Chinese foreign exchange regulator, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), has decided to cap withdrawals using domestic bank cards to curb money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion.
The regulator has capped international withdrawals using the country’s domestic cards to CNY100,000 ($15,356) per year, with a cap of CNY10,000 ($1,535.6) per day.
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Furthermore, SAFE has issued a notice calling for the suspension of cardholders who exceed the annual quota, for the remaining period of the year as well as an additional year.
SAFE said: “International experiences have shown that large cash transactions are often associated with criminal activities such as fraud, gambling, money laundering and terrorism financing.
“Some Chinese had been found to have used a large number of ATM cards to withdraw sums of cash overseas that far exceeded what was needed for normal consumption.
“People should not borrow other people’s bank cards or lend them to others to help get around the regulation.”
These new rules follow SAFE’s regulations formed in September 2017 requiring report of all overseas withdrawals along with transactions that involved more than CNY1,000.
