數千萬元的豪宅大跌數百萬元。輿論認為，局勢不穩造成拋售房產，套現資金。不願公開身份的歐陽女士本周三（17日）告訴自由亞洲電台，近期不少人通過地下錢莊將資金轉移到境外，轉移資金的手續費由去年冬季的3%左右，提高到本周的7%左右。她說：“通過地下錢莊匯款，前兩天我聽說最高的7%，就是因為需求很大，匯款難度比以前高了。很多人把自己的生意賣掉了。現在地下錢莊不做10萬（美元）、20萬美元匯款生意，單筆最少50萬美金起。”

 

中國民間大量資金外逃，導致地下錢莊收取的傭金水漲船高。（路透社資料圖片）

資金加速外流地下錢莊收費水漲船高

鑒於中國當局更加關注數據安全和資本外流，由騰訊公司所支持的富途控股本周二說，其應用程序將自5月19日起從中國的應用程序商店中刪除，而老虎證券也將從5月18日起執行同樣操作。上述兩家公司都稱，他們在中國大陸的現有客戶不會受到應用程序下架的影響。不過，該兩款應用程序下架將使中國大陸的大量潛在散戶投資者無法在美國和香港等市場輕鬆交易證券。

對此，歐陽女士說，富途控股和老虎證券已經多次被中國有關部門要求停止在中國運作。她說，官方主要目的是防止資金外流：“因為你把錢轉移出去投資美股或港股。習政府也不喜歡客戶跟美國的金融市場交流。昨天傳出打壓的事情，已經持續了很長一段時間，之前不讓開戶，前一段時期是盯著老虎證券，現在是一起打，後續估計要把資金通道切斷。”

中國監管機構早在2021年就警告這兩家公司，未在中國獲得許可的在線經紀公司如果通過互聯網為中國客戶提供服務，則屬於非法行為。

 

由於中國當局更加關注數據安全和資本外流，在線經紀公司富途控股和老虎證券將在中國大陸刪除其應用程序。（RFA製圖）

富途控股和老虎證券已多次被警告

資深財經評論人士蔡慎坤對本台說，富途控股和老虎證券在中國市場屬於非法運作，但過去中國有足夠的外匯儲備，而現在的情況大不相同：“現在外匯麵臨逐步減少，而且幅度很大，在這樣的一種情況下，他肯定要切斷所有的外資流出的渠道。所以說這隻是一個開始。我估計很快會從國內向境外匯出的資金，包括每人每年五萬美金的額度都會麵臨全麵的管控。”

富途在納斯達克上市的股票在周二（16日）早盤交易中下跌 7.5%，而老虎證券在公告發布後下跌近9%。

媒體人賀先生對本台說，許多現象愈來愈反映出中國正在進行與西方國家脫節的準備：“和世界在經濟、政治、文化領域脫節。最終他要達成這個目標，特別是在經濟領域。”

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/14/china-black-market-money-laundering-drug-cartels/

How China came to dominate the black market for money laundering
Chinese entities fill a gap left by a crackdown on illicit cash cleaning methods

china money laundering
When Rosario D’Onofrio strolled into Milan’s colourful Chinatown quarter in March 2020, he was allegedly carrying €180,000 in cash.

The Italian football referee, who has been accused of moonlighting as a drug trafficker known as “Rambo”, was there to meet a Chinese money launderer who could help him pay suppliers in Spain for a shipment of hashish, prosecutors claim.

Once the money was handed over, it didn’t go abroad. Instead, all D’Onofrio’s contact had to do was send a text message to an associate in Spain, who was told to pay the same amount to the supplier there.

This effective transfer – known as a “mirror transaction” – left no direct trail for police to follow. D’Onofrio only paid the Chinese launderer €2,700 euros, a commission of just 1.5pc.

The March 2020 incident, revealed by Italian anti-mafia prosecutors, is an example of a growing problem for authorities in Europe, North America and Latin America as criminal gangs increasingly tap into a vast network of Chinese fixers to clean their dirty cash. 

(D’Onofrio was arrested by Italian police last November. His lawyer declined to comment to Reuters on the case last month.)

The influence of China over the money laundering industry looms so large that some experts believe Chinese-controlled entities and individuals are now responsible for as much as half of the industry.

Even Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, who previously kept such activities “in house”, are now using Chinese launderers to service their empires, US lawmakers heard last month.

World Bank estimates 2pc to 5pc of global GDP is laundered each year
World Bank estimates 2pc to 5pc of global GDP is laundered each year Credit: STR/AFP
In the UK, meanwhile, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned that some Chinese students have become “mules” for gangs moving illicit cash in and out of the country.

China and its citizens have emerged as a major fixer in the global flow of dark money by moving to fill a market gap left by a crackdown on other methods of cleaning cash.

“Criminals will always adapt, in the same way governments do,” says Maria Nizzelo, a financial crime researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Money laundering is what keeps the wheels of organised crime turning. Without it, criminals cannot easily spend their illicit gains.

