“Fighting money laundering, terrorism”
Starting September 1, China will ramp up its oversight of offshore bank transactions. According to Reuters, the country’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange will require Chinese banks to report cardholders’ overseas transactions each day as well as every transaction exceeding CNY1,000 (US$147).
“With increasing requirements to fight money laundering, terrorist financing and tax avoidance, measures for cross-border transactions need to be enhanced in terms of trading transparency and quality of statistics,” said a statement from SAFE.
Analysts at JP Morgan said the tighter measures will cause “a modest negative on player psychology,” reported the Asia Gaming Brief.
The outcome of the plan is “uncertain, but can’t be good,” continued the note from analysts DS Kim and Sean Zhuang. “To be clear, the news has nothing to do with the gaming industry at this point, as there’s no change in foreign exchange policy, such as card limit or ATM quota, nor is there any mention of UnionPay pawnshop transactions or Macau in the statement.”
But increased scrutiny “or just the ‘perceived fear’ of such” is bound to curtail some transactions, they added.
The Macau government announced last month that holders of UnionPay cards, which are issued in Mainland China, will soon have to produce ID and also pass a facial recognition scan before using the cards for cash withdrawals at ATMs in the city.
