PBOC Official Blasts ‘Illegal’ Cross-Border Brokers

(Bloomberg) — A senior Chinese central bank official blasted the nation’s brokers for providing “illegal” cross-border securities trading services to mainland investors, just three months after he questioned the legitimacy of some online trading apps.

Offshore units of some brokers are working with overseas branches of Chinese banks to help individual mainland investors wire their money across the border, often under false claims that the foreign exchange is used for personal travel, Sun Tianqi, head of the financial stability bureau at People’s Bank of China, wrote in an article published Tuesday in the central bank’s bi-weekly China Finance magazine.