By definition, the practice is fiendishly difficult to detect. Most experts assume the equivalent of 2pc to 5pc of global GDP is laundered each year, or $2 to $5 trillion, according to the World Bank.

Much of this is linked to the drugs trade. Mexican and Colombian cartels have long relied on the black market peso exchange and bulk cash smuggling for their needs.

However, this has become harder after Mexico restricted US dollar bank deposits to $4,000 a month and Colombia imposed strict new anti-laundering laws, forcing the cartels to find new avenues.

Increasingly, criminals in Latin America are turning to Chinese gangs, who offer near-instantaneous money transfers for rock-bottom fees. Where other brokers charge 10pc to 15pc commission, the Chinese may charge up to 6pc and sometimes nothing at all.

Fees are lower because these groups see drug money as a side hustle. Their main profits come from helping Chinese politicians and elites get their money offshore, away from the prying eyes of Beijing. 

Drug cartels in Latin America are turning to Chinese gangs to move money 
Drug cartels in Latin America are turning to Chinese gangs to move money Credit: ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI/REUTERS
Under China’s currency controls, people cannot send the equivalent of more than $50,000 abroad per year. As a result, elites who wish to spend freely abroad may struggle to source cash. The dollars amassed by cartels in the US offer a useful liquidity pool.

“It’s a symbiotic relationship,” explains Channing Mavrellis, director of illicit trade at Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based think tank. “The Chinese and the cartels each have what the other wants.”

To move money internationally, the launderers rely on age-old techniques such as trade-based money laundering (TBML), according to John Cassara, who served as an intelligence officer for the CIA and as a special agent at the US Treasury.

TBML involves over or under charging for shipments of everything from watches and gold to cheap widgets, effectively settling debts with the value of other goods.

The scope for TBML has only become larger as Chinese trade with the world has boomed. Customs policing is also relatively light-tough when compared to banking regulation.

“I think people are only just starting to understand the magnitude of Chinese transnational crime,” Cassara says. “These are systems that have been around for a long time, but which effectively bypass our anti-money laundering countermeasures.”

Another of the most distinctive techniques used by Chinese gangs is fei-chien, or “flying money”.

A kind of underground banking, it relies on trusted bonds between family, friends and business partners and has long been used, legitimately, by millions of Chinese labourers to send wages home when working abroad.

“The recordkeeping procedures of the underground banking system are nearly nonexistent, with coded messages, “chits,” and telephone calls used to transfer money from one country to another,” according to the US Justice Department.

This system is open to abuse, with gang-affiliated brokers offering services to cartels, labourers and wealthy clients alike.

Nate Sibley, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, says criminal proceeds in the US are often washed by gang-controlled Chinese businesses that are cash-generative, such as restaurants, casinos and dry cleaners.

This means the cash is easily disguised and can be deposited in legitimate bank accounts with minimal suspicion.

“Many of these businesses are hard-working Chinese Americans but the gangs exploit them,” Sibley points out.

Chinese-controlled entities and individuals account for half of the money-laundering industry, according to experts
Chinese-controlled entities and individuals account for half of the money-laundering industry, according to experts Credit: THOMAS PETER/REUTERS
Once the dollars are safely in a bank account, the launderers can sell them to a Chinese elite, or buy property and pay college tuition fees on their behalf. In exchange, the elite sends the corresponding amount of renminbi – plus a fee – from their Chinese bank account to the gang’s account in China. No money leaves either the US or China.

A 2019 report by the NCA found things work similarly in the UK, where gang operatives duped Chinese students into helping by telling them they needed to use their bank account on behalf of a fellow student or unbanked Chinese worker who wanted to send money home.

Some students knowingly help and – for a fee – collect criminal cash and distribute it into “mule” accounts. In one case, a gang gained control over 600 mule accounts at a single bank, the NCA said.

Many of those who play along are on short visas and run a low risk of being caught, says Laurence Howland, a former investigator at HM Revenue and Customs who worked as a UK government liaison in China and is now director of compliance at Buckles Solicitors.

“It is a major problem,” he adds, “and as Chinese business opportunities grow internationally, the opportunities for criminals to move money do as well.”

Most western experts agree that more specialist resources are needed to tackle the problem, as well as cooperation from the Chinese government, which often provides only minimal support.

With so many transactions – many of them brokered on platforms such as WeChat and Alipay – Global Financial Integrity’s Mavrellis says it is not clear whether Chinese authorities could easily thwart the gangs.

But Cassara claims Beijing cannot be ignorant of what is happening. He refers collectively to the Chinese criminal networks as “Chinese Communist Party Incorporated”.

“The government cracks down very efficiently on websites and social media that they judge is a threat against the CCP regime. They could crack down on this too if they want to.”

China insists it “has never been, is not, and will never become a global hub for money laundering”.