中國加強資本管制 遏制資本外流

China is ratcheting up ad hoc capital controls to stem accelerating capital outflows, with banks restricting dollar purchases amid fierce demand from households and companies.

中國正在加強臨時資本管制，以遏制不斷加快的資本外流。面對家庭和企業換匯需求高漲的局面，中國的銀行紛紛對購買美元做出限制。

The foreign exchange regulator has provided verbal guidance to banks in Shenzhen instructing them to limit dollar buying by individual and corporate clients, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

知情人士表示，中國國家外匯管理局(SAFE)已向深圳的銀行做出口頭指示，要求它們對個人和企業購買美元做出限制。

The official Shanghai Securities News cited client managers at banks in Shenzhen including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China as saying that demand for US and Hong Kong dollars had increased sharply since the start of the year. Chinese residents are permitted to buy up to $50,000 annually, with the quota resetting at the beginning of the calendar year.

官方的《上海證券報》援引中國工商銀行(ICBC)和中國銀行(BoC)等銀行的客戶經理的話稱，近期能明顯感受到客戶旺盛的換匯需求。中國居民換匯額度爲每人每年等值5萬美元，每個日曆年的年初換匯額度會更新。

China’s foreign exchange reserves declined by a record $108bn in December, a sign of accelerating capital outflow and the central bank’s spending to support the renminbi exchange rate.

去年12月，中國外匯儲備降幅達到創紀錄的1080億美元，說明資本外流在加速、而中國央行在動用外儲支撐人民幣匯率。

The latest tightening comes after the central bank temporarily suspended some foreign banks in China, including Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and Singapore’s DBS, from conducting certain foreign exchange transactions designed to arbitrage the gap between the onshore and offshore renminbi exchange rates. All three banks declined to comment.

最近的加強管制舉措出臺前，中國央行暫時叫停了渣打銀行(Standard Chartered)、德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)和新加坡星展銀行(DBS)等一些外資銀行從事的某些外匯交易，這些交易旨在利用在岸和離岸人民幣的匯率差進行套利。上述三家外資銀行均拒絕置評。

Until the renminbi’s trading range was widened in 2014, appreciation was virtually uninterrupted. But Chinese households are now more eager to sell their renminbi and diversify their currency holdings.

2014年人民幣匯率交易區間被擴大之前，人民幣的升值幾乎從未中斷。但如今，中國家庭更渴望賣出人民幣，實現所持幣種的多元化。

Online foreign exchange settlement at multiple banks have suffered temporary outages or slow response times as demand from retail customers overwhelms their capacity, Shanghai Securities News reported.

《上海證券報》報道稱，由於突然涌現的個人集中使用網銀購匯，有的銀行甚至曝出網銀系統故障、運轉緩慢等問題。

At a mid-sized bank in Shanghai, customers are restricted to buying $5,000 in foreign exchange per day unless they make an appointment in advance and $10,000 per day if they do, with no more than three appointments allowed per week, the paper reported.

該報報道稱，在上海的一家中型銀行，辦理購匯業務，5000美元以下可以直接兌換，超過5000美元則需要提前進行預約。而且一次最多允許購匯1萬美元，一星期最多隻能購匯三次。

A Beijing-based finance executive said SAFE had been in “regular discussions” with foreign banks over the past month. “They are basically trying to make sure that banks are not helping speculators with leverage,” the executive said. “If your client needs three months’ trade finance but borrows one or two years’ worth of forex, is that legitimate hedging?”

北京一位金融業高管表示，過去一個月裏，外管局一直在與外資銀行“定期討論”。“他們基本上是在努力確保銀行不會幫助投機者添槓桿。”這位高管表示，“如果你的客戶需要三個月貿易融資、卻借入能用一兩年的外匯，那是合法的對衝嗎？”

SAFE did not immediately respond to a fax requesting comment on Friday afternoon.

上週五下午，外管局未立即回覆一份請求其置評的傳真。