中行被指洗钱，央行出面调查

    据媒体报道，中国人民银行正在调查中国银行这家中国、乃至全球最大的商业银行之一是否存在帮助客户规避国内资本管制的行为。

    上周，中央电视台报道称，中国银行为客户提供的服务可以让后者每年向海外转移资金的规模超过限制。中国银行是国内四大银行之一，也是金融稳定委员会（Financial Stability Board）认定的28家“全球具有系统重要性的金融机构”之一。

    央视报道指出，中国银行对这项服务一直守口如瓶，因为它知道这是违法行为。路透社则称，中国银行已经对此予以否认。

    中国人民银行负责制定资本出入境限制政策。该行在上周四晚间发布公告称，它“注意到了与某家商业银行跨境人民币业务有关的媒体报道，目前正在核实相关情况。”

    央视对此进行报道的背景是，越来越多的证据显示，中国的中产阶层和企业家不仅把国外视为今后投资的目的地，他们还在考虑是否移民，原因是环境污染和腐败等因素让他们觉得自己的生活质量没有达到预期。

    中国人民银行2008年发布的报告显示，20世纪90年代中期以来，已有数万名政府官员移民海外，带走的资产超过1300亿美元。

    中国正在设法遏制国内居民通过大量投资换取海外居留权或公民身份的趋势。香港的金融体系不受大陆资本管制政策限制，在那里，对此类服务的营销很活跃。

    今年5月份，广州市一位官员因被认定为“裸官”，也就是妻子儿女均已移民海外而被迫提前退休。

    试图通过这种途径从中国吸引资金的不光是亚洲和非洲的贫穷国家。举例来说，只要愿意在英国保持100万英镑（170万美元）投资并且实际投资75万英镑，就可以在英国获得居留权，这里所说的投资甚至可以只是购买政府债券。

    不过，在打击非法转移资金行为的同时，中国还在鼓励国际社会更多地使用人民币，并且以此作为今后放松资本管制的前提。最近，中国和伦敦、法兰克福以及卢森堡的银行机构签署了人民币清算协议，为建立人民币国际资本市场创造了条件。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    China’s central bank is investigating one the country’s–and the world’s– largest commercial banks after allegations that it has been helping clients to get round local capital controls, according to media reports.

    The China Central Television network had alleged earlier in the week that Bank of China, the country’s fourth-largest bank and one of 28 institutions considered by the Financial Stability Board to be “Global Systemically Important Financial Institutions”, was offering clients a service allowing them to move more money offshore than allowed by annual caps.

    The report said Bank of China kept the program secret because they knew it was illegal. Reuters said Bank of China has denied the allegations.

    In a statement late Thursday, the People’s Bank of China, which polices the country’s restrictions on moving capital in and out of the country, said it “noticed a media report about a commercial bank’s cross-border renminbi busiess, and are verifying related facts.”

    The allegations come against a background of increasing evidence that China’s middle class and entrepreneurs are looking abroad not just for their future investments, but also with a view to possible emigration owing to the country’s failure to deliver a quality of life that meets their aspirations, due to factors such as pollution or corruption.

    Tens of thousands of Communist Party officials have left China since the mid-1990s, taking over $130 billion with them, according to a 2008 report compiled by the PBoC.

    China is trying to stop a trend in which local citizens gain residency in or citizenship of another country in return for big investments there. Such schemes are actively marketed in Hong Kong, which has an autonomous financial system outside of mainland China’s capital controls.

    In May, a senior Communist Party official in the southern city of Guangzhou was forced to take early retirement after being labeled a “naked official”, that is, one whose wife and children have emigrated.

    It isn’t just poor countries in Asia and Africa that are trying to attract Chinese money that way. The U.K., for instance, offers residency to anyone willing to invest over keep one million pounds ($1.7 million) in the country and invest 750,000 pounds, even if only in the form of government bonds.

    But even while it tries to crack down on illicit capital flight, China is trying to encourage more international use of the renminbi, as a prelude to loosening controls in future. It has recently signed agreements for banks in London, Frankfurt and Luxembourg to clear transactions in renminbi, setting up the makings of an international capital market for its currency.